State audit of New Orleans agencies will be juicy, auditor promises
by Ed Anderson - Times-Picayune (excerpt)

State auditors should wrap up a comprehensive compliance audit of agencies in New Orleans city government in the next five weeks, including reviews of some city contracts and other items, temporary Legislative Auditor Daryl Purpera said Wednesday. Purpera, who took over the job when former Legislative Auditor Steve Theriot retired last year, said his staff has been combing through the records of New Orleans government for the past three months. He declined to say what the auditors have discovered so far. "We are looking at specific allegations and many departments of the city," Purpera said. "It is an audit that you will want to read." The Legislature must vote to retain Purpera or hire a new auditor when the lawmaking session opens March 29. Since leaving the auditor's job, Theriot has been named interim Jefferson Parish president after Aaron Broussard resigned. Sen. Edwin Murray, D-New Orleans, who chairs the Legislative Audit Advisory Council, also declined to discuss what may come out in the audit of New Orleans government. Besides the compliance audit that was already under way, Murray said he asked Purpera's office to work with officials of Mayor-elect Mitch Landrieu's transition team to educate them about accounting systems and issuance of contracts to avoid pitfalls in the future.