Article: Kamal Jain for Massachusetts State Auditor

I like what I'm reading so far. Is there any particular agency that you'd want to audit first? (cough..AG's office...cough) Can you tell us a bit about your previous experience in the public and / or private sector that would help you hit the ground running as State Auditor?
 
Thanks for the kind words.

The law requires the Auditor's office to audit every agency (there are 537 agencies) at least once every two years. That said, the Auditor's office provides staffing to aid the Comptroller's office in their financial audits, and that meets the legal requirement.

I would want a VERY public list of each agency (and vendor) with a clear summary for each agency of when it was last audited and when, the details of the type and depth of the audit, findings and responses, remediation plans, etc. Certainly agencies such as the AG's office would be high on the list because I've heard from numerous people that it hasn't been audited in years.

But all this sort of misses the point that under my watch the entire government would open for scrutiny to the people. Every RFP, every contract awarded, every invoice, every transaction. Also, every decision to hire, promote, fire, etc.

Rather than just 200 auditors in the Auditor's office -- who are all on the government payroll and have an inherent conflict of interest -- we need 4 million voters to be able to provide outside audit and oversight. Government auditing is NOT complicated, it just requires going through a lot of information and having the right tools to make all that information accessible. Anyone who says you need to be an expert at government or auditing to be able to audit the government is deliberately trying to make things more complicated than they are.

Kamal Jain
 
Private sector experience - and my candidate pledge

jasons said:
I like what I'm reading so far. Is there any particular agency that you'd want to audit first? (cough..AG's office...cough) Can you tell us a bit about your previous experience in the public and / or private sector that would help you hit the ground running as State Auditor?
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I forgot to respond to prior experience question.

I've been working exclusively in the private sector for over 21 years, creating jobs and doing more with less. Most of my career has been with high-tech startup companies. The closest I've come to a government job was 2 months working as a temporary Federal employee (no benefits whatsoever) for $7/hour at the Census Bureau, running the computer systems in the Boston district office back in the late 80's. (The guy in charge had the last name "Dukakis" and was related to Mike -- coincidence?)

I'm considered an expert in operational efficiency, and companies seek out people like me to fix things that aren't working, or aren't working as well as they could and should be. I'm also considered an expert on transparency.

As a candidate, I pledge:
  • To refuse to take a public pension - EVER. No pensions for politicians.
  • To serve no more than TWO TERMS as Auditor. I believe in term limits.
  • To give myself a 10% pay cut on my first day in office. That is what we do in the private sector, and the public sector could learn a LOT from us.
 
I like what I am reading so far. You certainly gained quite a bit of credibility by posting here and opening up about yourself.

I wish you the best.
 
We all know that State Auditor reports are filed in the circular bin. They spend much of the time on housing authority audits, which go down the drain, too.

The town audits are the real show and the DOR had been responsible for such audits. Now, towns hire public accounting firms to conduct these audits. The number of cash misappropriations must have dwindled, but even my town ignores the internal control evaluations provided by the CPA firm.

No one pays much heed to these audit reports. These reports do not dwell into operational effectiveness. These only measure issues related to property and cash control.
 
I like what I am hearing, but we have heard the "transparency" song before. Please be true to your word if elected and don't be lured into the "machine".

What are your political and religious views? Democrat, republican? Muslim, christian?
 
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In God We Trust said:
I like what I am hearing, but we have heard the "transparency" song before. Please be true to your word if elected and don't be lured into the "machine".

What are your political and religious views? Democrat, republican? Muslim, christian?
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Neg Reps to you! First time I ever gave them.

Maybe he's Buddhist or Jewish. So what? Give the guy a break. He's trying to come forward. So far he looks pretty good to me.
 
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yanici said:
Neg Reps to you! First time I ever gave them.

Maybe he's Buddhist or Jewish. So what? Give the guy a break. He's trying to come forward. So far he looks pretty good to me.
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Whats wrong with asking an individual who is asking for your vote (running for public office) what their political and religious views are?....

Its crucial to have such info when selecting a canidate.(ie. party affiliation, pro-choice/abortion,same sex unions,stance on immigration etc.)

Transparency starts when a canidate will take firm stand on issues and stop lurking in the "Gray Areas"
and...waltzing less with "PC-ness"!
 
yanici said:
Neg Reps to you! First time I ever gave them.

