Politician or public servant? State auditor candidates chart different paths for GOP nomination

A state agency that overspent its budget by $742 million. City officials who protected an elected leader from having to pay $47,000 in utility bills. Milk inspectors who went easy on North Carolina dairy farms facing hundreds of cleanliness violations.

Those are just a few of the allegations Beth Wood investigated as North Carolina State Auditor — a watchdog position designed to make sure government programs are using their resources efficiently while complying with state and federal regulations, and to sniff out corruption and malfeasance. And now, candidates are vying to take the torch.

For the first time in 16 years, North Carolina voters will be tasked with electing a new state auditor in November. The battle for the Republican nomination is expected to be settled in a runoff this week, when voters choose between Dave Boliek or Jack Clark.

Wood resigned from her position last year after pleading guilty to misdemeanor charges of using a state-owned vehicle for personal errands — a case that spawned from a high-profile hit-and-run case involving Wood.

Gov. Roy Cooper appointed former Wake County commissioner Jessica Holmes to serve the remainder of Wood’s term. Whoever wins the GOP nomination will face Holmes, who is the Democratic nominee for the role and has a leg up because she’s already spent a little time in the role.

Boliek and Clark were the top vote-getters in the Republican Party’s primary for state auditor in March, when none of the six candidates received the 30% support required to win the party’s nomination outright. Neither has run for elected office before this race.

Boliek and Clark have spent the past few months trying to convince Republican primary voters that they have what it takes to win the nomination and to topple Holmes in the general election. And they’re taking markedly different approaches to the campaign trail.

But first, they need to convince voters from across the state to show up for the runoff. Runoffs are generally low-turnout affairs. Primary runoffs even more so, never mind the fact that this is a primary runoff for a position that has historically flown under the radar.

The scandal that led to Wood’s departure, however, has put the position in the spotlight. The position wields power in that the state auditor sits on the Council of State — a body made up of the state’s executive branch leaders who approve state contracts and have say in emergency orders issued by the governor.

The auditor in particular is expected to walk a fine line politically and professionally — investigating officials and governments run by people across the political spectrum and adhering to professional standards expected of auditors. Whoever wins the role will likely seek to restore trust in the role after the investigation that led to Wood’s resignation.

Boliek, 56, is a former prosecutor who runs a private law practice in Fayetteville and sits on the UNC Board of Trustees. He’s drawing on that experience — specifically, his efforts as board chair to save UNC money — to appeal to voters while also putting his political agenda at the forefront of his campaign. For example, Boliek has vowed to target diversity, equity and inclusion policies and, if elected, audit the state Department of Motor Vehicles.

“These Council of State positions are about courage and leadership, primarily,” Boliek said in an interview. “Courage and leadership means you let the voters know where you stand and what your belief system is and you don’t compromise your belief system to curry voters on either side of the aisle.”

Clark, 32, is a research assistant to state Rep. Kyle Hall, R-Stokes. Hall chairs the House Appropriations Committee, which plays an integral role in determining the state budget. Clark’s campaign emphasizes that he’s the only GOP candidate who has worked as an auditor and the only candidate who is a certified public accountant — a designation that requires passing a rigorous exam and meeting experience requirements. He avoids making politically-charged comments that could jeopardize his reputation with unaffiliated or Democratic North Carolinians.

“My campaign is not tailored to rile up the voters to get those rounds of applause,” Clark said in an interview. “That’s not what the auditor’s role is. I am a conservative Republican. I'm not going to shy away from the fact that those are my values. But as auditor, it's kind of a different world than being a congressman or governor candidate.”

Holmes, a lawyer, has served as state auditor since December. One of her main achievements has been an audit of federal funds received by the state. Her office said it found inadequate monitoring of certain block grants and funds for housing, foster care and opioid abuse treatment; incorrect usage of foster care funds; and deficiencies in the process to determine eligibility for adoptions and Medicaid. Most cases involved nominal amounts when compared with the state’s $30 billion budget.

Holmes declined an interview request. In a statement to WRAL, she said she has refocused the office’s mission to focus “on services that impact our state’s most vulnerable residents including seniors, people with disabilities, our children, programs that support foster youth, address food security, affordable housing, and hurricane relief.”

She added: “Money isn’t red or blue, it’s green, and my job as the state’s independent auditor is to follow the money. We’re all tired of partisan politics and dog whistles — while others are talking about doing the work, I’m actually doing it.”

Is a CPA necessary?

Clark believes it’s essential for the state auditor to be a certified public accountant, although it’s not a legal requirement in North Carolina. A group of Republican legislators last year filed a bill that would’ve required the state auditor to be a CPA, but it never came up for a vote.

