When the state\u2019s duly elected auditor disappears while in office does anyone notice beyond the shadow of the Capitol dome?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Doesn\u2019t seem like it.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n It\u2019s been two full months since Troy Xavier Kelley discharged his duties to others and cut himself off the public trough to focus on fighting federal criminal charges stemming from his past profession.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n The first-term Tacoma Democrat began a self-imposed unpaid exile at 1 p.m. May 4. An hour later his digital existence with the State Auditor\u2019s Office had, to put it politely, been erased.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n No mug, no bio and almost no sign of his service. Most mentions of him are in the trove of documents agency officials delivered to investigators then put online for the world to read.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Jan Jutte, the woman entrusted by Kelley to steer the ship in his absence, ordered the expunging and posting in one of her first acts.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cThe cloud was never over this office. It was always over him,\u201d she said Tuesday. \u201cI think I was just trying to give less opportunity for questions to be asked.\u201d Since taking the helm, Jutte\u2019s guided the vaunted agency to smoother waters under clearer skies. She said she\u2019s not spoken with Kelley nor does his name come up in office conversations unless they involve an inquiring reporter.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Meanwhile in the past two months, employees in the auditor\u2019s office have issued hundreds of audits of cities, counties, school districts and other appendages of local government. There\u2019s also been an intermittent whistleblower probe and a performance audit or two.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n On Tuesday, the executive team huddled for six hours to do what Jutte described as <\/span>operational planning. The effort that started after Kelley\u2019s election in 2012 amounts to mapping a course for the agency to follow in the coming two to four years.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cIn 18 months there is going to be a new person, I know that. It doesn\u2019t mean they can\u2019t alter it,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is a continuation of what we were doing before the cloud appeared. I think it is an indication that we are moving forward.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n She\u2019s commanded with steady hand, unbending humility and pretty much without a compass. You don\u2019t need one when you\u2019ve worked at the place 30 years and tackled tasks in about every division of the agency.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not an unknown,\u201d she said. \u201cI think that helps make this transition out from under the cloud.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Since 1985, she\u2019s had three elected bosses, all Democrats. Now she\u2019s the boss albeit acting and unelected. She is the first woman and first certified public accountant to occupy the auditor\u2019s chair.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n She\u2019ll be in it until Kelley \u2013 whose tribulations will henceforth be known as \u201cThe Cloud\u201d \u2013 returns or, more likely, a successor is elected in November 2016.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n That won\u2019t be Jutte. She\u2019s not running, though some want her to do so. She intended to retire until the accumulation of political cumulus threatened the environs she loved. She changed her plans.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cOn a day-to-day basis, it is not an issue,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are doing audits. That\u2019s who we are. We are moving on.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n