Minnesota's tight auditor race an unexpected midterm battleground

Running for Minnesota's least-known statewide office requires a little humility.

"Raise your hand if you've heard of the state auditor," candidate Ryan Wilson asked a group of College Republicans at a recent campaign stop. A handful of hands shot up. In mid-October, Auditor Julie Blaha joked to a group of door-knockers that they obviously showed up "primarily for the state auditor's race," before launching into her 30-second spiel on what the office does.

Despite its low profile, the campaign to become Minnesota's next state auditor is neck-and-neck in most polls this year, and Republicans see the race as one of their best chances to break a 16-year losing streak in statewide contests. The biggest dividing line between the two candidates is whether the office should continue on as a humble watchdog of local government funds, or — as Wilson argues — if Minnesota's auditor should actively jump into other areas that need scrutiny.

"When a race is close and people know it's close, we have this moment. We are connecting with people and they are asking questions about the office," said Blaha, the DFL incumbent who is seeking a second term. "My goal is to use it to talk about what happens locally and why that matters."

The office of the state auditor oversees the books of $40 billion in local government spending each year, largely through audits of counties and cities. The auditor also serves on several state boards, including the State Board of Investment.

Blaha, a former math teacher and AFL-CIO secretary treasurer, took over the office in 2018 after it had lost considerable clout. Budget cuts reduced the office's staff by roughly half from a peak in the 1990s, and a 2015 law change gave Minnesota counties the option of using a private auditing firm instead of being required in most cases to use the state auditor.

Blaha said the first thing she did in office was try to rebuild relationships with counties and other local governments that had been strained over the years. During the pandemic, the office also took on some audits of nonprofits or governments that received more than $750,000 in federal funds to make sure they were following requirements.

Now, Blaha said there's a chance to build on the work she started with local governments, which were flooded with federal funds and essential to providing Minnesotans services during the pandemic.

"You just want your water to turn on. You want the streets plowed. You want your kids to be able to pick up a book from the library. When things are going really well you're not thinking about them every day," said Blaha. "Your choice in this job is to get headlines for yourself or do the work that makes Minnesotans' lives better. You really can't do both."

Her Republican opponent disagrees. Wilson, an attorney and former CEO of a medical auditing company, is making the case that the auditor's office should be far more active on more issues than it has been over the last four years.

He said he plans to model himself after past state auditors such as Judi Dutcher and former Gov. Arne Carlson, who often jumped on high-profile issues that were outside the scope of local government auditing.

"I'm going to be very similar to auditors past," he said. "If they want somebody that's going to be outspoken when issues arise, that's what I'm offering. To actively fight waste, fraud and abuse and really be a vocal watchdog."

As an example, Wilson often points to the legal debate over the city of Minneapolis' charter and minimum staffing levels required for police officers, something he would have used the office to weigh in on. He's rolled out a schools plan that would include offering performance audits to districts.

He also criticizes Blaha for not raising the alarm on Feeding Our Future after a state auditor's report in February 2021 noted the nonprofit had not submitted an audit report a year earlier. About a dozen nonprofits didn't submit audits that year, including well-known institutions such as the University of St. Thomas. Feeding our Future is now at the center of fraud allegations involving $250 million in federal funds for food nutrition programs. Wilson said he would have drawn more attention to the report if he'd been auditor at the time.

"If I see a problem, I'll raise my hand and flag it," he said. "With Feeding Our Future, there were lots of people who had the potential opportunity to stop it. A lot of people by themselves could have played a bit role in stopping it."

Blaha has said the report her office produced on Feeding Our Future was used by the state as it cut ties with the nonprofit, and she disagrees with Wilson's characterization of areas where the office can weigh in. State agencies, for example, fall under the jurisdiction of the state's Legislative Auditor, not her office.

"If you're going to try to do all that, what are you going to drop? Because you're going to have to drop something," she said. For his part, Wilson said he would seek more funding from the Legislature in areas where he wants to expand the work of the auditor.

Wilson has had more campaign cash than Blaha throughout much of the election cycle, including money he's loaned to himself. Both candidates have been getting the word out for their campaigns by tag teaming with other statewide candidates for events.

Two third-party candidates are also in the race. Will Finn is running for auditor as the Grassroots-Legalize Cannabis Party candidate, and Tim Davis is seeking the office for the Legal Marijuana Now Party.