CPA licensure is required in 12 of the 19 states where voters elected the state auditor, according to the National Association of State Auditors, Comptrollers and Treasurers. In the other states, auditors are appointed by other elected officials.

Clark says CPAs — especially those with experience in auditing — have skills that others don’t often learn from simply running a business.

“Auditing is a very niche role. It requires a particular skill set and mindset, training and background,” Clark said. “You're just not going to be able to kind of see things the way an auditor needs to see them if you come from something business or law.”

Boliek, who touts a master’s degree in business administration, says that his experience as chairman of the UNC Board of Trustees from 2021 to 2023 shows that you don’t need to be a CPA to identify financial inefficiencies.

“We reformed the budget process, hired a CFO, took the budget out of the hands of the provost and put it into a professional financial manager’s hands,” Boliek said. “And, in the process, we found a $100 million structural deficit.”

He added: “The fact that the state auditor never found that, the fact that there wasn't an audit committee on the board — that is where I got the initial thought of running for state auditor.”

Partisanship in the role

Boliek is candid about his political beliefs on the campaign trail and his ideas for what government agencies should be audited. He has said that while on the UNC Board of Trustees he worked to eliminate woke diversity and equity policies and that, if elected, he’d audit not only the DMV but also the state’s election boards.

Within the auditor’s office, Boliek wants to open the Office of Election Integrity to audit the state’s voter rolls, election equipment and operations. “I've talked to the public across the state of North Carolina and there's a tremendous amount of distrust in the election process,” Boliek said.

Election mistrust is particularly high among North Carolina conservatives, a WRAL News poll found. And focusing on the issue has been a strategy among GOP candidates, who try to appeal to the party’s base in primary elections.

The State Auditor has legal authority to audit the N.C. State Board of Elections but does not audit election results, according to the Auditor’s Office. As for election results, the state and county boards of elections conduct audits after every election that are designed to search for equipment tampering, ballot stuffing, and voting machine or counting errors.

Clark believes that publicly criticizing agencies before they’re audited could backfire. Employees of the agency could attempt to obstruct the audit process, Clark said. Singling out people, policies or agencies could also diminish the public’s trust.

“Independence is a huge, huge piece of auditing,” Clark said. “You cannot appear biased. You cannot appear to have your own agenda. Because people won't trust your results.”

Clark compared being state auditor to being a judge.

Clark said he suspects Boliek is using more political rhetoric because Boliek is still trying to establish his conservative bonafides. Boliek was registered as a Democrat until last year and voted in multiple Democratic primaries from 2002 to 2020, election records show.

Boliek says he’s been conservative his whole life and didn’t think about his party registration until deciding to run for office.

“I'm no different than a lot of Eastern North Carolina conservatives,” Boliek said, referring to people who vote for Republican candidates but are registered as Democrats. “Much like Donald Trump, who was a former Democrat, I've been welcomed by party leadership and by people across the state, because I have a proven conservative track record.”

Getting out the vote

Republican political strategists hesitate to predict a winner in the race in large part because of the expected low turnout. Furthermore, neither candidate has high name recognition, since neither has ever run for office. And fundraising doesn’t appear to be a big factor in the race.

Clark squeaked by Boliek in the March 5 primary — 23% to 22% — despite being massively outspent. Boliek, who loaned his campaign $100,000, raised another $416,000 and spent $438,000 on his campaign leading up to the March 5 primary, according to his most recent quarterly campaign finance report. Clark, meanwhile, loaned his campaign $5,000 and Clark reported spending less than $10,000 as of Feb. 25.

Boliek suggested the large field of six candidates played a role in preventing someone from securing the nomination. He added that interest in the job is a good thing.

“The fact that we had some really quality candidates, by anyone's estimation, running for state auditor really highlights the importance of the office,” Boliek said.

Clark said he was somewhat surprised by the results, given his financial disadvantage. “I was ready for anything,” Clark said about his expectations heading into the March 5 primary.

Clark said worked reduced hours at the legislature and sometimes takes unpaid time off to attend events around the state. He thinks he received the most votes because his message is simple: “If you see ‘this guy’s actually an auditor and a CPA’ — that’s an easy pitch,” Clark said. “No amount of money is going to buy yourself auditing experience.”

Boliek said his ability to raise money should be an important consideration for voters who want the Republican Party to have a serious chance of winning the auditor’s office for the first time in years.

“My ability to raise money, and to put forward a professional campaign, I think is really important in the fall for the Republican Party,” Boliek said. “I will be a formidable candidate. I will be a well-financed candidate. I will not be a drag on the ticket. In fact, I will be a helper on the ticket in the fall.”