Maybe he's Buddhist or Jewish. So what? Give the guy a break. He's trying to come forward. So far he looks pretty good to me.
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Neg reps for asking questions about the belief system of an elected official? Shame on you. Such behaivior is the trademark of closet liberals. I will wear your negative rep as a badge of honor from the closed minded and uninformed masses that elected President Obama.

Seriously, Yanici, your polictical correctness surprises me. This is a forum of mostly conservetive 2nd ammendment supporters and you would flame me for excercising my 1st ammendment rights? If you will reread my post, I said I liked what I was hearing. It was a positive comment to Mr. Jain and I was only looking for more information on a candidate that I was interested in. I don't care if he is jewish or budhist, but I would like to know where he stands on issues that are important to ME before I vote for him. Thank you however Yanici for showing your true colors to a new member of the forums.

Now that that is out of the way, Mr. Jain, would you care to answer my question? If not, I respect your decision, but just know that without the transparencey you profess, you will not win my vote, sir.
 
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Kamal appears to be, at a glance, a conservative Republican with a strong belief in the Second Amendment. His stance on other political issues surely need to be solidified. I really know very little about him but if he is what he says he is then it casts a positive spin. In NO WAY do his religious beliefs sway my opinion of the man. It is not a valid question.
 
I appreciate the attention and positive responses. Politically, I am a Republican. Religiously, I'd describe myself as "American", but that answer requires a bit of explanation. My father was a Jain and my mother a Hindu (both are deceased). I grew up with a best friend next door whose father was Jewish and mother was Episcopal. I have been influenced by quite a few religions and philosophies as I've been exposed to them, and as I've studied them. I do not belong to a church or attend one, other than for services to which I have been invited. My belief in God tends to be closest to Jainism/Hinduism and perhaps Buddhism, but I do not accept anyone's dogma in particular. While certainly not a Roman Catholic, I admire and often speak of JRR Tolkien's personal journey of faith, which some of you may be familiar with.

The main reason most audit reports are filed in the circular bin is because they are seemingly random and written for professionals in the accounting and financial auditing space. My goal is to make information easily understood by a 12 year-old, and navigable by anyone who is comfortable working a computer mouse. If you have the skills to balance your checkbook and unit-price shop at the market, you have the skills you need to recognize waste when you see it -- if it's presented in the right way with the right interface and tools to browse it.

Job one of the Auditor's office should be looking at operational efficiency and efficacy. It should also help the citizenry understand what all their government is actually doing, and give them the "ammo" they need to go to their elected officials to advocate for OR fight against programs and agencies as they see fit, based on their own convictions and priorities. Government is not a magical bottomless well from which everyone can just draw. It is 100% funded by the taxpayers, and if the taxpayers truly knew how a lot of their money was being spent, they would probably be up in arms. (Let's just keep that figurative for now, OK?)

The Comptroller's office -- NOT the Auditor's office -- is responsible for the financial audits and the resultant reports, both of which are third-party audited. (Currently by KPMG) Institutional investors use those financial audit reports to make themselves comfortable with the general financial controls and position of the state. If those who represent billions of dollars of investors' money are comfortable with the financial reports, I believe the audits and reports are reasonably accurate and sound.

Auditing by definition is a defined process of spot checking to test the data and processes. Depending on the result of initial testing, further testing may be necessary. We have an Auditor's office run by a chief executive (THE Auditor), with 4-5 Deputy Auditors reporting to them who are responsible for various areas of the government. Then there are Directors of Audit below them who run teams of Auditors led by Auditors-In-Charge. There are about 200 actual auditors in the Auditor's office today. They know their jobs, but given their numbers and who they are employed by, the best we can really hope for is some spot checking of some fraction of the government each year.

That is why I am eager to empower millions of CITIZEN-AUDITORS who overall would easily be able to do far more than just test some of the data. And we need a Massachusetts version of the famous Grace Commission, put together under the orders of President Reagan in the early 1980s.

I'll try to stay on top of this thread and answer any further questions about myself or the Auditor's office which come up.

Sincerely,
Kamal Jain
 
Not exactly on the topic of religion, I will be attending the Ahavath Torah Congregration's Scotch & Cigar BBQ on the 27th of this month. There will be Kosher Delmonico steaks among other things. The Scotch and Cigar selection is also supposed to be quite lovely. For those of you interested in that sort of thing, Rabbi Hausman tells me there are a few tickets left...just sayin'.
 
