Cohen Appointed County Auditor-Controller

Over the impassioned objections of a supervisor and a former auditor candidate, the county Board of Supervisors named Assistant Auditor-Controller Christine Cohen to the $124,322-a-year top slot after her boss retires Dec. 31.

Four of the five sitting board members offered overwhelming words of support for Cohen, who faced heavy criticism last month for failing to notify supervisors of an audit that found the county owed the state nearly $7 million.

“She is very capable,” Supervisor John K. Flynn said. “We trust her; she’s well-educated. If you’ve got a person who’s talented right here, let’s appoint her right now.”

But Steven Maulhardt, who unsuccessfully challenged Auditor-Controller Tom Mahon in 1998, implored the supervisors before the vote to stop “creating a dynasty” by appointing another incumbent. Cohen is the third assistant auditor-controller elevated to succeed the chief after the elected officer left in midterm.

“I just think it’s wrong to keep appointing this position,” Maulhardt said. “It’s been that way since the 1970s--the auditor quits in the middle of his term, and his assistant is appointed.”

Supervisor Frank Schillo, still stinging from the $7-million audit bill, said the county should accept outside applicants before picking a successor.

“Appointing an auditor is just too cozy,” said Schillo, the only supervisor to vote against Cohen’s appointment. “Christine may be the most qualified person, but that will show in the competitive process.”

Schillo initially supported Cohen, but withdrew that backing Nov. 21 after reading in The Times about the state audit. He criticized Mahon for not alerting supervisors. Although Mahon is the auditor, Cohen took the heat for that decision because she has run the office while Mahon tends to his ailing wife.

Mahon cited his wife’s illness as the reason he’s leaving the job two years before his term expires.

Despite Schillo’s criticism of the $7-million mistake, the other supervisors were willing to overlook that and endorse Cohen. They also shrugged off criticism that her appointment perpetuates a good-old-boy network.

“I don’t have the desire to waste the time or the money to do a search because I don’t think the public will be any better served,” Supervisor Judy Mikels said.

Maulhardt and Scott Weiss, a Camarillo resident who lost to Mahon in 1994, asked to be considered for the job after Mahon resigned. Both applied to board members and said they had better qualifications than Cohen, who is not a certified public accountant.

The state’s Government Code requires county auditors to be either certified public accountants or to have served as auditor-controller or deputy auditor for at least three years. Cohen, a 21-year veteran of the department, qualifies under the latter condition, as did Mahon, who is also not a CPA. Cohen has a master’s degree in finance.

“Audits should be done by a CPA, not by a finance major,” Maulhardt told supervisors Tuesday.

Tuesday’s appointment means that Cohen will have the job until the 2002 election, when she will have to face voters for the first time. She said she’s prepared to campaign for the job, if necessary--which it may not be, because supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to order Chief Administrative Officer Harry Hufford to submit an analysis of appointing the auditor-controller instead of filling the post through an election.

That change, however, would require a countywide vote, which supervisors would have to put on the 2002 ballot.

Hufford has long supported the change, saying it would make the office more accountable. Under the arrangement, the auditor would report to the chief administrator.

The chief administrator has criticized the auditor-controller’s office for not conducting enough audits and for encroaching on territory that Hufford considers his own, such as fiscal forecasting.

Hufford said he expects to submit that report to supervisors by the end of January.