Jamison, Fejeran compete for Coker's seat

Editor's note: This election, the Daily News asked candidates in contested races in Whitman and Latah County the same five questions about the position they are seeking. Candidates were given two minutes to answer each question. At the end of the interview, each candidate was offered three minutes to speak on anything they wish. Those interviews were used to profile each candidate.

With longtime Whitman County Auditor Eunice Coker announcing her retirement, two fresh candidates will battle to inherit the historically fraught department. Republican Sandy Jamison, a professional accountant and financial adviser from Garfield, will face off against 28-year-old Democrat Eric Fejeran, current chair of the Whitman County Democrats. Fejeran is campaigning on a message of change and transparency, while Jamison said her decades of experience speaks for itself. In the wake of the county's first clean audit in years, both candidates said they will work to ensure continued accuracy in elections reporting as well as county finances moving forward.

What kind of experience do you have in accounting, record keeping and administrating, and how will that inform your performance as auditor?

Jamison said in addition to more than 30 years of experience as an accountant in both the public and private sectors, she also has bachelor's and master's degrees in business administration from Washington State University. Jamison said she has taught accounting at the collegiate level at both Whitworth University and Spokane Falls Community College. She said she is a certified public accountant as well as a notary public, and in her time in the private sector has served as manager, controller and chief financial officer.

"Most of the positions that I've held, both in the private and public sector, have some type of managerial position with them," Jamison said. "I have supervised folks who've worked for me, I've worked with people - I've also worked with auditors. I've been an auditor myself."

While Fejeran admits Jamison has the upper hand when it comes to accounting experience, he is no stranger to administrative tasks. Fejeran pointed toward his six years working in the quality division of Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories.

"What I did there is I kept track of defects, made sure that equipment that was not put together right did not make its way back onto the manufacturing floor," Fejeran said. "When you're working with thousands upon thousands of units, it does require a good record keeping ability."

What will you do to improve the reputation of Whitman County Auditor?

Fejeran listed three tenets of his campaign: honesty, accessibility and election integrity. Noting the Whitman County Auditor position has seen its share of bad press in the past, Fejeran said it is important to be as honest and transparent as possible in regard to county finances. As for accessibility, Fejeran said he would like to minimize the number of days the department's licensing offices close, saying that was a major complaint he has heard on the campaign trail. As for election integrity, Fejeran said he would like to make more information resources available to the public and increase efforts for student engagement.

"I would definitely like to pursue a ballot service center on campus, which is something that the state audit found would be very beneficial," Fejeran said.

Jamison said she will work to improve relationships between all of the different agencies and departments in county government. She said many county departments have a role to play in county finances, and she hopes to foster an atmosphere of mutual respect between other county workers as well as with the local media.

How will you work with staffers and County Commissioners to ensure accuracy and efficiency in election reporting?

Jamison said she hopes to evaluate each of her prospective staffers' skills and determine whether tasks can be done in a more efficient manner. A self-described advocate of cross-training, she said she hopes to foster a versatile staff able to adapt to a variety of challenges.

"You're only as efficient - as a department - as the slowest cog in your wheel," Jamison said. "So we need to make that whole wheel turn better, faster and more efficiently."

Fejeran said his first move would be to listen to his staff.

"Leadership is 70 percent listening, 30 percent action, and I take that to heart," he said.

As an administrator, Fejeran said he would listen to ideas from the ground level and focus on what he called quality improvements - shoring up the efficiency of day-to-day operations.

Both candidates have indicated a desire to increase transparency in county government. How would you go about implementing more transparent policies and what would that look like?

Fejeran said he would work to strengthen lines of communication between the county and the public. He said he would like to get more county resources, including elections information, online, noting the current website looks to be more than two decades old.

Fejeran said he hopes to find ways to get out of Colfax and to connect with his constituents throughout the county.

"I'm going to be reaching out to the elected officials and constituents of those communities in order to see what resources the auditor's office can provide, especially when it comes to voting," Fejeran said.

Jamison said in many ways, the numbers speak for themselves. She said her role will be in interpreting those numbers efficiently. She said part of the challenge will be working with each county department and agency so they understand the role they play in county finances.

"I expect to be able to explain what the numbers show, what the figures mean, what the budget is saying," Jamison said. "If we have all of the financial folks in each department helping us with that transparency point, things become much more clear."

What kind of work must the auditor and county as a whole continue to do or engage in to ensure clean audits in the future?

Jamison emphasized once more that as financial reporting touches virtually every department, ensuring accurate reporting throughout all departments will be a county-wide effort. As a former auditor herself, she said she brings a distinct advantage to that process, as she knows what state auditors may be looking for when assessing county finances.

"I want to commend the county for passing their last audit, and (they) should feel very good about that. I think we can build on that. I think we can take that momentum and keep going," Jamison said. "At the end of the day, an audit can be a positive experience in the sense that it will bring out areas that we need improvement."

Fejeran agreed with Jamison that each department must be familiar with the role it plays in county finances in order for future audits to come back clean. Like his opponent, he said he was thrilled to see Whitman County passed its most recent audit but cautioned there is always room for improvement.

"They come and they audit and they give us recommendations, and this past audit they said there was no major findings or recommendations to achieve, but that doesn't mean that no improvement processes can't be made," Fejeran said. "It's driven into my head that you should always strive for better processes."

Scott Jackson can be reached at (208) 883-4636, or by email to sjackson@dnews.com.