HARRISBURG - Whether an audit report exists or not has become the latest point of controversy swirling around Pennsylvania's defunct centralized auto emission inspection program. It's a political and public relations battle that neither Gov. Tom Ridge nor Republican legislators can afford to lose in this crucial election year.

Both the guv and GOP legislative chiefs, however, appeared late last week to let state Senate Democrats dominate the issue as they prepared for a legal showdown over whether that report, if it even exists, is a matter of public record.

The latest controversy provides an example of how a statement made in the heat of legislative debate can sometimes both haunt and hurt a political cause years later. At issue is an audit of the centralized auto emissions inspection program that was used to negotiate Pennsylvania's buyout deal with Envirotest. That deal called for the commonwealth to pay the firm $145 million in installments between January, 1996 and July 1, 1998.

The buyout was to compensate Envirotest for real estate purchases and construction of 86 vehicle exhaust test stations in Pennsylvania that were never used. That's because an unprecedented grassroots uprising forced commonwealth officials to make vehicle exhaust analysis part of the annual state-required vehicle safety inspections.

The issue of the infamous Ernst & Young audit first surfaced on Dec. 13, 1995 as Pennsylvania's General Assembly debated whether or not to approve the settlement without seeing all the facts.

Back then, state Sen. Majority Leader Joseph Loeper, a Delaware County Republican and state House GOP chief John Perzel of Philadelphia argued for fast-track approval of the deal. Each claimed, on behalf of the Ridge administration, that quick approval was necessary to avoid a possible breach of contract liability to the state that could total hundreds of millions of dollars.

When pressed for details on how the settlement figure was finalized, it was Loeper who claimed it was based on the Ernst & Young audit. "Where were those (Democratic) legislators over two years ago?" the guv asked rhetorically when pressed last Thursday in Pittsburgh on the controversy.

The answer is rather simple. Both state Sen. Gerald LaValle, a Beaver County Democrat, and then state Rep. Allen Kukovich, a Manor area Democrat, each immediately demanded the audit for study. They never got it. LaValle has since continued to pester Ridge and other administration officials for release of the audit. Kukovich has since been elected to the state Senate and is also part of that ongoing effort to see the report.

After an exchange of letters last week with Administration Chief Legal Counsel Paul Tufano, the Beaver County Democratic senator and ex-Marine officer simply lost his patience. He opted for a new strategy. It calls for getting key state Senate Democratic leaders to prepare for a lawsuit demanding release of the audit under Pennsylvania Right to Know law.

"All I want to know is can (administration) officials justify the numbers in that settlement," LaValle said. "If they release that report and the numbers are good - fine! I'll be the very first to congratulate them on striking a good deal for the commonwealth."

Meanwhile, Tufano, administration spokesman Tim Reeves and others apparently began digging in. They refused to make public the disputed audit report despite the threatened lawsuit. Reeves said the audit was a privileged attorney work product used in negotiations that finalized the deal. He said it "may" be released after the final installment is paid on July 1.

LaValle and state Senate Democratic Policy Chairman Richard Kasunic, of Fayette County, both said the delays indicate that administration officials are hiding something. "Maybe the audit doesn't really exist," LaValle speculated. "That could be the reason they won't release it. Or, maybe it was a corporate audit done for Envirotest. If it was, then to have it represented to us as a study commissioned by the commonwealth was deceptive."

LaValle and Kukovich noted the total payment to Envirotest could exceed $200 million. That would include the 6 percent annual interest on the unpaid balance. Plus, the state must compensate Envirotest for any of the "E-Check" stations that are unsold as of July 1.

LaValle and Kukovich have also been demanding data on the sale of those properties. Those requests have also been denied. "What's to hide?" state Rep. Don Walko, a Democrat from Pittsburgh's North Side, asked rhetorically last week when asked if he would support the Senate Democratic lawsuit.

Indeed, what is to hide? The deal, after all, is being paid with public funds to alter a public policy. And no national security issues are involved.

The more administration officials ignore LaValle, or let the Senate Democrats file suit, the more election-year public doubt will descend on the issue. The longer this festers, the more it drains the guv's attention from other issues and the more it casts doubt on the credibility of those lawmakers who defended it two years ago.