State auditor is sure of herself, her staff

Beth Wood is confident she can zealously guard the use of state taxpayers' dollars

RALEIGH -- Beth Wood doesn't doubt that she's the best person to be state auditor.

Wood, a Democrat, worked in the Auditor's Office for 10 years, but she was unknown in state politics before she challenged incumbent Republican Les Merritt this year. During the campaign and even now, she ticks off reasons she says Merritt was unqualified for the job and lists ways she is better.

Wood has planned for years how she would run the office. A little more than a month after Wood handily won her first race for public office, she has picked out her managers and largely decided which employees will stay and which will go.

"I'm not sure there's ever been a team this talented, starting with the state auditor," Wood said.

Her confidence is evident, despite the daunting challenges ahead. The state auditor is elected to watch taxpayers' money. A growing budget shortfall might mean Wood will have less money to hire auditors, which would mean fewer eyes watching the dollars. She is a Democrat in a state government that is run almost entirely by Democrats.

To some, that means Wood will have to prove that she will zealously pursue her job, regardless of party affiliation.

Senate Republican leader Phil Berger said he doesn't know Wood and didn't vote for her. Until she has published audit reports and developed a track record, Berger said, he's assuming she will police taxpayer dollars aggressively.

"I guess it's not uncalled for for people to be somewhat skeptical," Berger said. "I do think there is a heightened awareness on the part of the public of the need for there to be someone in state government who has as his or her primary obligation looking after the interest of the taxpayers."

Wood, 54, is an auditor by profession and by heart, said Ralph Campbell, the former Democratic state auditor who hired Wood a decade ago. An auditor is concerned with numbers and facts, he said, not D's or R's.

"In an auditor's shop, it's either right or its wrong," Campbell said. "There's not any, 'It's almost accurate.' You don't come away and say they almost had the books balanced."

When you meet Wood, you learn a few things quickly. She's a talker. She's hard to miss -- on a recent day her 3-inch heels had her standing just over 6 feet tall. And she has rural roots.

"I'm just a little old country girl from Cove City," she often says.

Cove City is about halfway between New Bern and Kinston off U.S. 70. Wood's parents lived on a farm that produced tobacco, soybeans, corn and cotton. In the summer, Wood and her siblings worked five days a week. Sometimes they would get up at 3:30 a.m., work until 6 a.m., eat breakfast and be back out to work by 6:30 a.m.

In high school, Wood showed an affinity for math, although she wasn't a nerd by any stretch. Wood lost her campaign to be junior class president, her first run for elective office and her only one until state auditor.

Wood's family has always been a close-knit bunch and after high school, she couldn't see leaving home. She enrolled in Wayne Community College and became a dental hygienist.

Wood liked the work and she liked that she was good at it. But after nearly 10 years of cleaning teeth, Wood decided she wasn't making enough money.

Change of career

She enrolled in East Carolina University in 1982 to study accounting. She went to school during the day and cleaned teeth at night and on Saturdays. After graduating, Wood worked for Rayovac in Kinston. A job with an accounting firm and then another company followed. In the mid-1990s, she took a job at the state Treasurer's Office.