by Bob Boerner
According to The Associated Press State & Local Wire, the Treasure State is losing the long-serving legislative auditor to retirement. Montana's legislative auditor since August 1985, Scott Seacat, will retire on June 30, 2008.
Mr. Seacat is the third legislative auditor in Montana history since the office was created in 1967 and is the longest-serving. He has worked in the Legislative Audit Division for 32 years and headed it for 24 years. He estimates that audits over the past 32 years have saved Montana taxpayers more than $350 million. The Montana Legislative Audit Division does independent financial audits and performance audits of state government agencies and programs.
A total of 45 state legislatures, including Montana, have established these specialized evaluation offices to help state legislators meet their critical oversight responsibilities. There are only three directors who have served longer than Mr. Seacat. George Schroeder, in the South Carolina Legislative Audit Council, has served as Director since November 1975 and Jim Nobles, in the Minnesota Office of the Legislative Auditor, has served as Legislative Auditor since 1983. And, John W. Turcotte was Executive Director of the Mississippi Joint Legislative Committee on Performance Evaluation Expenditure Review (PEER) from 1978 to 1995, Director of the Florida Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability (OPPAGA) from 1996 to 2003 and Director of the North Carolina Program Evaluation Division since June, 2007.
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