(Associated Press) The state auditor testified before a senate panel in Columbia last week that Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom did not listen to warnings about a $3.5 billion overstatement of the state general fund in a report used by credit agencies to grade the state's debt.
The Post & Courier reports the error was discovered and corrected last fall, but only recently became known to legislators. Eckstrom, a Republican who has been in office since 2003, is under fire from both sides of the aisle on what some lawmakers are calling incompetence.
In testimony to the senate panel, auditors said they have noted deficiencies in the Comptroller's annual report for years, although they did not discover a $3.5 billion error. In mid-February, Esckstrom testified that it was a communication problem with the Treasurer's Office, to which Treasurer Curtis
Loftis responded that his office had not been asked for any information. Eckstrom was re-elected to another four year term last November.
