In the July 9, 2017, issue of the Register-Guard, in response to a story about Eugene considering hiring a performance auditor, Jim Johnson writes in an online comment:
This is a tricky one. The expense that has been quoted for the independent auditor is as I recall about a million dollars a year (that’s enough to hire 10 parks workers!). In a sense it seems insane to spend that kind of money to audit the city’s spending, but on the other hand we just threw away $5 million on an empty lot that we are now trading away. The city needs an auditor and I damn sure don’t want them answering to the same bunch that got us into this mess. So I will be signing this petition at the very least.