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The race to be Florida’s next Chief Financial Officer continues to revolve around steps taken and ignored by the Florida legislature.

Democratic candidate Loranne Ausley is a former House member and Republican Jeff Atwater is the current Senate President. Ausley says Atwater is ignoring a state law that requires random audits of financial reports submitted by lobbyists. She says Atwater isn’t doing enough as Senate President to keep tabs on lobbyists.

“The legislature has ignored this mandate. Jeff Atwater has ignored this mandate, and our state is suffering because of it. I want to be very clear, there is absolutely no excuse for not following the law,” said Ausley.

The law requiring random audits was passed in 2005. Senate leaders say it’s been hard to find impartial accounting firms without ties to lobbyists or the state to conduct the audits.