STATEMENT BY BUDGET AND FINANCE DIRECTOR GEORGINA KAWAMURA

“The legislative auditor's final report on the Department of Budget and Finance is just as flawed and patently false as her draft report. The only difference is that her final report has been accompanied by caustic oral statements that discredit her office.  Her remarks are perhaps indicative of the fact that the complexities of the job have passed her by, and it is simply time for her to retire, and leave the position to someone better able and better suited to handle the position.

“Just one example of the final report's gross flaws is that without any citation of the attorneys (if any) that she relied on for her own legal opinion, the legislative auditor dismisses the attorney general's detailed opinion that concluded that the purchase of auction rate securities was specifically authorized by the Legislature in 1997, and legal when made by two budget directors in the Cayetano Administration and by my department in the Lingle Administration.

“Such unfounded, unsupported, and essentially unattributed legal conclusions, serve no purpose except to inexplicably undermine the state's excellent financial record and inappropriately express opinions the auditor is unqualified to make.”

Georgina Kawamura

Director of Budget of Finance