State Auditor Jones responds to candidate Prater's lies and attacks

State Auditor: It’s Time To Set The Record Straight

It’s tough sitting on the sidelines while someone demeans your record, office, and leadership.

Charlie Prater, who is running to be state auditor, has built his entire campaign on false accusations and baseless lies.

Prater accused Deputy State Auditor Cindy Byrd of campaigning on state time and bilking taxpayers out of tens of thousands of dollars in travel expenses. The TRUTH is Cindy Byrd has not spent a single dime of taxpayer’s money. She travels at her own expense and takes personal leave time to campaign.

Now Prater has reverted to making accusations of corruption at the State Auditor’s Office.

It’s okay to disagree with our audits or the job we’ve done safeguarding taxpayer dollars. But, no one has questioned the integrity of the State Auditor’s Office since I took office 7½ years ago.

The State Auditor should not be about misleading the public and Charlie’s done it again and again.

He surrounds himself with corrupt officials who were ousted due to Cindy’s audits. He chose a disgraced former state representative as his campaign manager for whom this is partly personal. If this is how he campaigns, how will he audit?

It’s a shame that Prater has sunk so low that he’s now attacking the State Auditor’s Office and the hard-working public servants who work here, including Cindy Byrd – all because he knows he can’t compete with the better qualified, more experienced public servant that Cindy Byrd, CPA, has been for Oklahomans throughout her career.

The only corruption I see is in his lack of scruples and win-at-all-costs, scorched-earth operation. I guarantee you corruption does not exist in this agency.

Gary A. Jones, CPA, CFE
Oklahoma State Auditor and Inspector