It all started from a complaint lodged by an unnamed county employee in early April.
The complaint accused a county contractor employed by the Linn County Auditor, whose job was to fix a broken software system, was lying about the amount of time he spent working on the county’s dime.
Because the Linn County Board of Supervisors launched the investigation on the alleged fraud nearly a month after the initial incident, the embattled Linn County Auditor Joel Miller, said the board is trying to smear him before the June 5 Democratic primary, where he faces heavy opposition.
http://liarcatchers.com/fraud_investigation.html
However, Linn County Supervisor John Harris said it’s purely a coincidence.
“I would acknowledge that the timing is inconvenient for the auditor, however the timing is the timing,” he said. “When these issues are investigated they are kept quiet and they take time.”
Still, the auditor believes he has more reason to suspect that the investigation is politically motivated.
He said since he’s provided materials documenting what amounts to be the contractor’s time cards, the investigation has changed focus from whether the contractor essentially lied about time spent working, to whether the length of time the contractor worked was appropriate for what he got done with his time.
“Now there is no question — he was here for forty hours, but now it’s what did he do for those 40 hours,” he said.
He said this is further evidence of a political motivation. Miller said its unfair for the investigation to turn to whether the contractor’s time was used effectively, because this same test would have to be applied to each of Linn County’s over 800 employees.
“I don’t think they are willing to apply this to every employee of the county,” he said.
Harris emphasized that the board of supervisors is not in direct control of the investigation, which is currently being handled by Linn County Compliance Officer, Steve Tucker.
He said the board likely won’t be privy to the details of the ongoing investigation until it Tucker gives a finished report to the board, which might not happen until late June, at the latest
