Tocco has been bragging that he ordered a town wide audit of Smithfield’s books and claiming it was done at no cost to the taxpayers.

What he didn’t tell you is that the Rhode Island Auditor General, Ernest Almonte, is a good and old friend of Tocco’s. In fact, Almonte was in Tocco’s wedding party.

This audit is nothing less than an attempt to discredit prior administrations. Tocco is desperately hoping to find something juicy he can pin on somebody, all under the guise of “accountability.” A team of several auditors spent 16 weeks, full time, combing through Smithfield’s books. Of course, since the school department has been controlled by Tocco’s friends for decades, only four days were spent on those books. The rest of this 16 weeks was spent in a desperate attempt to find something – anything – to hold up to the press and yell “See!” But nothing was found.

As for this audit costing the taxpayers nothing, that’s baloney. The auditors all are state employees who are paid for out of your tax dollars. And let’s not forget the major disruption to town employees, wear and tare on the town’s photocopiers and the cases and cases of paper they all generated!