He has volunteered for the YMCA and the March of Dimes and has also spent several years coaching youth baseball and basketball teams.
Sonntag is a Certified Government Financial Manager (CGFM), a designation formally recognized by seven states since its inception in 1994.
Although four of the fourteen members of his executive team at the State Auditor's Office are CPAs,[5] the fact he is not a CPA has drawn criticism from some of his constituents.
[6] One of the most publicized issues involving the Auditor's Office in 2006 was its performance audit of the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT).
[7] Always a hot topic of debate, traffic congestion in Seattle caused many commuters to look more closely at what was being done to alleviate the problem.
The State Auditor was granted legal authority to conduct performance audits of transportation-related agencies on June 7, 2006, the effective date of Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 6839.