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27 Fired, 12 Demoted In State Auditor Shakeup

BOSTON (CBS/AP) - The state auditor's office was actually audited in the last year and found to be lacking in several areas.

As a result, 27 staffers have been fired and another 12 have been demoted. Their jobs will be posted on the web starting on Friday.

"As you can imagine, the staff that had been performing this work over the years are feeling a bit dispirited," said State Auditor Suzanne Bump.

WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Doug Cope reports.

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Twenty of the laid off employees were from audit operations and seven from the Bureau of Special Investigations, which probes waste, fraud and abuse in public assistance programs like MassHealth and food stamps.

Bump said she'll fill the 20 positions in audit operations, but not those in the Bureau of Special Investigations. She said she doesn't expect the personnel decisions to reduce the quantity and quality of the office's investigations.

Bump said a peer review committee took a hard look at how the auditor's office works and gave the office a bad report card.

"The peer review noted deficiencies in several areas: audit planning, staff competence, audit documentation, and audit reporting. These are serious flaws," said Bump.

The evaluation was done during the tenure of long-time auditor Joe DeNucci, who held the post for 24 years.

"I'm sure that Auditor DeNucci is going to be somewhat chagrined," said Bump.

(TM and © Copyright 2010 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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