Candidate for
Auditor General

A successful, job creating businessman who spent years auditing businesses and governments as a CPA, John Maher is now ready to run Pennsylvania's Auditor General's office.

A Certified Public Accountant for nearly thirty years, John Maher launched and ran one of the largest CPA firms dedicated to auditing in Pennsylvania, creating jobs for hard working Pennsylvanians. John worked for organizations and governments ensuring they had professional audits providing their Boards and the taxpaying public proper accountability on where dollars were spent.

In a 1997 special election, running on a platform of fiscal conservatism and accountability, John was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. From the day he first took office he has fought for openness and accountability in all aspects of government.

When some Legislators proposed special session days costing taxpayer's large sums of money just to talk about ethics, in 2008 the Pittsburgh Post Gazette quoted John Maher saying, "Ethics days should be every day in government, not some special occasion." Maher has set out to make that happen.

John Maher wrote Pennsylvania's Open Records Law, a landmark law ensuring the people of Pennsylvania can have access to government records and hold politicians and government officials accountable for their actions.

He authored the Lobbying Law ending Pennsylvania's status as the only state in the nation without a law reigning in lobbying. Now Pennsylvania citizens have a right to know who is paying a lobbyist in addition to putting controls on what lobbyists can do. John wrote the Audit Integrity Act making it a criminal act to provide material falsehoods in connection with a CPA's report intended for the public.

In addition to those transforming laws, John Maher authored legislation to streamline and reduce the cost of government resulting in Pennsylvania's 3,000 local taxing jurisdictions being reduced to six dozen, he authored the law requiring the state Treasury to make safety a priority with invested funds helping protect Pennsylvania from the market meltdown of 2008, and he has sponsored a legislation making it illegal to provide false or misleading information to a CPA.

John has received high marks for his voting record protecting Pennsylvania small businesses and job creators. John knows that to grow our economy we must support, not hinder, Pennsylvania's job creators.

Recognizing the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; he has stood for the rights of the unborn earning the endorsement of LIFE-Pac.

Understanding the importance of Pennsylvania's outdoor hunting heritage, the 2nd Amendment and also the need to suppress crime, John has consistently earned high scores with Pennsylvania's Firearm Owners Against Crime.

John Maher has lectured at Cambridge University's International Symposium of Economic Crime on a recurring basis since the 1990s teaching topics including "Government Auditing," "Forensic Auditing," "Accounting for Integrity," and various other topics oriented toward preventing and detecting frauds. His audience has included attorneys general and ambassadors of many countries, business and law enforcement leaders from more than sixty nations, along with the heads of Interpol and Europol + Europe's top crime fighting agencies.

He has taught "Government Financial Information for Reporters" for the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association's Reporter's Boot Camp, and, "The Lessons of Enron," to point out its failures for the North American Association of Securities Administrators' annual conference of regulators.

Maher has contributed writing and insight for publications including: "Overview of Government Accounting," Applying Government Accounting Principles (standard text published by Matthew Bender & Co.) and "Fair Cities," for The Economist. He has been a guest instructor at Carnegie Mellon University, Heinz School; a member of the Community College of Allegheny County adjunct faculty; and has taught dozens of seminars to local, state and national audiences.

John has served on the Board of the Boy Scouts of America, Greater Pittsburgh Council for more than a decade. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Pittsburgh and the Board of Overseers for the University of Pennsylvania, School of Veterinary Medicine.

He was a member of the Pennsylvania Association of Non-Profit Homes for the Aged Alignment Task Force (2001-2003); a board member and treasurer for the ALS Association of Western Pennsylvania (1990-1996); member of the Health Agency Coalition (embracing Alzheimer's Association, Lupus Foundation, Epilepsy Foundation and others) Board of Directors (1992-1996); and the Irish American Partnership, National Board of Governors (1994-1997). He twice received "Volunteer of the Year" awards as a member of the Western Pennsylvania Community Accountants (1990-1997) for volunteering professional services to non-profit organizations.

As a member of the General Assembly, John Maher has earned a long list of awards and recognitions from civic groups, including the "Seven Seals Award" for Meritorious Leadership and Initiative in Support of the Men and Women who Serve America in the National Guard and Reserve, 2003, issued by the Assistant Secretary of Defense for the United States.

Maher began his CPA career working with a global auditing firm serving clients from Fortune 500 companies to small businesses. With a belief in treating people as you wish to be treated, his CPA firm was repeatedly recognized by leading publications as one of the "Best Places to Work" in the region.

He is a magna cum laude graduate of Duke University, with an A.B. degree in Management Sciences / Accounting. He has also completed scholarship studies at Oxford University and the Australian Graduate School of Management.