OLYMPIA — The woman tasked with running the state auditor’s office as Auditor Troy Kelley prepares to take a leave of absence in the midst of a federal indictment against him said Wednesday the agency will continue to be effective in spite of the “distraction” of the past few months.
“We will weather through this, things will calm down and everybody will see us as the stellar agency that we are,” said Jan Jutte, who is the agency’s director of operations. “The cloud over Troy Kelley is a personal cloud, it’s not a cloud that belongs over this office. We need to make that distinction.”
Jutte said that while she is taking over many of the responsibilities held by the elected official, she will continue to work as part of a team with the chief of staff, and the directors of both state and local performance audits. The Auditor’s Office is charged with rooting out waste and fraud in state and local government.
“This has been a distraction for us, but the vital work goes on in our office,” she said, noting that since a federal subpoena was served on the office at the start of March, the agency has issued about 350 audit reports.
Jutte said that she had spoken with the attorney general’s office on Wednesday and was told she has full legal authority to carry out the functions of the office in Kelley’s absence.
Kelley, who was indicted by a federal grand jury on tax evasion and other charges earlier this month, announced Tuesday that he will start an unpaid leave of absence on Monday, and delegated authority to Jutte on responsibilities like audit authority, contracting and personnel issues.
Kelley, who has resisted numerous calls for his resignation, had initially said he would start a temporary leave of absence on Friday. However, in his Tuesday statement, he said his leave will now start at 1 p.m. Monday.
He said that during his leave, he won’t represent the agency “in any capacity until I can put my legal matters to rest, at which time I intend to resume my duties.”
Jutte, , who has been with the auditor’s office for 30 years, wouldn’t say whether like other state officials, including the governor, she thinks Kelley would resign. When asked if she trusted him, she said: “It’s hard to know how to answer that until it’s all through, but as of now, yes I do.”
“The man that I worked for for over two years is not what I’m reading in the papers, not what I’m seeing in that indictment,” Jutte said. “Innocent until proven guilty.”
