Miloscia announces bid to succeed Sonntag
Published 3:22 pm Thursday, September 15, 2011
State Rep. Mark Miloscia, D-Federal Way, announced today he wants to be the state’s next auditor.
Miloscia is looking to succeed Auditor Brian Sonntag who announced Monday he would retire at the end of his term in 2012. Sonntag has held the post since 1993.
In a press release he writes:
“I have been auditing and reviewing private and public sector organizations for 25 years. I cut my teeth auditing different Boeing programs—I know what to look for, and I won’t tolerate poor performance. I know what agencies and programs must do to be effective and efficient and I don’t hesitate to act on poor performance. I will work with citizens, elected officials, and business and labor leaders, and bring this expertise to the State Auditors office.”
Miloscia, who is chairman of the House General Government Appropriations and Oversight, vowed to make the office “completely transparent and measureable to the public.”
Miloscia is a social conservative who has periodically clashed with liberals in his caucus.
It happened in March when he opposed a bill to legalize surrogacy.
In an interview afterwards he said:
“I am OK with surrogacy for compassion,” he said. “This is completely different. You are turning a baby into a product; I said ‘a widget’ on the floor. And you are turning a low-income woman into a breeding facility with no protection.”
Miloscia proposed language to tax the transaction based on the idea that the baby is a taxable product. It failed.
Here is the full text of Miloscia’s announcement:For Immediate Release: 15 Sep 2011
State Representative Mark Miloscia (D-Federal Way) announced his bid today to run for Washington State Auditor, succeeding Brian Sonntag who recently announced his intentions to retire at the end of his current term in 2012.
“Brian Sonntag is certainly retiring as the best State Auditor in the nation. It is an honor to continue his performance legacy in critically examining all government spending and programs in an unbiased and bipartisan manner. During these tough budget times, our government must improve its performance and I have the performance technical skills, and proven track record that will get us there.”
Rep. Miloscia, a member of the American Society of Quality since 1991, has been a recognized state and national leader in government accountability and ethics reform since he was first elected, having sponsored or helped draft virtually every government improvement bill since 1999 (GMAP, POG, Performance Audits, WSQA, etc).
He recently made history when he became the first lawmaker in the nation selected as an examiner or auditor for the prestigious Baldrige Performance Program. Last year, he was invited to our nation’s capitol to join Vice President Biden and Commerce Secretary Locke in congratulating the winners of the Baldrige Quality Award as the best run private and public organizations in the nation.
Rep. Miloscia sometimes has perplexed his colleagues and interest groups with his passion for government performance, having a track record of grilling government agencies in almost every committee hearing and of voting against state budgets and tax increases when accountability measures were excluded or lacking.
“I have been auditing and reviewing private and public sector organizations for 25 years. I cut my teeth auditing different Boeing programs—I know what to look for, and I won’t tolerate poor performance. I know what agencies and programs must do to be effective and efficient and I don’t hesitate to act on poor performance. I will work with citizens, elected officials, and business and labor leaders, and bring this expertise to the State Auditors office. “
Rep. Miloscia is regularly invited to provide technical performance guidance to many public and private sector organizations here in Washington State, in addition to speaking at numerous performance conferences and publishing articles in performance magazines.
Miloscia say’s his goal for this office and this state is pretty simple and will be completely transparent and measurable to the public.
“As State Auditor, our state will be recognized by our own citizens and the performance experts as the most efficient and effective government in the world. Where the most innovative companies in the world, the Boeings and Microsoft’s come to our agencies door to learn performance best practices from our employees, not the other way around . Washington’s voters are expecting a real performance task master in the State Auditors Office to improve our state and I am just the leader that will get us results.”
Rep. Miloscia, an Air Force Academy engineering graduate with both an MBA and a Masters in Clinical Psychology, is a former AF B-52 pilot and Contract Manager and a former executive at Tacoma Goodwill Industries and Federal Way Youth and Family Services. He currently works as substitute school teacher and has served as a quality examiner reviewing numerous private and public organizations for the last five years.
