Former legislator Miloscia is in the race for state auditor

The Record spoke recently with Mark Miloscia of Federal Way, a former state representative from Washington’s 30th District. He has given up his legislative seat in order to run for the office of state auditor.

He says he wants to restore trust in government and help state agencies become the best managed, most efficient and effective organizations in the country. He wants to bring an end to waste in government.

Miloscia says he has “hands-on” performance-management experience in auditing organizations, including Boeing, small businesses, hospitals, universities, colleges, and government agencies. He has managed medium and small agencies and has extensive performance management experience and training.

Miloscia is a Democrat who served in the Washington state Legislature for 14 years. He decided to run for state auditor after current auditor Brian Sonntag announced his retirement earlier this year. Miloscia filed as a candidate, saying he felt he was well-suited for it and that it would be the best way for him to make a difference in government.

Miloscia is 53, a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy with a degree in engineering and a former pilot. He also has graduate degrees in business.

To some, state auditor may not sound like a particularly glamorous job, but Miloscia speaks passionately about how performance audits can improve government. He says he has ideas about encouraging self-audits within organizations, so that his office can have a mentoring role rather than what is often perceived as a punitive function (oh, no, the auditor is coming!).

He says he envisions government agencies contacting his office to request audits to see how well they are doing rather (possibly) than how poorly. In this mentoring role, Miloscia hopes to help the state government to function with greater efficiency, better use of available funding and less waste, all of which would foster greater trust in their elected officials by the public.