Lehigh County controller challenging state rep in Democratic primary for Pa. auditor general

LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa. — Lehigh County Controller Mark Pinsley says he wants to make the leap to Pennsylvania auditor general to bring more savings to taxpayers and reveal the true cost of state programs and social shortcomings.

Pinsley, who was elected as controller in 2019 after serving a term on the South Whitehall Township Board of Commissioners, faces Philadelphia state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta for the Democratic Party’s nomination.

Kenyatta has served in the state House of Representatives since 2019.

Both are vying to face Republican Auditor General Timothy DeFoor, who took office in 2021.

The role of state auditor general is very similar to that of county controller, but it offers a greater opportunity to make a difference for taxpayers, Pinsley said.

Controllers regularly audit payroll and vendor payments to ensure municipalities and organizations are responsible with their spending, Pinsley said.

Mark Pinsley

The state auditor general performs similar audits while also examining “agencies of the state and making sure that they spend their money the way they say they're going to spend their money,” Pinsley said.

But the auditor general position “is really about transparency more than anything else,” he said.

The person in that job is responsible for “making sure people understand where their money is going and how it's being used,” Pinsley said.

That gives the auditor general “an opportunity to show how money could be spent better,” according to Pinsley, who ran unsuccessful campaigns for state senate in 2018 and 2022.

“I really enjoy saving money, and I really enjoy shining a light on things,” Pinsley said of reasons for seeking to become auditor general.

The controller said his office has found millions in potential savings for Lehigh County by auditing its contracts.

Government entities also can save large amounts of money by analyzing and acting on “social costs,” Pinsley said.

He pointed to his 2023 report on “The Cost of Misdiagnosis,” which alleges that staff at Lehigh Valley Health Network’s John Van Brakle Child Advocacy Center systematically overdiagnosed cases of medical child abuse, formerly known as Munchausen syndrome by proxy.

“When we separate a child from their families, we're paying for foster care and kinship care and legal fees and caseworker time and therapy and all of those kinds of things — let alone the social costs of someone losing their child unjustly,” Pinsley said.

Pinsley said he plans to refer his report to the state auditor general for a complete investigation.

Lehigh County commissioners have accused Pinsley of stepping outside the purview of his office by investigating claims of medical child abuse.

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Pinsley also pointed to the impact of loose cigarette butts on water-treatment facilities and the environment as another rarely considered issue that costs municipalities and the state “a lot of money.”

“My goal is to show" social costs, Pinsley said. “And then … the people have to decide how they want to deal with that.”

Pinsley said he also would look to re-establish the auditor general’s authority to audit school districts, an initiative Kenyatta supports.

Pinsley urged Democratic voters to compare his experience and résumé with Kenyatta’s to determine “who has the qualifications [and is] prepared to oversee a $48 billion budget.”

Pinsley holds an undergraduate degree in finance and a master’s in business administration.

He said he’s “worked for multi-billion-dollar companies managing multi-million-dollar budgets,” while Kenyatta has only played a role in crafting budgets as a state representative.

“I’m the only one that has actually done the job; I’m doing it as controller,” Pinsley said.

Malcolm Kenyatta

Kenyatta was a community activist and worked on diversity and inclusion at the Philadelphia-area Chamber of Commerce after graduating from Temple and Drexel universities.

He was the first openly LGBTQ person of color to serve in the Pennsylvania General Assembly when elected in 2018.

Kenyatta has supported a higher minimum wage, stricter gun laws and protections against discrimination for LGBTQ people, according to Spotlight PA.

Kenyatta lost the 2022 Democratic primary for U.S. Senate to now-Sen. John Fetterman. He also is running for re-election in 2024 while challenging for the auditor general’s office.

If elected, Kenyatta said he plans to establish a Bureau of Labor and Worker Protections “and use the power of the office to take on wage theft, employee misclassification, and union busting.”

“I’m running for Auditor General because it’s time for the underdog to be a watchdog for Pennsylvania’s working families,” Kenyatta said on his campaign website.

He said he will work to show “how huge hospital nonprofits and long-term care providers use state dollars” and try to help state officials “target investments in the things that really work to reduce crime, particularly gun crimes.”

Early voting in the 2024 primary is open. Registered Democrats and Republicans can vote in person from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. April 23.

Voter registration closed Tuesday.

Republicans will decide contested races for Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional District, attorney general and the 183rd state House District, among others.

Democrats will pick their candidates for attorney general, auditor general and state house races for the 131st and 136th districts.