Gandhi Leans on New Aides After Scandal

Some residents and city leaders have called for Gandhi's removal, but he appears determined to ride out the political storm by focusing on reform efforts.

Cordi and Andary are making the rounds. Cordi, whose salary is $152,000 and who oversees 600 employees, has toured various departments, meeting with senior managers and going desk to desk to introduce himself to employees. Andary, whose salary is $142,000 and who has a staff of two dozen, reported to work a week early to shadow Lorigo.

"We have a scandal on our hands, and that's diverting some attention," Cordi said in his office at 941 North Capitol St. "But it's essential, if we are going to restore public confidence, that we execute well on the routine things we do."

Routine things include processing income tax returns and sending out 185,000 property assessment notices. Cordi also has begun interviewing candidates for several key positions, including director of operations and chief assessor, jobs being filled temporarily by managers from other departments.

In Maryland, Cordi had a reputation as a soft-spoken, dedicated wonk, whose knowledge of tax administration enabled him to rise through the ranks and become deputy to longtime comptroller Louis L. Goldstein and Goldstein's successor, former governor William Donald Schaefer.

Colleagues said the garrulous Schaefer would demand a speech whenever someone arrived late to a meeting. Cordi once complied by reciting the Gettysburg Address by heart. Another time, he reeled off the list of vice presidents in chronological order.

Linda Tanton, who worked with Cordi for years and replaced him as deputy comptroller, credited him with implementing new technology, such as the Accenture integrated tax system, also used by the D.C. tax office.

"Steve lives and breathes this stuff more than anyone," said Michael Golden, a former spokesman for the comptroller's office. "He understands down to the most minute detail things that would make our eyes glaze over."

Andary's career began in 1974, when he joined the U.S. Justice Department's criminal division to investigate public corruption. He moved to the U.S. attorney's office for seven years, bounced between a couple of other federal agencies and then joined the D.C. inspector general's office in 2003.

Lorigo was criticized for failing to audit the real property tax division during his four years on the job. With a small staff, Andary said, it is impossible to review every function performed by the more than 1,000 employees Gandhi oversees.

Gandhi has established new controls in the real property tax division, ordering that all refund checks worth more than $10,000 be approved by Cordi. Two accounting firms, Deloitte Touche and Ernst & Young, have probed for control weaknesses in the treasurer's office. Andary said he envisions consultants doing similar probes in other departments to indicate where he should focus his auditors' attention and resources.

The auditors are to deliver their findings in April to a new advisory board headed by D.C. lawyer Sheldon Cohen. The board will make policy recommendations to Gandhi and Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D).

Cordi has consulted with Gandhi's chief information officer, Mike Teller, about a possible overhaul of the Accenture tax system, which uses software that is a decade old. A new system could provide better data storage and tracking mechanisms that would help prevent identify fraud, Cordi said. However, such a project would cost tens of millions of dollars and take several years, with no guarantee of success.

"I'm here to implement recommendations that I'm getting," Cordi said. "We will receive many, a long list. I perceive my job as getting them done."