The state is in the very best of hands

Oversight? What oversight?

An audit of the MNsure insurance exchange has found that it had “generally adequate” internal controls for spending public money, but it took issue with how officials expanded a marketing contract earlier this year.

The problem with the marketing contract — which paid for the creation of a high-profile ad campaign featuring Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox — is one of eight findings related to internal control weaknesses and instances of noncompliance, according to the report released Tuesday by the state Office of the Legislative Auditor.

The audit did not examine MNsure’s operational performance. It’s the first of three reviews the office is conducting on the state’s health insurance exchange.

“MNsure did not appropriately authorize $925,458 of additional marketing work or execute a contract amendment until after the contractor completed the work,” auditors wrote in the report.

I don't know about you, but if a vendor did $925,458 of work for my organization, I'd make damned sure it had been authorized before it happened.