Portland City Auditor

The Portland city auditor is one of the six citywide elected positions in Portland, Oregon. The auditor is the only elected official functionally independent of City Council and accountable only to the public. The auditor exists "to promote open and accountable government by providing independent and impartial reviews, access to public information, and services for City government and the public."[1] The current auditor, since January 2023, is Simone Rede.[2][3]

Auditor of the City of Portland, Oregon
Flag of Portland, Oregon
Incumbent
Simone Rede
since 2023
Term lengthFour years
Formation1868
Websitewww.portlandoregon.gov/auditor/

Duties

Portland has had a city auditor since 1868, and the position has been elected by voters since 1891.[4] The main divisions of the auditor's office are Audit Services, Code Hearings Office, Independent Police Review, the Ombudsman, Archives and Records Management, Management Services, and Council Clerk/Contracts. Management Services is in charge of overseeing elections and lobbyist registration.

History

From 2015 until leaving office in 2022, Auditor Hull Caballero and the City Commission had disagreements as to the budget of the Auditor's office. Hull Caballero sought more autonomy for her office.[5][6] The auditor's office is in charge of auditing the bureaus overseen by the city commissioners and many accused the city commission of corruption and attempting to hide what their bureaus are doing by giving the auditor a smaller budget than necessary.

In 2020, Mayor Ted Wheeler was fined for making the list of his top contributors in a font "too small for the average reader" on campaign literature. City law requires the names of top donors on websites and literature of city candidates.[7]

In 2020, Mayoral Candidate Ozzie Gonzalez was forced to disclose the names of his top contributors on his website as required by city law.

See also

References
  1. "About the Auditor's Office". Portland.gov. Retrieved June 20, 2006.
  2. Kavanaugh, Shane Dixon; Ramakrishnan, Jayati (May 17, 2022). "Simone Rede becomes next Portland auditor, winning first contested race for city watchdog in decades". The Oregonian/OregonLive. Retrieved January 1, 2023.
  3. "Auditor Simone Rede". City of Portland, Oregon. 2023. Retrieved August 17, 2023.
  4. "Office of the City Auditor, City of Portland, Oregon". Idealist. Archived from the original on June 22, 2020. Retrieved June 21, 2020.
  5. Jaquiss, Nigel (May 8, 2022). "The City Auditor and City Council Are at a Standoff on the City Hearings Office". Willamette Week. Retrieved June 21, 2020.
  6. Templeton, Amelia (November 30, 2016). "Portland City Auditor Seeks More Autonomy For Her Office". OPB. Retrieved June 21, 2020.
  7. Bailey Jr., Everton (May 18, 2020). "Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler fined $500 for listing campaign donors in tiny print". The Oregonian/OregonLive. Retrieved June 21, 2020.
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