Norfolk Auditor - Thumbs Up!

I'm glad that Norfolk has hired this City Auditor. Independent of the City Manager, he sits in the perfect place to criticize nearly every position in the city. This should be very good for the long term health of the city. It would be a good thing for every city in our region to look into this. Virginia Beach has an auditor, but she is under the City Manager, which completely undermines the integrity of the position. Chesapeake's auditor, like Norfolk, is independent. Even better than each city having an independent auditor would be for the region to have its own independent auditor. The job would audit what regional agencies we do have, as well as (gasp) the city council of each city. There have been instances in the past where there have been shady goings on in each of the city. There are still questionable ties between council members and private enterprise. Take Randy Wright of Norfolk for example. I am not accusing him of wrong doing, but the fact that his wife happens to be a real estate agent is hairy. I am sure other connections exists similarly in other cities. I am not saying that these connections are unethical in and of themselves but there should be someone to keep them in check. I think one of the largest impediments to a regional push is the lack of trust and/or respect for the governments of our neighboring cities. Residents of each city (even those that distrust their own city) think that their city is better than the others. I think that an independent auditor could help fix that.