Senate President Joel Chaisson and House Speaker Jim Tucker today announced the retirement of Legislative Auditor Steve Theriot, effective November 20, 2009.
Daryl G. Purpera, First Assistant to the Legislative Auditor, will serve as Theriot's temporary replacement until the position is permanently filled.
Theriot has served as legislative auditor since 2004. He began his public service on the Jefferson Parish Home Mortgage Authority. He was also a member of the Jefferson Parish School Board from 1983-1987 where he served as finance committee chairman. Theriot served in the state House of Representatives from 1988 until 1996. As a member of the House, he chaired the Ways and Means Committee and the Fiscal Affairs and Governmental Operations Committee of the Southern Legislative Conference.
Purpera has been with the auditor's office since 1985 and previously worked as an auditor for the Louisiana Dept. of Agriculture. A graduate of LSU, he is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), the Louisiana Society of CPAs (LCPA) and the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. In August, 2009, he was appointed to the AICPAState and Local Government Expert Panel. He also serves on the LCPA's Accounting and Auditing Standards Committee and the Government Accounting and Auditing Committee.
Louisiana Law requires the Special Recommendation Commission to notify the members of the legislature of a vacancy in the office of legislative auditor within 15 days
after the occurrence. The commission shall submit to the legislature the name of any person or persons whom the commission recommends to permanently fill the position.
The commission must also consider any nominee submitted to the commission by a member of the legislature. Their recommendation must be submitted to the legislature no later than the convening of the next legislative session after the occurrence of the vacancy.
The commission is comprised of the president and president pro tempore of the Senate, the speaker and speaker pro tempore of the House, the chairman and vice chairman of the Legislative Audit Advisory Council, and the chairman, or vice chairman if designated to serve by the chairman, of the following committees - Senate and Governmental Affairs, House and Governmental Affairs, Senate Finance, House Appropriations, Senate Revenue and Fiscal Affairs, and House Ways and Means.
The Louisiana Constitution requires the auditor be elected by a majority of the elected members of each house. The auditor serves at the pleasure of the legislature and can be removed by a two-thirds vote of the elected members of each house.
The auditor is legally required to be a duly qualified elector and a licensed certified public accountant.
Good. Now we have a chance (extremely miniscule chance) of getting a legislative auditor who 1) is not an egomaniacal academician with badge envy (like Dan Kyle), or 2) a former member of the crime family that is the Louisiana legislature (like Theriot). Not much hope for improvement since the inmates get to pick their own guard, but at least it's a small chance for some real oversight. Written by
on 11/4/2009
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