To the Editor,
Students quite rationally are not usually informed in local elections (who cares who wins?), and thus often just vote for the candidate from the political party they support. With respect to this year’s county auditor race, that would be a mistake. In that office, we want someone who can insure local governmental units are following sound, honest fiscal practices.
Jill Thompson is by far the better candidate on three grounds. First, she has far superior technical knowledge of finances; she wrote her final graduation paper for the Masters in Financial Economics degree at OU with me and it was one of the best papers of its kind I ever read (and I am in my 50th year of teaching at OU).
Second, she has quietly saved the county lots of money. I firsthand watched her, working cordially with some OU economics students and Commissioner Charlie Atkins, help save the county over a million dollars over the next four years by using her superior financial acumen to successfully convince auditors and sheriffs from surrounding counties to pay more of the cost of the Southeast Ohio Regional Jail.
Third and most important, in a county with all executive offices controlled by one political party, it is imperative to have independent checks on potential abuses of power, and that is the auditor's job, one auditor Thompson has done aggressively well, sometimes to the annoyance of other office holders. Annoying politicians by sometimes saying "no" is something good auditors do. That is why her opponent's message that "I will get along better with other office holders" is actually highly troublesome.
For all of these reasons, I am voting for Jill Thompson.
Richard Vedder is Distinguished Professor of Economics Emeritus at Ohio University
