By: Sean Guay
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania – Following the results of last month’s primary election, candidates are now preparing for the 2020 general election this fall. The race for Pennsylvania Auditor General has been narrowed down to Nina Ahmad, a Bangledeshi immigrant from Philadelphia, and her opponent, Timothy DeFoor, an African American Republican from Harrisburg.
Timothy DeFoor is the current Dauphin County Controller, and former retired Special Agent for Attorney General Josh Shapiro.
Exclusively for hbg100.com, DeFoor explained the purpose of his campaign for Pennsylvania Auditor General.
I never aspired to get involved in politics, however, sometimes you find politics and other times politics finds you. This time politics found me. People go to work every day, and every time they get paid, they see that the government takes out taxes. We have the expectation that government is going to do the right thing and watch how they spend our tax dollars the same way a family on a shoestring budget does. That does not always happen. It is the Auditor General’s responsibility to hold government accountable and to be transparent when it comes to how they spend our tax dollars. I have spent my entire 30-year career auditing and investigation how government and its contractors spend and appropriate taxpayer dollars. I also believed that a quality management approach may not be a traditional Auditor General responsibility. Nevertheless, it fails under fiscal responsibility and therefore should be part of the Auditor General’s responsibility. So, as you can see, I am not running against someone, I am running for something.
– Timothy DeFoor for Pennsylvania Auditor General
DeFoor, a University of Pitt graduate, is pictured below while recently volunteering for the local food bank at the Susquehanna Township High School in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where he is an alumni.
According to his campaign website, “DeFoor has over 25 years of combined experience in law enforcement and auditing in both public service and private industries, Tim is uniquely qualified to serve Pennsylvania citizens on day one.”
“Good government is about people, not politics. I’ve spent my career fighting waste, fraud and abuse to protect families, seniors and local businesses. I’m running for Auditor General to help all Pennsylvanians and ensure our tax dollars can be spent on our priorities: lower taxes, better jobs, stronger schools and improving the cost of living for families and seniors.”
Pennsylvania Auditor General
Holding the office of Pennsylvania Auditor General is a 4 year term, with an annual salary of $167,838.
The principal role of the auditor general is to determine whether state funds are being used in accordance with the purpose and guidelines that govern each use of the commonwealth’s dollars. The auditor general conducts financial and performance audits of individuals, state agencies and organizations that receive state funds, including school districts, state liquor stores and public employee pension funds.
These audits are designed to measure how effectively government programs are using public money to meet their stated goals and objectives. The office performs more than 6,000 audits each year and is responsible for auditing all federal funds that are allocated to Pennsylvania state programs.
Nina Ahmad
Nina Ahmad immigrated to the United States from Bangladesh when she was 21 years old. If elected, she would represent the first woman of color to serve as a state-wide executive in the Commonwealth’s 233-year history. Dr. Ahmad would also become the only current women and person of color in Pennsylvania’s executive offices.
According to her campaign website, most recently, Ahmad served as a Deputy Mayor for Public Engagement under Philadelphia Mayor Kenney.
Ahmad takes credit for launching the city’s Commission for Women, fighting for pay equity, and working to end workplace harassment, as well as support for reform and opportunity through the city’s Youth Commission, the Office of Black Male Engagement, and the office of LGBT affairs.
Ahmad also served President Barack Obama as a member of the National Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
Nina Ahmad and her husband, Ahsan M. Nasratullah, are co-founders of JNA Capital, Inc., which “sources debt and equity for real estate projects, both for its own account and for a select group of developers/ non-profit sponsors in the Philadelphia area.” They are a firm that supports and helps to fund projects that are directly linked to expansion projects around university campuses, at the center of a legal development battle in Philadelphia, according to Philly Power Research.
Dr. Ahmad is an alum of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. JNA Capital has contracts with UPenn to develop and lease the 3939 Chestnut St. building as an anchor point for their $17,000,000 40th St. Development project.
Nasratullah (Ahmad’s husband) is the CEO of the Global City Regional Center which finances real estate development through the EB-5 program. Nina Ahmad is previously listed as the COO of the EB-5 Global City Regional Center, although her name was removed sometime in 2016.
Another member of the Global City Regional Center team is Anthony Rodham, Hillary Rodham Clinton’s brother. His profile has been removed from the page, but this cached image verifies his involvement with the project. Controversially, Anthony Rodham is currently being sued for fraud for $17 million in a case that alleges he misled EB-5 investors from China.
Recently, Ahmad celebrated July 4 by posting a video about 1944 racist internment camps for Japanese in America.
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