With support from gun owners and like-minded folks, I can win the September 14 primary. Then we will see if I am facing off with Guy Glodis or another Democrat in November. Please email [email protected] if you would like to help my campaign.

Thank you all.

Kamal Jain
 
I met Kamal at the 2010 Worcester County Friends of NRA dinner. He seems like a great person and a true 2A supporter. He certainly participated in full throughout the event, including the live auction.

Thanks for supporting the NRA Foundation Kamal!
 
MA_Shooter said:
Welcome Kamal, good luck, and thanks for taking time to answer questions.
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I think that's a pretty stand up thing to do. Especially about Your religious beliefs. [grin]

Religion doesn't really matter to much to me, but I do appreciate honesty.
 
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Go get 'em brother. This is actually the first time in my years of voting eligibility I have so much as seen or heard real interaction between us peasants and someone running for office. I mean actual, genuine correspondence with honest answers that address the question asked. It's a big difference from the puppet sessions that jackass Obama has where he is surrounded by supporters who give him T-Ball questions that he STILL dodges the answers too. As long as your transparency isn't as opaque as his, I think we are good to go.

Maybe the middle ages of Massachusetts politics are nearing their end. I certainly hope so. Take the town by storm (figuratively). You've got my support.
 
I enjoyed meeting a number of NES folks this evening at the GOAL Banquet. Sorry I didn't have a chance to make it around the whole room and meet all of you.

Kamal
 
The State Auditor has about zero impact in anything. To make it out as if you are going to improve transparency suggests that you are not a suitable candidate for the job.

The State Auditor audits town housing authorities. CPA firms audit the towns. Quite simple. The State Auditor does even really involve itself with audits of an entire town government.

No one reads any of these reports and they have a lot of things for the public to seize as issues. These are the places in which actual individuals can almost inject immediate change if they rally together.

The OSA audits receivees of grants and specific issues of a state agency upon request. Are we to believe that those reports are ever going to really hit the real issues? Has the whole MBTA actually been subject to audit? Or the MTA? I don't think so. They just do specific special program audits.

Since when did an audit become an operational study?

To think that you are going to change something when your assumed position has really no say suggests that you are not suitable.
 
the_doctor said:
The State Auditor audits town housing authorities. CPA firms audit the towns. Quite simple. The State Auditor does even really involve itself with audits of an entire town government.

No one reads any of these reports and they have a lot of things for the public to seize as issues. These are the places in which actual individuals can almost inject immediate change if they rally together.

The OSA audits receivees of grants and specific issues of a state agency upon request. Are we to believe that those reports are ever going to really hit the real issues? Has the whole MBTA actually been subject to audit? Or the MTA? I don't think so. They just do specific special program audits.

Since when did an audit become an operational study?

To think that you are going to change something when your assumed position has really no say suggests that you are not suitable.
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Respectfully, I could not disagree with you more. The State Auditor's office has ALWAYS been about operational studies. The purpose of the Auditor's office is to ensure the people's money is being wisely and well spent. You're choosing to define the office in terms of the way it has operated for many years, which presumes there is no possibility of improvement or change. Consider even the current Auditor's statement of his office's authority:

http://www.mass.gov/sao/authority.htm

It is true that many of the reports from the current Auditor's office are arcane and unnecessarily lengthy, but it does not have to be that way. When I am State Auditor, I will not be bound by the habits of my predecessor.

Revolutionary ideas about, and the resultant changes in, government do not seem to appeal to you. You have five other candidates to choose from because I am NOT your candidate.

Thankfully, these ideas do appeal to many people. I AM their candidate.

