Tuesday, state Auditor Jim Zeigler (R) was re-elected to another term as state Auditor. Zeigler received 1.015,662 votes in his re-election bid. Zeigler defeated perennial auditor candidate Miranda Karrin Joseph 61 percent to 39 percent.
“The election results are a confirmation of my mission to add an additional role to the State Auditor’s office,” Zeigler said. “I will continue my new service as a watchman against waste and mismanagement in government.”
“In the basic duty of the State Auditor, we remain current on all property inventory audits of the 176 state agencies,” Zeigler said. “That is despite suffering a 28.5% cut to the auditing budget and a halving of our auditing staff. Those cuts were done in the last two Bentley administration budgets. The good news is that the first Ivey administration budget restored about half of the Bentley cuts. That restoration took effect Oct. 1.”
“I will continue to improve both the property inventory audits and the new watchman role against waste and mismanagement,” Zeigler stated. “We are now adding a high-tech auditing tool – Radio Frequency Identification.”
Pondering what to do next, Zeigler said. “I ask for your prayers as I consider running against Doug Jones in 2020. We need a watchman against waste in Washington.”
Eleven months ago, Democrats in Alabama were jubilant when Jones narrowly won the special election for U.S. Senate over former Chief Justice Roy Moore (R). On Tuesday, voters went to the polls and rejected Democratic candidates all across the ballot. There are a number of counties where every Democrat was defeated on Tuesday. Doug Jones endorsed Mallory Hagan for Congress and other Democrats. That did not help them.
The Alabama Republican Party badly wants to defeat Jones to take back that Senate seat in the coming 2020 election.
Zeigler is retired attorney who specialized in elder law. He previously served on the Alabama Public Service Commission (PSC).
