The race for Monroe County auditor ends Nov. 8, and charges of fraud from past auditors are still issues for candidates and voters in the upcoming election.
The past two elected auditors for the county, Democrats Amy Gerstman and Steven Saulter, were both charged with fraud from their time in office.
Saulter, the last auditor, resigned in July after seven and a half years in county government.
He spent three and a half of those years as auditor. He announced his decision to resign during a county council meeting.
“It is just time for me to ride off into the sunset,” Saulter said in the meeting.
At the time of his resignation, the Monroe County Republican Party issued a statement in favor of his resignation.
“The Monroe County Republican Party wishes to thank Auditor Steve Saulter, a Democrat, for resigning, and hopefully, putting another sad chapter of Monroe County government behind us,” the statement read.
Saulter said he resigned after finalizing a contract for updated software in the auditor’s office, but at the time he was under scrutiny for $1,600 in personal expenses on a county credit card.
He was originally scheduled for a hearing Oct. 25 on three counts of fraud and one count of official misconduct, but that hearing was canceled for undisclosed reasons.
During the investigation, Saulter admitted to spending $620 on the county credit card at Wal-Mart, Kroger and Marsh.
Saulter said he mistakenly used the county credit card to purchase food and medicine as he was under stress at the time and the card looked similar to his own.
Detective Lt. Shawn Kerr from the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office wrote in the probable cause affidavit that while the two cards are similar in color, they are distinct from one another and the transactions were caught on camera.
“All of the transactions were caught on video, and all of them showed suspect Saulter using the credit card to purchase prescription medications and food,” Kerr said in the affidavit
Before Saulter, Gerstman was charged with misconduct and six counts of fraud resulting in more than $11,000 of credit card fraud in 2013.
This fraud included tuition for her children and flights to New York City and Key West, Florida.
The candidates in the 2016 race for auditor said they are determined to bring respect back to the office of auditor.
Therese Chambers, the current interim auditor, announced her candidacy as an independent in a press release earlier this year and promises not to make the same mistakes as her predecessor.
“If elected, I will bring integrity and trust back into the office of auditor,” Chambers said in the release.
Chambers announced herself as an independent and split from the Democratic Party after Cathy Smith, the county treasurer, was chosen as the Democratic nominee.
Smith said in a candidate questionnaire from the political action committee Democracy for Monroe County she prizes integrity as one of her major attributes and as vital to acting as the financial officer for Monroe County.
“I prize integrity, fortitude, hard work and placing others before oneself as my core values,” Smith said in the questionnaire.
Ann Boehm, the Republican candidate for auditor and a self-employed accountant, said she was willing to take on the responsibility of auditor and would not do anything like what previous auditors have allegedly done with public funds.
“I won’t lie, I won’t steal, I will make you believe in this office again,” Boehm said on her Facebook page, Ann for Auditor.
The actions of the former auditor were disavowed by the chairman of the Monroe County Democratic Party, Mark Fraley. Fraley said a position in government or public service requires trust.
Trust is something each candidate has said they hope to restore.
“Public service involves great stewardship, unyielding compassion and hard-earned public trust,” Fraley said in a release.
