A group of Republican lawmakers turned up the election year heat Thursday on the man charged with monitoring the state’s finances – demanding that auditor General Frank Mautino answer questions about his campaign spending when he was a legislator.

Early this year, seemingly exorbitant spending by the Mautino campaign came to light, including $214,000 on gas and repairs at a single Spring Valley service station owned by a city alderman. And the campaign paid $274,000 to a local bank beginning in 1999, including $94,000 in repayments on a loan for $26,000.
A spokesman for Mautino says the auditor general will respond to the latest request soon.