(The Center Square) – Pennsylvania’s newest auditor general and treasurer were sworn in Tuesday morning – the first Republicans in more than 20 years to hold the offices.

“We have just come through a year of unprecedented challenges, hard feelings, and some deep losses,” Treasurer Stacy Garrity said. “There’s a saying that if you focus on the rearview mirror, you’ll miss where you’re headed. I say we look ahead toward a place of optimism and cooperation. Let’s start the journey.”

“Accountability, integrity and transparency are what Pennsylvania taxpayers expect and deserve from their government in Harrisburg, and that’s exactly what I’ll deliver,” Auditor General Tim DeFoor said. “I will work hard to ensure our citizens that their hard-earned tax dollars are being used and spent appropriately.” 

DeFoor clinched the position after former Auditor General Eugene DePasquale made a failed bid for U.S. Rep. Scott Perry’s 10th District congressional seat. Garrity defeated incumbent Democrat Treasurer Joe Torsella by roughly 61,000 votes.

DeFoor clinched the position after former Auditor General Eugene DePasquale made a failed bid for U.S. Rep. Scott Perry’s 10th District congressional seat.

Before coming to Harrisburg, Garrity – a graduate of Bloomsburg University – served in the U.S. Army Reserve and worked for Global Tungsten & Powders, a supplier of refractory powders, in Bradford County. She will prioritize eliminating waste and unnecessary fees, increasing taxpayer transparency and helping residents save for education.

“This job is about making sure that billions of dollars of unclaimed property is returned to its rightful owners,” she said. “It’s about promoting college savings for working families and ABLE accounts to assist people with special needs. It’s about creating a system that will allow taxpayers to go online and examine every check written from the Treasury. It’s their money, and they deserve to know how every dollar is spent.”

DeFoor served as Dauphin County Controller for five years before resigning Tuesday to assume his position as the state’s auditor general. He also worked as a special investigator for the Pennsylvania Office of Inspector General and as a special agent with the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General.

“While you can’t run government like it’s a business, you can watch how government spends its money, like it’s a business,” he said. “I’ll aggressively go after waste, fraud and abuse to ensure that state government lives within its means and every taxpayer dollar is spent wisely.”

Christen Smith follows Pennsylvania’s General Assembly for The Center Square. She is an award-winning reporter with more than a decade of experience covering state and national policy issues for niche publications and local newsrooms alike.

This piece was originally published in The Center Square. Read the original article here.