Minn. Audit Looks At Finances In Pawlenty's Office

Source: WCCO

June 12, 2009

ST. PAUL (AP) ― The office has a yearly budget of $3.6 million and about 40 employees.

Legislative Auditor James Nobles says the governor's office has generally adequate oversight of its finances.

But his report says the office paid out $3,094 in expenses without original receipts and one employee booked 8,300 airline miles to a personal account.

Also, a $5,000 computer server and a $8,500 automatic signature machine weren't recorded in internal inventory records.

The office has a yearly budget of $3.6 million and about 40 employees.

Pawlenty Chief of Staff Matt Kramer says the expense reports lacking original receipts included copies of the receipts. He says an employee inadvertently got personal miles by booking through an online travel site, but later had the miles removed.

He says the server and signature machine were added to the inventory.