State auditor figured he could do better job.

• Author: Maley, Frank
• Position: Les Merritt - Biography

Les Merritt seems to have the right pedigree for state auditor. He's the first certified public accountant to fill the post. He has been a Wake County commissioner, which gives him grassroots political experience, and he has performed public audits as a partner in Zebulon-based Merritt, Petway, Mills & Hockaday. After losing in 2000, he beat Ralph Campbell in a close election last November.

But is he tough enough? Campbell frequently riled bureaucrats, including fellow Democrats, with his high-profile audits, but voters knew he was on the job and returned him to office twice. Merritt, 53, plans to keep a lower profile. Since November, he has met with heads of state agencies and says he hopes to change the duck-and-cover mentality that they told him guided their relationships with his predecessor.

An auditor, he says, earns his salt by correcting small problems before they become big embarrassments. "We're not out there aiming at having a sensational report or surprising anybody with things that could have been headed off earlier, so I really want to change how the office operates." Doing that could require more manpower. But first, Merritt plans to see if he can accomplish his goals merely by doing things more efficiently. He also wants to take a closer look at how nonprofits spend state money.

He grew up on a tobacco farm in Sampson County and earned two bachelor's degrees from N.C. State University...