HARRISBURG -- Chet Beiler, the Republican candidate for auditor general, is challenging incumbent Jack Wagner to debate the role the state's top fiscal watchdog should play.

Mr. Beiler proposed a series of seven forums throughout the state, including in Allegheny County, in a letter to Mr. Wagner dated July 22 and released to Capitol reporters during a news conference yesterday.

Mr. Wagner initially dodged repeated questions about whether he would accept Mr. Beiler's invitation before saying he is "open to" the idea but isn't sure if or how he will respond to the letter.

"It's posed as a political question," he said. "I am a person who will be out there and I will continue to be out there across Pennsylvania. I speak out on numerous public issues that impact the general assembly and government in general ... and I'm going to continue to be a very open and accessible public servant."

Mr. Beiler, meanwhile, said Mr. Wagner has waited too long to release details of an audit of the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency and hasn't had a loud enough voice in the emerging government corruption scandal centered around distribution of allegedly illegal bonuses in the House Democratic caucus.

Mr. Wagner said the audit report isn't finished yet and will be released in about a month and that he has been an outspoken opponent of bonuses for state employees.

Mr. Wagner did speak with newspapers including the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about the scandal in February 2007, calling for a law to permanently end bonuses for employees of the Legislature. He noted that his office is prohibited by law from auditing the General Assembly.

That's true, Mr. Beiler said yesterday, "but there's nothing to prevent the attorney general from giving voice to issues important to taxpayers."

If elected, Mr. Beiler said he would work to change state law so that the Legislature would be subject to audits.

"Something I have believed in for a long time is that wherever tax dollars flow, there ought to be sunlight. How this state has allowed millions of dollars to be spent in the dark is beyond me," he said after the news conference.

Mr. Wagner would like to see that change, too, but for now must work under the confines of existing laws that prevent legislative audits.

"I would be more than happy to audit the General Assembly or any other area of government," he said.

Under his watch, Mr. Wagner said, his office has conducted numerous audits, fiscal and otherwise. For example, he said, his agency conducted safety audits of school districts and has been a proponent of a plan to use global positioning devices to track the whereabouts of violent sex offenders.

Mr. Beiler, 45, of Lancaster County, is considered the underdog in the race. He is a businessman whose primary enterprise is as an online retailer of Amish gazebos.

A political newcomer, he faces Mr. Wagner, who has been auditor general since 2005 and previously was a state senator and candidate for lieutenant governor.