Tolbert: Yang Claims He Was Misquoted On Refusing To Sign Checks

It is not often you hear too much about a State Auditor’s race at all – much less over a year before the upcoming election. But with a Republican primary expected for the office for perhaps the first time in history between State Rep. Andrea Lea and Family Council staffer Ken Yang, the times they are a-changin.’

Last night, Yang’s comments during a stump speech at the Washington County Republican Committee meeting sparked some controversy which heated up today on Twitter between conservative activists and one of Yang’s paid political consultants.

It began when Valerie Biendara – a conservative activist and occasional blogger – tweeted “At meeting 2night @kenyangAR said that as State Auditor he would refuse 2 sign a check if he disagreed w the bill that passed into law.”

The comment sparked some discussion that soon heated up when Princella Smith – who is a partner at American Pride Strategies – a paid consultant of the Yang Campaign – responded to Biendara’s tweet in a series of her own tweets.

“When you lie/slander and take someone’s statement completely out of context, it is called taking a shot,” tweeted Smith, who subsequently accused Biendara of being “a little bit off the hinge” and then tweeted “speaking of Satan, while you are talking to him, be sure and let him know what a lousy job he did telling you to lie on Ken.”

I also spoke with Yang via email who responded in a more measured manner than Smith, but also claimed he was taken out of context.

“One line was unfortunately taken out of context in my 15-minute speech with certain people using Twitter irresponsibly,” said Yang. “I said that ‘with the State Auditor being the general accountant for the state that we can begin having a conversation on how state agencies spend money and not rubber stamping all spending in Arkansas’.”

“And to further elaborate on that statement, I am fully aware that the State Auditor signs checks. However, I am aiming to bring transparency to the State Auditor’s office and as State Auditor, I’d have a firsthand look at how tax paying Arkansans’ money is being spent,” continued Yang.

“Here is the job description as it is stated on the current website: ‘The Auditor is the general accountant for the State, keeping track of the fund and appropriation balances of all state agencies…’   Therefore, what I  was saying in my statement is that I will do my job as State Auditor. This is what I plan to do,” said Yang.

I followed up with Yang – both via email and with a phone message – to ask exactly how he would do this as State Auditor but have not heard back.  The central question here is: what role does Yang see as the State Auditor?  Would he refuse to make disbursements that were properly approved under the law, but with which he personally or politically disagreed?

These are important questions that he needs to clarify.

“Whoever the people elect as our auditor, they will process payments according to law or their office will cease to have a budget,” said Senate President Pro Temp Michael Lamoureux.

UPDATE – Valerie Biendara responded Wedensday evening on her Facebook page…

Well, I started a storm on twitter and there just isn’t enough space on twitter to properly address it. I’m writing this from memory so I’m not making direct quotes. At a WCRC meeting Ken Yang was discussing what he would do as a Republican State Auditor. He made the statement that as a Conservative Republican if he disagreed with a bill’s spending he would not be signing the monies for it. I wasn’t sure I heard this right, but someone else in the audience also thought that Ken was saying the same thing. Requesting clarification, he asked that if a bill duly passed by the legislature and signed by the Gov would Ken really not sign checks for it if he disagreed with it. OK, someone else in the audience was also thinking the same thing I was. Ken then started talking on how he would ideally work with the legislature on budget bills to make sure they were Conservative in nature before they got passed. Ken started to ramble and it got a bit confusing on what he was trying to say. Christine Keller (@Tenkellers) tweet these out in response to my tweet: “Yang said we need to have a budget conversation at front end before it gets to that” and “Ken Yang said we need to change the conversation in the State not just rubberstamp all the spending.”

Ken says that I misquoted him. I truly don’t think so, but misquote, misunderstood, he didn’t really know what he said or thought he said or what he said wasn’t what he was thinking. As I said, this part of his speech got really confusing and he was rambling. This would be a really great opportunity for Ken to clarify what he thinks his role as the State Auditor would be in regards to the legislature drafting spending bills.

To Ken’s ardent supporters, I did not intentionally lie nor intentionally slander Ken. Why would I do such a thing? What would I be trying to accomplish? I do not know Ken well but have found him to be a pleasant young man. You are right in that I am ignorant. I freely admit that I’m ignorant on many things. One of my prayers is for Wisdom but I am a slow learner. I do appreciate your attacks for they drove me to my knees. Through the Grace of God I turned my anger and pain to pity and love. I truly appreciate the lesson.

UPDATE II – And now someone – I’m not sure who – posts audio of Yang reportedly from his stump speech to the Benton County GOP in May saying comments similar to what Beindara claims he said…

“In my opinion – I think this is very, very important – the State Auditor signs all monies distributed on behalf of the state. Now, I think…I don’t believe that’s a rubber stamp signature. And it says that in the Constitution of Arkansas and I think that is a very powerful signature. It’s one thing to sign the paycheck of someone who works for the state. It’s another thing to sign a check for hundreds of millions of dollars that is going somewhere that the people of Arkansas don’t want it to go. So I think that’s a very powerful signature.”