Keller @ Large: State Auditor Suzanne Bump

BOSTON (CBS) -- WBZ political analyst Jon Keller's guest this week has the job of overseeing how efficiently your tax dollars are being spent.

State Auditor Suzanne Bump said some of her most recent targets were Veterans' Services and the Catastrophic Illness in Children Relief Fund, and other agencies were planned for audit, too.

"I take a very broad view of program integrity, so it isn't just a matter of identifying fraud or misspending or waste in government," Bump told Keller. "It's also making sure that the programs that have been designed to serve our public, whether they are children or the elderly or the infirm, are actually meeting their mission.

Bump detailed to Keller some of the problems uncovered during the audit of Veterans' Services--including the issue of local Veterans' Services officers checking their lists by reading obituaries in local newspapers.

"We also found that benefits had been paid out that shouldn't have been paid out, because the methods for monitoring who has passed away were not sufficient," Bump said. "You can't just read a death notice in a paper. You have to be using technology and connecting into other sources of data that will provide you with the information about who's out there, who's elligibe, and who has passed away and is no longer elligible.

Keller and Bump also talked about Bump's feelings on MBTA privatization.

You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.