California’s state controller is the elected official responsible for paying the state’s bills and tracking the state’s expenditures. The controller has the authority to audit state and local government entities to ensure that the taxpayers are getting what they pay for.

Controller Betty Yee is termed out after serving for eight years, and several highly qualified individuals are running to replace her. Three of her challengers say they would use the audit power of the office more aggressively to expose waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars.

Los Angeles City Controller Ron Galperin, a Democrat, has served for two terms as the financial watchdog of the state’s largest city. Galperin has done an admirable job of increasing transparency to the public, creating open data portals — “Control Panel L.A.” and a “virtual checkbook” that enable L.A. taxpayers to see where their money is going and hold their elected officials accountable. Any time a California public official successfully implements a technology project, they deserve credit for it. Galperin also deserves credit for the audits and frankly critical reports he has written about the shortcomings of city spending projects such as the Measure HHH $1.2 billion bond to fund construction of homeless housing, with some units now costing more than $800,000 to build.

State Sen Steve Glazer, also a Democrat, has served in many roles in government, going back to his days working for Gov. Jerry Brown. He has an admirable record of standing up to pressure in his party; he was the only Democrat to vote against the gas tax increase, and he voted against Assembly Bill 5 in 2019, a reckless law that destroyed the careers of countless independent contractors in California.

Lanhee Chen, a Republican, is a fiscal policy analyst who teaches public policy at Stanford. He also consults for private equity firms, and and holds degrees in law and political science from Harvard. He was appointed by President Barack Obama to serve on the Social Security Advisory Board.

Of these three, we believe Lanhee Chen will be the most effective as California’s top fiscal officer.

Chen brings impressive credentials and the most independence to the role. He says he will use the audit power aggressively, including ordering audits of K-12 school districts, 75% of which have not met the requirements for financial reporting. He says Betty Yee has done nothing about this, and has instead been a caretaker, refraining from using the audit power of her office as it could be used to protect taxpayers.

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The controller sits on numerous boards and commissions that oversee public funds, including the large and powerful pension funds, CalPERS and CalSTRS. Chen said the investments made by these funds should not be “avenues for social experimentation,” investing or divesting based on political pressure in a way that diminishes the value of the retirement funds because of political pressure. He said he has sometimes been alarmed by the lack of fiduciary responsibility.

While Galperin and Glazer also expressed the view that the fiduciary responsibility comes first and audits are needed, they are both part of the political party that controls all of state government. In a watchdog role, it is best to have someone from outside the power structure he or she is overseeing.

Lanhee Chen has our endorsement.