Kamal Jain
Candidate for Massachusetts State Auditor
 
For more details see MGL Chapter 11 Section 12 -- pasted below (with my emphasis added) and available at:
http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/mgl/11/11-12.htm

CHAPTER 11. DEPARTMENT OF THE STATE AUDITOR

Chapter 11: Section 12. Audits; access to accounts; production of records; response to findings; exceptions

Section 12. The department of the state auditor shall make an audit as often as the state auditor determines it necessary, but in no event less than once in every two years of the accounts, programs, activities, and functions directly related to the aforementioned accounts of all departments, offices, commissions, institutions, and activities of the commonwealth, including those of districts and authorities created by the general court, and including those of the income tax division of the department of revenue, and for said purpose the authorized officers and employees of said department of the state auditor shall have access to such accounts at reasonable times and said department may require the production of books, documents, vouchers, and other records relating to any matter within the scope of such audit or an audit authorized by section 13, except tax returns. The superior court shall have jurisdiction to enforce the production of records that the department requires to be produced pursuant to this section, and the court shall order the production of all such records within the scope of any such audit. All such audits shall be conducted in accordance with the standards for audits of governmental organizations, programs, activities, and functions published by the Comptroller General of the United States. In any audit report of the accounts, funds, programs, activities, and functions of any agency, department, office, commission, or institution of the commonwealth, including those of districts and authorities created by the general court, issued by the department of the state auditor, wherein there appears adverse or critical audit results, the state auditor may require a response, in writing, to such audit results. Such response shall be forwarded to the department of the state auditor within fifteen days of notification by the state auditor. A copy of the response shall be filed with the appropriate secretariat, the secretary of administration and finance, the cognizant executive board in the case of an authority, and the house and senate committees on ways and means. The state auditor shall notify the appropriate secretariat, the secretary of administration and finance, the cognizant executive board in the case of an authority, and the house and senate committees on ways and means in the event of an agency’s failure to respond or of the filing of unresponsive answers. This section shall not apply to those accounts which the director of accounts of the department of revenue is required by law to examine; provided, however, that in a town following a majority vote by the board of selectmen or school committee that is ratified by a special or annual town meeting, or in a regional school district following a two-thirds vote of the regional school district committee members, or in a city following a majority vote of the city council and approval by the mayor, or in a county following a majority vote of the county commissioners, the department of the state auditor may make an audit of the accounts, programs, activities and other public functions of said town, district, regional school district, city or county to the extent determined necessary by the state auditor; provided, further, that the expenses incurred for any such audit shall be borne by the city, town or regional school district and the state auditor may charge for the cost of said audit; provided, further, that all funds received for any such audits of said city, town, district, regional school district or county shall be deposited with the state treasurer in a separate account and expended solely for audits of any city, town, district, regional school district or county. On or before April 1 of each year, the state auditor shall submit a report to the house and senate committees on ways and means which shall include, but not be limited to, (i) the number of audits performed under this section; (ii) a summary of findings under said audits; and (iii) the cost of each audit. The department of the state auditor shall, in any audit of the executive office of health and human services or any agency thereof, refer to the fraudulent claims commission any case coming to its attention in the course of such audit which appears to involve fraud. The department of the state auditor is hereby authorized to inspect, review or audit, in conformity with generally accepted government auditing standards, the accounts, books, records and activities of vendors contracting, having contracted, or agreeing to provide services or materials of any description, or any other thing of value pursuant to any and all contracts or agreements between the commonwealth, its departments, agencies, bureaus, boards, commissions, institutions, or authorities and said vendors to the extent necessary to determine compliance with the provisions and requirements of such contracts or agreements and the laws of the commonwealth. Any grant or contract entered into between an entity, including vendors, and a state agency shall include a clause providing the state auditor with access as intended by this section. The department of the state auditor is hereby authorized to conduct audits, in accordance with generally accepted governmental auditing standards, of the accounts, funds, programs, activities, and functions, of any program or activity funded in whole or in part by state grants, loans or reimbursements and carried out by cities, towns, counties, districts, or regional school districts, and for said purpose the authorized officers and employees of said department of the state auditor shall have access to such records at reasonable times and said department may require the production of books, documents, vouchers, reports and other records relating to any matter within the scope of such audit.

The department of the state auditor is hereby further authorized to inspect, review, or audit the accounts, funds, books, records, and activities, including audit reports relating to any matter within the scope of the audit, of any vendor contracting, having contracted, or agreeing to provide services or materials of any description, or any other thing of value, with a city, town, county, district, or regional school district pursuant to a contract or agreement funded in whole or in part directly or indirectly with state financial assistance. Said inspection, review, or audit shall be conducted to the extent necessary to determine compliance with the provisions and requirements of the contract or agreement, the grant, and the laws of the commonwealth.

The examination of the accounts of districts and authorities required by this section shall be made in addition to any audit required by the law creating such district or authority.
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