Rep. Eugene DePasquale, D-York, won against Rep. John Maher , R-Allegheny, in the race for Pennsylvania Auditor General .
DePasquale was a member of the General Assembly of Pennsylvania representing York county and was declared the winner late in the evening.
“We are thrilled that Eugene is happy he has won his election,” said Liz Wagenseller, DePasquale’s campaign manager.
As of 12:25 a.m. Wednesday, DePasquale grabbed 49.8 percent of the vote, while Maher won with 46.4 percent of the vote, with 96.93 percent of precincts reporting statewide.
Rep. Maher and his campaign could not be reached for comment as of press time Tuesday.
According to the auditor general website, the role of Pennsylvania’s Department of the Auditor General is to see how state tax dollars are used and make sure the money is well spent.
DePasquale has served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives since 1997, as previously reported. He is a Pittsburgh native and attended Widener University’s law school, according to his campaign website.
While in office, he said he would run audits to free up money for “critical programs,” and identify any wasteful and inefficient spending that could be eliminated, according to his website.
“My record in identifying savings is clear — I kept my legislator expenses so low that I returned more than $36,000 in unused taxpayer money to the state,” DePasquale wrote in a statement on his website.
DePasquale said he believes in improving the affordability, appropriation and overall functions of Pennsylvania’s public schools and state universities.
He said his votes against budget cuts for colleges and universities proposed by Gov. Tom Corbett earlier this year were proof of his commitment to maintaining the quality and cost of public education within reason, as previously reported. Penn State, Temple University, Lincoln University and the University of Pittsburgh were included in those cuts to higher education, as previously reported.
On his first day in office, DePasquale promised to order an immediate performance audit of the Department of Environmental Protection to make sure citizens’ “constitutional right to pure water has not been compromised by natural gas drilling,” according to his website.
Maher has also served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives since 1997. Maher said his professional background as a certified public accountant — the only certified public accountant to ever run — was the primary reason he should have beeen elected into office, as previously reported.
If elected, he pledged to fight the mismanagement and abuse of taxpayers’ money within state government.
