State Auditor Keith Faber was the featured speaker at the monthly Allen County Republican Luncheon on Friday.
J. Swigert | Lima News
LIMA — Ohio State Comptroller Keith Faber was the featured 11th-hour substitute speaker at the Allen County Republican Party's monthly luncheon on Friday.
Party Chairman Keith Cheney said he contacted Faber at the last minute to address party members at a luncheon this month due to scheduling conflicts. Cheney introduced the Celina resident, who is in his second term as comptroller and is barred from seeking a third term by the state's term limits law, as “the next attorney general of Ohio.”
Mr. Faber detailed his office's efforts to protect taxpayers' money.
“We're watching our elected officials spend money,” Faber told the crowd. “We have convicted more than 120 people of lying, stealing and defrauding the public of their tax dollars,” he said. He said since he took office, his team has tallied dozens of convictions of public officials, including county sheriffs and county auditors, who stole millions of taxpayer dollars.
“The reality is that some people who touch public money have sticky fingers. We will catch them and put them in jail,” he said.
Faber also spoke about efforts to tighten regulations for Medicaid recipients. Faber said his office found that more than 124,000 people enrolled in Ohio's Medicaid program were also enrolled in other states' Medicaid programs at the same time.
A report authored by Faber and released in March said that over four years, Ohio would invest $1 billion in managed care organizations to provide services to individuals enrolled in multistate Medicaid programs. He reportedly paid more than that. The potential economic impact on Ohio from interstate enrollment is more than $200 million, according to the report.
“Our question to Medicaid officials was, 'Why aren't you doing something?'” he said.
Mr. Faber was first appointed as Auditor in January 2019 and was re-elected in November 2022 for an additional four-year term.
He is a former Republican member of the Ohio House of Representatives and represented Ohio Senate District 12 from 2007 to 2016 and served as Senate President from 2013 to 2017.
