Another Kentucky Political "Embarrassment". I Suppose Them Folks In Chicago, Illinois, Are Laughing Their Heads Off!

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An embarrassment

The latest audit to reveal problems in the Louisville Metro Department of Housing and Family Services is a doozy. This one, organized by state Auditor Crit Luallen, has been presented in such a way as to create the maximum possible stink.

And why not? What Ms. Luallen's team found was "gross mismanagement," in a part of local government where improvement was supposed to be in progress -- 43 problems cited, 58 action items recommended.

Last summer, the city's outside auditor highlighted, for a second year in a row, its concerns about the handling of federal grants. The state's annual audits had mentioned the problems for at least two years in a row. And last August, housing director Kimberly Bunton resigned after this newspaper raised questions about more than $2,000 in low-income assistance her mother received from the city.

Anybody not asleep at the switch could have predicted the train wreck.

In a newspaper story announcing Ms. Luallen's intention to probe the department, Councilman Kelly Downard, R-16th District, said it was most important to find out why millions in affordable housing grants have been obtained but not spent. However, the just-released audit does not address such issues, and a city spokesman points out that no showing of such a problem has ever been made.

What the new state report does show is broad and deep failure by the department's leadership.

Unlike most such audits, this one doesn't reveal wild and excessive spending. Rather, it raises disturbing questions about how and when money was used, and why the department failed to account for some of it. The findings suggest Ms. Bunton was an ethically obtuse and technically incompetent manager. They also raise an obvious question: Why wasn't someone monitoring her and/or supporting her?

The administration of Mayor Jerry Abramson clearly was slow in coming to grips with Ms. Bunton's deficiencies and, more importantly, with the huge problems that lingered in an agency with enormous resources and crucial responsibilities.

As the Mayor said, the buck stops with him.

Recriminations wouldn't be useful. Neither would partisan exploitation of this embarrassment. What the public needs is hard-nosed, no-nonsense leadership at the agency. Tina Heavrin, who was given the assignment after Ms. Bunton's resignation, certainly fits that description.

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