Minnesota State Auditor Julie Blaha: "My job was to really try to turn the corner on an office that had been under heavy attack"

(St. Paul, MN) -- A prominent state official is sharing why she is seeking re-election in the upcoming November General Election.

Julie Blaha, Minnesota's State Auditor, joined WDAY Midday to talk about her campaign. Blaha shared the goals of the office, how she has rebuilt the office following her election four years ago, and her goals moving forward.

"When I came into this office, it was under heavy attack. We had a significant number of Republicans that were looking to eliminate the office entirely," said Blaha, "My job was to really try to turn the corner on an office that had been under heavy attack."

 Addressing a criticism levied by her opponent, Blaha says those heavy attacks are integral to why the office has not audited any school districts in the last 20 years. She says the attacks stripped the size of the office back "by about 40%" over a two-decade period, which caused them to drop school audits entirely. Blaha says this is something she wants to change moving forward.

"One of the things that we wanted to do was rebuild a school audit team," said Blaha, "What our office needs is a team that has the expertise to be able to do enough audits that they are ready to step in when it comes to investigations, ready to step in when it comes to support. I laid the groundwork to rebuild a financial school audit team."

Julie Bhala is running to maintain her role as The State Auditor of Minnesota. You can learn more about voting in Minnesota by clicking here.