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By Jim Carney
Beacon Journal staff writer
POSTED: 05:00 p.m. EST, Nov 20, 2008
As a young girl, Mary Taylor was a big Cleveland Indians fan.
When she listened to ball games on the radio, she kept track of player statistics.
Today, Taylor explained her love of numbers by talking about her early fascination with baseball statistics, like batting averages.
In 2006, Taylor was elected state auditor as the first certified public accountant to hold the office in the state's history.
''While some might think being state auditor is boring, I think it is very exciting and interesting,'' Taylor, 42, of Green, said at the Akron Press Club luncheon held at the Martin Center on the University of Akron campus.
Taylor, a former Green councilwoman and two-term state representative, is the only Republican holding statewide office in Ohio.
She said that as a student at Boyer Elementary in the Springfield school district, she kept her baseball cards in a Velveeta cheese box and paid close attention to the numbers.
Now, she and her office of about 900 auditors pay attention to the numbers and statistics of 5,617 governmental entities — from villages, cities and townships to counties, school districts, state agencies and tax-supported boards and commissions.
She said she expects to run for another term in 2010 and labeled as rumors any talk that she might be interested in running for governor or U.S. Senate.
''It is hard to predict where you will be in one or two or three or four years,'' Taylor said.
''I believe as long as I feel I have a part to play and I am offering choices that are positive and making meaningful change, that I assume I will want to continue to be involved.''
As co-chair of the McCain campaign in Ohio, Taylor spoke of what the Republican Party must do in the future.
''When I look at the Republican Party and where we've been and where we want to go, we have to focus on the principles I believe are important,'' she said.
Taylor identified those principles as efficiency, effectiveness and accountability and said it is important to look at how to ''provide tax relief to taxpayers in Ohio.''
She said more job opportunities must be provided to Ohioans and the state has to look at how to attract jobs and businesses that want to start in Ohio and grow in the state.
It also is important, she said, to ''bring our students back home so that we can become a thriving economy.''
Taylor, also an avid Cleveland Browns fan, gave what she called her ''halftime'' report on her office.
She said the agency has improved efficiency by 19 percent and that the auditor's office is doing its job with more accountability and effectiveness.
Taylor, who received her undergraduate degree in accounting and master's degree in taxation from the University of Akron, said her office has identified more than $16.6 million in findings for recovery — misspent tax dollars that must be repaid.
And she said investigators in her office have uncovered crime.
Twenty-five people have been charged and 22 have been convicted of fraud, she said, and 46 cases are pending.
Taylor said her support as a state representative and later as state auditor of House Bill 166 has been one of her major accomplishments.
The bill is an internal audit law that requires independent review of internal controls at state agencies. It was signed into law in November 2007, she said.
Had the law been in place a few years ago, Taylor said, the scandal with the Bureau of Workers Compensation could have been avoided.
Taylor encouraged the public to report taxpayer fraud at public agencies by calling the auditor's hotline: 866-FRAUD-OH.
Jim Carney can be reached at 330-996-3576 or jcarney@thebeaconjournal.com.
As a young girl, Mary Taylor was a big Cleveland Indians fan.
When she listened to ball games on the radio, she kept track of player statistics.
Today, Taylor explained her love of numbers by talking about her early fascination with baseball statistics, like batting averages.
In 2006, Taylor was elected state auditor as the first certified public accountant to hold the office in the state's history.
''While some might think being state auditor is boring, I think it is very exciting and interesting,'' Taylor, 42, of Green, said at the Akron Press Club luncheon held at the Martin Center on the University of Akron campus.
Taylor, a former Green councilwoman and two-term state representative, is the only Republican holding statewide office in Ohio.
She said that as a student at Boyer Elementary in the Springfield school district, she kept her baseball cards in a Velveeta cheese box and paid close attention to the numbers.
Now, she and her office of about 900 auditors pay attention to the numbers and statistics of 5,617 governmental entities — from villages, cities and townships to counties, school districts, state agencies and tax-supported boards and commissions.
She said she expects to run for another term in 2010 and labeled as rumors any talk that she might be interested in running for governor or U.S. Senate.
''It is hard to predict where you will be in one or two or three or four years,'' Taylor said.
''I believe as long as I feel I have a part to play and I am offering choices that are positive and making meaningful change, that I assume I will want to continue to be involved.''
As co-chair of the McCain campaign in Ohio, Taylor spoke of what the Republican Party must do in the future.
''When I look at the Republican Party and where we've been and where we want to go, we have to focus on the principles I believe are important,'' she said.
Taylor identified those principles as efficiency, effectiveness and accountability and said it is important to look at how to ''provide tax relief to taxpayers in Ohio.''
She said more job opportunities must be provided to Ohioans and the state has to look at how to attract jobs and businesses that want to start in Ohio and grow in the state.
It also is important, she said, to ''bring our students back home so that we can become a thriving economy.''
Taylor, also an avid Cleveland Browns fan, gave what she called her ''halftime'' report on her office.
She said the agency has improved efficiency by 19 percent and that the auditor's office is doing its job with more accountability and effectiveness.
Taylor, who received her undergraduate degree in accounting and master's degree in taxation from the University of Akron, said her office has identified more than $16.6 million in findings for recovery — misspent tax dollars that must be repaid.
And she said investigators in her office have uncovered crime.
Twenty-five people have been charged and 22 have been convicted of fraud, she said, and 46 cases are pending.
Taylor said her support as a state representative and later as state auditor of House Bill 166 has been one of her major accomplishments.
The bill is an internal audit law that requires independent review of internal controls at state agencies. It was signed into law in November 2007, she said.
Had the law been in place a few years ago, Taylor said, the scandal with the Bureau of Workers Compensation could have been avoided.
Taylor encouraged the public to report taxpayer fraud at public agencies by calling the auditor's hotline: 866-FRAUD-OH.
Jim Carney can be reached at 330-996-3576 or jcarney@thebeaconjournal.com.
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