Wendy Greuel to press for right to audit other L.A. officials

Newly inaugurated Los Angeles City Controller Wendy Greuel made clear today that she isn’t going to be cowed by a recent judge’s ruling that blocks her office from auditing programs run by her fellow elected officials: the mayor, city attorney and 15 council members.

In her inaugural address, Greuel said she was prepared to challenge that decision, going to the electorate with a ballot measure if need be to secure such expansive powers.

“If there is any question about this, I shall take this issue to you, the voters of the city of Los Angeles,” she told the audience on the south lawn of City Hall.

That may take a little while. Greuel’s next shot might not come until 2010, the next regularly scheduled statewide election.

Greuel made her remarks more than a week after Superior Court Judge Mark V. Mooney found that former City Controller Laura Chick did not have the power to audit a worker’s compensation program in the office of former City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo. Chick and Delgadillo sparred for nearly a year on that subject.

-- David Zahniser at L.A. City Hall

Photo: Los Angeles City Controller Wendy Greuel. Credit: Annie Wells/Los Angeles Times

Comments

[KingSlav]

It's hard to believe the City Controller doesn't have the right to audit a city office. What was City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo hiding?

[Enrique Gavaldon]

Wendy is the only person at city hall that makes sense, and has class.

[Hector]

I'm a lawyer. I've appeared in front of judge Mooney several times. Even which I lost i found him to be fair, but I too was shocked by the court's ruling when I read about it in the paper. So when I was at the downtown superior court I checked out the court's file and I read the opinion. It was very thoughtful--and legally correct. The judge wrote, among other things, that L.A. Charter section 261 which defines the power of the city controller in four places said the controller had the power to examine city departments and city offices. However, at section 261 (k), which gives the controller the power to do performance audits, the type of audit at issue here, the charter says that the controller can only audit city departments and programs. The judge also said the city charter at article 2 defines city offices and article 5 defines departments. Thus the judge said that an office is not a department. This is obvious sense. The people who wrote the city charter obviously did not want one politician looking over the shoulder of a political rival. I must say, the judge changed my mind, he convinced me by his very straightforward, well reasoned discussion of the issue.