PORT ANGELES — Clallam County Treasurer Judy Scott and challenger Selinda Barkhuis took part in a no-holds-barred final debate Monday, focusing as they have in seven prior debates on this particular campaign’s signature issue:
The embezzlement of at least $617,467 in real estate excise taxes from the Treasurer’s Office, allegedly by former cashier Catherine Betts.
In their last get-together before Nov. 2, when general election ballots are due — 24 percent of ballots had been returned as of Monday — Barkhuis said she was “appalled” by the theft.
“When this happened, I was shocked; I was frankly shocked,” Barkhuis said. “That’s why I’m running.”
She blamed Scott for a “basic lack of internal controls” in the office before the theft was discovered by allowing Betts to receive, record, deposit and reconcile tax payments and cash checks rather than dispersing those duties.
She called that totality of financial control by one person “a big no-no in the financial world” and added that Betts also had “unbridled access” to the cash drawer, which she allegedly used to cash checks signed by property sellers, then allegedly doctored and destroyed Treasurer’s Office records and manipulated an Excel spreadsheet to hide the scam.
Scott took issue with Barkhuis criticizing Scott at election forums for “allowing” the fraud to happen.
“I am here to tell you I have not committed fraud,” Scott said more than once during the half-hour debate.
“I have taken responsibility for an employee who had been charged with fraud,” Scott said.
A 27-year Treasurer’s Office employee, Scott added that the county’s insurance company has paid the county $597,000, covering most of the loss, and that the funds have been distributed to the entities due them.
Scott said Barkhuis, a nonpracticing attorney, a former Realtor and current county senior planner, “is a very bright woman, but she does not have the right skill set to be county treasurer.”
Betts has pleaded not guilty to first-degree theft in connection with the embezzlement, discovered May 19, 2009.
A county Superior Court status hearing on Betts’ case is Nov. 18. A trial is scheduled for Jan. 11.
She has been released on her own recognizance, and lives outside Clallam County.
Barkhuis, 48, of Port Angeles, said Scott, 59, also of Port Angeles, exaggerated the scam’s complexity.
Scott could have traced copies of real estate excise tax affidavits, should have seen that something was amiss and would have caught the fraud had she read a manual written by a state Auditor’s Office fraud investigator, Barkhuis said.
But Scott said even the state Department of Revenue did not catch any accounting anomalies.
“There was nothing there to trip our triggers,” she said.
“I’m not saying it’s right, but it happened, and now we know better. Yes, there was a lack of monitoring, and we’ve taken action to correct that.”
Scott served in the Treasurer’s Office for 14 years as former Treasurer Ruth Gerdon’s chief deputy.
Clallam County commissioners appointed her to head the office in fall 2004, when Betts was already the office cashier.
Scott was elected unopposed to serve the remainder of Gerdon’s term in 2005 and was re-elected unopposed to her current four-year term in 2006.
The salary for the county treasurer is between $64,212 and $70,872 annually.
The office will collect and distribute an estimated $72 million in tax payments and assessments to 22 tax entities in 2010, including school districts, cities and fire districts in Clallam County.
The treasurer manages a general fund budget that in 2010 is $516,270 and covers six employees.
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Senior Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
