Anti-abortion nonprofit seeks to halt state audit
A Harrisburg nonprofit that gets state money to oversee a statewide network of abortion-alternative programs is suing the Pennsylvania Auditor General's office — a move the fiscal watchdog calls a “legal cover up attempt” to head off a complete audit of the organization.
In its request for declaratory judgment filed Wednesday in Commonwealth Court, Real Alternatives maintains the AG’s office and the Department of Human Services, also named in the suit, lack the authority to audit a particular set of expenses each has sought to review.
Noting it’s the first time he has been sued for conducting an audit, Auditor General Eugene DePasquale called the legal action a “financial gimmick to prevent auditors from tracking nearly $1 million” in taxpayer money.
“The idea that any organization receiving public funds would hide behind the courts to keep taxpayers in the dark makes my blood boil,” he said in a news release, telling reporters later that Real Alternatives is likewise “suing the nearly 13 million Pennsylvanians that help pay for their contract.”
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/news/state/2017/03/16/Anti-abortion-nonprofit-Real-Alternatives-seeks-to-halt-state-audit/stories/201703160128?pgpageversion=pgevoke
