Boliek, Clark on GOP ballot for North Carolina State Auditor
Voters on Tuesday will decide which Republican they want to nominate as the state’s top financial watchdog.
UNC Board of Trustees member Dave Boliek and Jack Clark, a certified public accountant who works at the state legislature, are competing to become the GOP’s nominee for state auditor in a runoff election. The winner of the race will face Democrat Jessica Holmes, who was appointed to the position in December after former State Auditor Beth Wood resigned.
The state auditor’s job is to make sure government programs are using their resources efficiently while complying with state and federal regulations and laws.
Wood, first elected in 2008, built a reputation as a fair, independent investigator over 13 years by sniffing out corruption and waste in agencies run by politicians on both sides of the aisle. She left the position before the end of her term after pleading guilty to misdemeanor charges of using a state-owned vehicle for personal errands — a case that was spawned from a high-profile hit-and-run case involving Wood.
Clark, 32, says the next state auditor needs to earn back the public’s trust, adding that the auditor should avoid making statements that would make the office look biased.
“Independence is a huge, huge piece of auditing,” Clark said. “You cannot appear biased. You cannot appear to have your own agenda. Because people won't trust your results.”
Boliek, 56, a former prosecutor and partner in a law firm, speaks out against “wokeness” and diversity, equity and inclusion policies on the campaign trail. He says the job is less like a judge and more like a prosecutor. “This job is not calling balls and strikes,” he said.
Boliek says he thinks voters deserve to know the truth about his beliefs as well as his goals for the office. He has vowed to audit the Department of Motor Vehicles and the state’s elections boards.
“I've talked to the public across the state of North Carolina and there's a tremendous amount of distrust in the election process,” Boliek said.
Clark said he thinks publicly criticizing agencies before they’re audited could backfire. Employees of the agency could attempt to obstruct the audit process, Clark said.
Clark added that Boliek might be using more political rhetoric because he’s still trying to establish his conservative credentials. Boliek was registered as a Democrat until last year and voted in multiple Democratic primaries from 2002 to 2020, election records show.
Boliek says he’s been conservative his whole life and didn’t think about his party registration until deciding to run for office.
“I'm no different than a lot of Eastern North Carolina conservatives,” Boliek said, referring to people who vote for Republican candidates but are registered as Democrats. “Much like Donald Trump, who was a former Democrat, I've been welcomed by party leadership and by people across the state, because I have a proven conservative track record.”
Political rhetoric aside, Clark believes he’s the most qualified for the job because he’s a certified public accountant and Boliek is not.
CPA licensure is required in 12 of the 19 states where voters elected the state auditor, according to the National Association of State Auditors, Comptrollers and Treasurers. Clark says CPAs — especially those with experience in auditing — have skills that others don’t often learn from simply running a business.
“Auditing is a very niche role. It requires a particular skill set and mindset, training and background,” Clark said. “You're just not going to be able to kind of see things the way an auditor needs to see them if you come from something business or law.”
Boliek, who touts a master’s degree in business administration, says that his experience as chairman of the UNC Board of Trustees from 2021 to 2023 shows that you don’t need to be a CPA to identify financial inefficiencies.
“We reformed the budget process, hired a CFO, took the budget out of the hands of the provost and put it into a professional financial manager’s hands,” Boliek said. “And, in the process, we found a $100 million structural deficit.”
He added: “The fact that the state auditor never found that, the fact that there wasn't an audit committee on the board — that is where I got the initial thought of running for state auditor.”
