For all the sweet talk and lofty promises voters hear around election time, they can rest assured at least one of the candidates on Denver’s April 4 municipal ballot is looking out for their bottom line. It’s Denver Auditor Timothy O’Brien. His job is to stand guard against waste, fraud and abuse. He’s been at it since he first was elected in 2015, and he has proved himself to be an effective watchdog – no small task when it comes to keeping an eye on City Hall.

He is seeking re-election and has earned the public’s trust – as well as our endorsement. When you mark up your mail ballot, remember to vote for Timothy O’Brien for Denver Auditor.

O’Brien’s office keeps a low profile as it hunts for mismanagement, overspending and underperformance in Denver’s bureaucratic labyrinth as well as among contractors doing business with the city. The results of that never-ending quest turn up in regular audit findings posted on the office’s website (go to: https://www.denvergov.org/Government/Agencies-Departments-Offices/Agencies-Departments-Offices-Directory/Auditors-Office/Audit-Services/Audit-Reports) and often are reported by the local news media.

Among its many efforts, the office has audited the administration of Denver’s child welfare placement services; City Hall’s cybersecurity; safety at the jail; effectiveness of residential trash, recycling and compost pickup; recreational marijuana sales tax collections; the list goes on.

O’Brien’s office casts a wider net, too, uncovering malfeasance like wage theft. Workers for a contractor at Denver International Airport, for example, were owed tens of thousands of dollars in wages because they had been classified wrongly as apprentices. O’Brien’s auditors recovered the amount they were underpaid. All told, his office recovered over $1 million last year in wages owed to Denver workers, and it has recovered another half million dollars so far this year.

All of which illustrates how the auditor’s office serves the voting, taxpaying public in ways much higher-profile elected posts in local government generally cannot.

Not all of Denver’s past auditors have approached the job with O’Brien’s level of engagement – and few have had his qualifications. Denver is fortunate to have someone with O’Brien’s job-specific credentials, experience and accolades at the helm.

O’Brien is a licensed certified public accountant, a chartered financial analyst and a chartered global management accountant with more than 40 years of auditing and accounting experience. He has completed more than 1,000 audits over a career that included 11 years as Colorado’s state auditor.

You might say he is an auditor’s auditor, which explains the honors and distinctions he has earned. He has won more national auditing awards than any previous Denver auditor. He was appointed to the U.S. Comptroller General’s Advisory Council on Government Auditing Standards. Last year, he received the David M. Walker Excellence in Government Accountability Award for demonstrating leadership to improve government performance and accountability.

After all the dust settles on the 2023 Denver municipal election – and the more prominent posts on the ballot have been filled by pols who, in some cases, will face a learning curve – O’Brien is the one voters will want minding the store. And especially the till.

Re-elect Timothy O’Brien as Denver’s auditor.

Denver Gazette Editorial Board