Candidate for Pa. auditor general promises to heed majority’s will

The Democratic candidate for Pennsylvania auditor general is aligning himself with a political action committee that aims to focus politicians on the will of most Pennsylvanians based on polling data.

State Rep. Eugene DePasquale says if he’s elected to be the commonwealth’s top auditor, the pledge he’s just made will guide his priorities.

A recent poll shows a solid majority disapproved of Penn State’s handling of the child sex abuse scandal, so DePasquale says he would investigate the use of state dollars at the university.

He said the pledge would support his plan to look into the impact of natural gas drilling on water safety — something he’s talked about since the primary.

“The people want to make sure their water’s being protected,” said DePasquale, D-York. “So a performance audit of all water protection programs, and I can assure you that it is well over, just from my own scientific polling, it is well over the threshold.”

The group Majority Party PA is picking up similar pledges from other candidates.

Its chairman says they’ll get a chance to renew their pledges with each election cycle, but DePasquale says he’ll hold to it for all future public offices.

A spokesman for John Maher, the Republican candidate for auditor general, says the only pledge he’s making is “to provide professional auditing services” to taxpayers.