Behind closed doors

Secrecy in Delta College audit will ensure full public disclosure

By The Record
September 25, 2008 6:00 AM

State auditors will work behind the scenes as they try to determine how San Joaquin Delta College spent the $250 million bond money approved by voters four years ago.

This private work will result in what officials from the state Controller's Office say will be a very public report. In fact, some public hearings may take place during the investigation.

Two members of the citizen oversight committee object to the private protocol. They want the audit conducted in full view of the public, and on first blush, that seems reasonable.

It's not. The auditors' reasoning is simple: They want to get as much information as possible. And they want as much accuracy as possible.

Interviewing people in public could hamper those goals. When it's over, we may find out why the district has only about $66 million of the $250 million left. Why there are enormous differences between what was promised and what will happen. And who is responsible for the shortcomings.

When the tough questions are finally asked, the auditors worry that in a public setting, those being questioned would hedge their answers. There also is the worry that others to be interviewed will know what was said beforehand.

Think of it as the routine practice of a judge excluding witnesses from the courtroom until it is their turn to testify.

The Record supports public disclosure and the public's business being done in the open. Delta College trustees have repeatedly taken lightly the provisions of the Ralph M. Brown Act, the state's open meetings law. They as much as admitted they had done so in responding to a grand jury report that accused them of just such violations.

But an audit is different. And as long as the results are fully disclosed, the public's right to know is sustained.

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