Mason Seeking Auditor-Controller/ Treasurer Post

Ensen Mason is seeking the office of auditor-controller/treasurer-tax collector in this year’s election he said, “Because I am frustrated with dishonesty and corruption and deceit in our officials and because I think with my skills and background I would be a very good fit for this particular office.”
Mason said the current holder of the auditor-controller’s position, Larry Walker, was less involved in the depredations that have tarnished San Bernardino County than some other county officials, but that Walker had nonetheless outlasted his value to the county and its taxpayers.
“I have minor problems with his handling of the office, but nothing worth complaining about,” he said. “I obviously feel I could do a better job or I wouldn’t be running for the position.”
This year’s race is historically unique in that it comes in the midst of a transition in the auditor-controller and treasurer-tax collector positions. Previously, both were separate independently elected positions. Pursuant to action by the board of supervisors earlier this year, the treasurer tax collector’s post was eliminated and was folded into the auditor-controller’s office. Simultaneously, the county recorder’s function, which had been part of the auditor-controller’s duties, was transferred to the assessor’s office.
Walker currently serves in the capacity of public administrator. That office will shift to the sheriff-coroner as part of the reorganization.
Mason said that “qualification-wise, Larry Walker doesn’t meet the legal requirements to be treasurer. The legal requirement is that a treasurer be a certified public accountant or have an accounting degree. Larry Walker is an attorney, which would be fine if he were running for DA or wanted the appointment as public defender. It doesn’t seem appropriate to me that he does not have the required training to hold the office. What is said is if he already holds the position he doesn’t have to meet the qualifications to be in that position. But I believe you need an accounting degree or background for the job since it is such a heavy accounting position.”
One criticism of his opponent Mason was willing to engage in was a reference to a problem that has beset the recorder’s office during the last two years of Walker’s watch, specifically what many employees of that division consider to be the too-heavy-handed management tactics of chief deputy recorder De Ana Thompson. Thompson’s personality and management style is at the center of a deteriorating circumstance which employees allege Walker has been unable to resolve. Six employees of the recorders division – Carol Atkins and Conchita White Eagle,  deputy recorders Wendy Everett, John Pinckney and Dennis Tormey and staff analyst Sean Crees – have either taken stress leave or been transferred out of the recorder’s office in the last 17 months. All maintain they have been subjected to a hostile work environment, which they claim is a direct outgrowth of Thompson’s personality and management style.
Her arsenal of managerial tactics includes bullying, fear and intimidation, employees of the division say. Several of the recorder’s office employees were so put off by this treatment that they lodged with the San Bernardino County Public Employees Association, the county human resources division, the county administrative office and/or the board of supervisors no fewer than six complaints in writing regarding Thompson. Human resources director Andrew Lamberto undertook an investigation of Thompson, determining that Thompson was indeed harsh, demanding and brusque in her approach. Nevertheless, Walker rallied to her defense, citing her talent with regard to information processing technology as indispensable to the office’s effort to digitize the county’s documents so they can be transmitted electronically across the internet as well as through other electronic means to a whole host of data bases. Numerous employees of the division say that Walker has been paralyzed with respect to redressing the situation because he has been compromised by his too close relationship with Thompson.
“If people are mad or stressed or fearful, that makes for a poor working environment and that will show to the public,” said Mason. “If a hostile environment exists for employees, the county residents who must deal with those employees for the provision of services will feel the hostility.”
Mason noted that the management of the recorder’s office will soon pass from Walker’s hands but his inability to maintain the span of control in his office as it is currently composed does not auger well for how he will maintain control of an expanded role that includes taking on the more arduous assignments or maintaining the county’s treasury and its tax collecting functions.
Mason said he had misgivings about the wisdom of conjoining the auditor-controller’s role with that of the treasurer tax collector.
“This merger has me puzzled,” he said. “I went to the board of supervisors and voiced my concern. I think having the auditor under the same roof as the treasurer and tax collector is like having the fox guarding the hen house. The auditor is supposed to serve as a check and balance over the treasurer.”
Mason said because he is mindful of the conflict, he represents a safer bet to occupy the newly formed office than Walker, who while in authority went along with such a questionable arrangement.
“Having said that this could entail a potential conflict, if I am tasked with that I would do my best, probably by having different persons of authority working under me to oversee those positions.  The person who I would have acting as my deputy treasurer would not have influence over the auditor. Any functional mingling there would not be proper. I would delegate by hiring people and letting them run it as autonomously as possible. By assigning different people to handle those functions you can reinstall some form of a check in a way that I think would be fair and objective so that position can be run well or reasonably well even though I am not comfortable with one individual having that oversight,” he said.
Mason demonstrated his propensity for serving as such a check on the county’s governmental function by pointing out that “This whole restructuring is technically illegal because article 6 of the county charter says that no elected official can receive a raise of more than 4 percent without approval of the county’s voters. Larry Walker is to get a 25 percent raise and [assessor] Dennis Draeger is getting a 20 percent raise.”
Beyond that, Mason said his level of experience recommends him to the position.
“I have a ten year background as a computer programmer,” he said. “I have been told the county spent several million dollars to upgrade the office’s computer system. What they did went nowhere. The people managing it and making decisions do not have a strong background in this area. I can improve the performance of the office through the use of computer technology.”
Mason said he will offer superior accessibility to government than the incumbent.
“An elected official is a liaison to the public, and I would take that role seriously. I would allow myself to be seen in the office.”
Mason, 41, was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He attended high school in Piscataway, New Jersey. He attended Western Governor’s University in Salt Lake City, Utah, earning a bachelor’s degree in accounting. He has one son. He has lived in San Bernardino County off and on since 1986.