The flap over the state auditor’s authority to look over the financial records of the governor's public-private entity JobsOhio continues, as the deadline to meet a subpoena looms ahead.
Republican Auditor David Yost says he fully anticipates that the governor’s office will comply with the March 19 subpoena because he says he hasn’t formally heard otherwise, though Republican Gov. John Kasich has told reporters he doesn’t feel the auditor has the authority to audit JobsOhio’s private dollars.
“Look, our concern is for accountability, transparency. The nexus of the money is so close to its public source and there are so many public actions involved, we believe that it ought to be treated as public money,” says Kasich.
Gov. Kasich confirms that he and Yost have talked, but he won’t say if JobsOhio will or won’t turn over the books.
“The goal is to make sure that people understand the public dollars are going to be audited. We’ve asked them to take a look at all these public dollars and when it comes to additional issues there, we just have to work through it,” says Kasich.
Kasich notes that the private firm KPMG has already done an audit of JobsOhio.