Jim Zeigler seeks re-election as State Auditor

0
16
Jim Zeigler

After mulling over a potential gubernatorial run, and deciding against it, State Auditor Jim Zeigler on Thursday announced he would be seeking a second term.

“It has been an honor to serve the people of Alabama as State Auditor, and I humbly ask for their vote again,” Zeigler said in a statement. “State Government needs a watchman against wasteful spending and mismanagement. I have added that role to the State Auditor’s office.”

Zeigler will  June 5th Republican primary.

Zeigler continued, “Montgomery is a swamp full of waste and mismanagement. I will work to shine a light in the darkest corners.  I am here to serve the taxpayer and not the political establishment. I made that clear in my first term as State Auditor.”

During his time as State Auditor, Zeigler has been a consistent critic of mismanagement and abuse, and called out former Gov. Robert Bentley on numerous occasions for doing so.

Zeigler filed the initial ethics complaint against Bentley. On April 5, 2017, the ethics commission found probable cause that Bentley had committed felony violations, including Zeigler’s complaint. Five days later, Bentley resigned.

As State Auditor, Zeigler also exposed Bentley’s diversion of $1.8 million of the BP settlement money to restore the governor’s mansion at the beach, which came in the wake of Bentley losing his own personal beach home in his divorce from his wife of 50 years.

Zeigler later sued to invalidate the troubled STAARS software contract, claiming it was an illegal no-bid contract. The state then canceled the $47 million STAARS contract.

In the wake of cuts to the State Auditor’s office operating budget, Zeigler announced in June that in order to help keep the State Auditor’s office operating he would, in addition to his normal duties as State Auditor, also train to work as a field auditor. There he will do the actual property inventory of the state’s 175 agencies totaling over $1.1 billion in state property.

 “Under adverse circumstances, we have continued to get things done for the taxpayers of Alabama,” Zeigler said.

Zeigler lives with his wife Jackie, a member of the State Board of Education from the seven counties of southwest Alabama’s first district. They have two children.