For the first time since 2008, North Carolina voters will elect a new state auditor. And the candidates have different opinions about what the position should do in the future.
Jessica Holmes (right) was sworn in as state auditor in December 2023, replacing Beth Wood, who resigned after she was indicted, and later pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors for misusing a state-issued vehicle for personal activities. Holmes is now running for a full term.
Holmes, a Democrat, was previously a Wake County commissioner and deputy commissioner of the N.C. Industrial Commission. She holds a bachelor’s degree and a law degree from UNC Chapel Hill.
She faces David Boliek, a Fayetteville attorney and member of the UNC Chapel Hill board of trustees. Boliek also holds a bachelor’s degree from UNC Chapel Hill as well as a law degree from Campbell University.
A Republican, Boliek won a run-off to be in the general election.
The state auditor reviews more than $100 billion in state assets and liabilities each year and audits programs that contribute tens of billions of dollars in federal money to the state. Each year, it investigates hundreds of cases of alleged fraud, waste and abuse of taxpayer dollars.
Holmes says she’s most proud of two recent audits – the annual statewide single audit, which identified $467,246 in questioned costs, and an audit at Fayetteville State University, which discovered employees allegedly spent $692,239 on “unallowable” credit card purchases.
The 2023 statewide single audit examined how the state spent $35 billion in federal awards that were distributed to 618 programs managed by 103 different state entities, including the university and community college systems.
“I like to say that money isn’t red or blue, it’s green,” says Holmes. “My job is simply to follow the money regardless of where it goes without being biased or leaning any particular way, with a personal focus on integrity, accountability and transparency.”
If elected, Holmes said she would take a “very unbiased approach, instead of targeting a particular state agency.” The auditor’s office receives about 800 tips a year. “I don’t have my eye on any particular agency,” she says. “I want to make sure that I am impartial and looking at all the agencies and following the money.”
Boliek (right) would take a different approach. He’d like to audit the N.C. Department of Motor Vehicles and says he’d take a “hard look” at nongovernment organizations that receive state money to perform state services. “Sometimes that is an appropriate appropriation, and they may be sitting in the best position to accomplish the best goals for the state of North Carolina, but they should be audited,” says Boliek.
Boliek notes that the state auditor focuses on finances and compliance, but he would like it to look at performance as well. “It goes back to performance audits in state government, holding them accountable with an eye toward customer service,” he says. “I really think the auditor’s office can be another place in state government that helps to keep the economic engine that has been created in North Carolina.”
Holmes, the first Black female to serve on the N.C. Council of State, expressed a similar point of view. “The more efficient our government is, the better return on investment for the taxpayers, and we get to keep more money in our pockets,” she says, adding she is not “spewing political rhetoric. I am here to do my job. I am here for the right reasons and I have the best of interests for my state.”
Boliek pointed to two past audits that he’d like to emulate. One was a 2020 audit when Wood, a Democrat, was state auditor that disclosed mishandling of money in Rocky Mount that included $47,704 in utility bills not collected from a City Council member. Another was an audit of trips to France and Russia by former Gov. Mike Easley and his wife that then State Auditor Les Merritt, a Republican, deemed “unreasonable and excessive expenses.”
Wood defeated Merritt in 2008 and was re-elected in 2012, 2016 and 2020.
At the end of June, Holmes had raised $177,490.62 for her campaign while Boliek had raised slightly more than $1 million.
A Libertarian, Bob Drach, is also running for state auditor. He said on Ballotpedia that he would “focus on retaining the excellent audit staff, recruiting additional talent, continuing key investigations, and keeping technology current.”