The race for Missouri Auditor is typically low-key enough that it can be overlooked. The primary for Missouri Auditor has that same problem, only worse.
For those of you who haven't heard, the Republican Primary for Auditor is between Allen Icet (Architect of the House Republican Budget) and Tom Schweich (Who flirted with running with the Senate last year). Tom Schweich has a bit of a problem, he donated money to Claire McCaskill. Not in 2006 when she was running for the Senate, but 2001 when she was about to run for re-election as Auditor (McCaskill won re-election in 2002 by one of the larger margins ever, because her Republican opponent was an ex-felon who was ignored by the Republican establishment).
Dave Catanese of Politico has an idea for how Tom Schweich can make Republicans overlook the donation and like him again:
"Schweich should devote a speech to his $500 contrib. to @clairecmc. Say if the GOP wants to b party that excludes indys, it won't prevail."
State auditor Susan Montee explained the function of her office at the November 23rd Franklin County Democratic Central Committee meeting. In addition to auditing all the state departments and agencies, her office is tasked with auditing the judicial circuits, school districts and all the counties that don't have their own auditor. She mentioned the City of St. Louis, the City of Springfield and its City Utilities Company as being especially time consuming.
Her office also has to review and register all general obligation bonds, certify all tax rates as changes are made by local entities, monitor the money coming into the state from the federal government which includes the $4.5 billion in stimulus funds, and analyze all ballot initiatives for their financial impact.
Montee commented on how the number of ballot initiatives has exploded in recent years and how partisan they have become. In 2007, her office reviewed 20 different ballot initiatives. In 2008 and 2009, that number jumped to 52 and 57 respectively. What is ideally a mechanism for citizens to inform and improve their state government has now become "a partisan wedge issue factory," according to Montee.
This evening we attended a fundraising event for Courtney Cole, the Democratic Party candidate in the 121st Legislative District, at the Pi Gallery in Kansas City. State Auditor Susan Montee (D) and State Representative Jason Kander (D) also attended the event and later addressed the crowd.
Courtney Cole, the Democratic Party candidate in the 121st Legislative District, addresses the crowd.
State Representative Jason Kander introduced Courtney Cole who then spoke to the crowd about her call to public service and why she was running for office.
State Auditor Susan Montee (D) spoke of the importance of taking back the majority in the Missouri House of Representatives.
Courtney Cole's third quarter fundraising numbers were quite good. This event will add to her fourth quarter fundraising total.
The current representative in the 121st legislative District, Denny Hoskins (r - noun, verb, CPA) issued a press release today:
As the only Certified Public Accountant in the Missouri State Legislature, Representative Denny Hoskins, R-Warrensburg, is offering his experience as a CPA and auditor to ensure transparency and accuracy as Missouri accepts federal stimulus dollars. In a letter sent to Governor Nixon and Senate Leadership, Rep. Hoskins offered himself as a resource and expressed an interest in serving on committees relating to the federal funds....
Gee, I recall reading somewhere that Missouri has a State Auditor. And, the Missouri State Auditor has a thing or two to say about federal stimulus money:
...The state auditor's office is Missouri's independent watchdog agency and we are committed to embracing a high level of transparency and accountability of public funds within Missouri state government....
....Missouri and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
On February 26, 2009, the Office of Administration created two new funds within the State Treasury to deposit most ARRA money coming into Missouri. The two funds are the Federal Budget Stabilization Fund and the Federal Stimulus Fund and were subsequently codified into state law when SB 313 was signed into law on March 26, 2009. The Office of Administration subsequently established additional funds to aid in tracking ARRA monies. This site will be updated daily to reflect the allocation of federal funds received in the State Treasury as a result of the ARRA....
[emphasis added]
"...The Office of Administration subsequently established additional funds to aid in tracking ARRA monies. This site will be updated daily to reflect the allocation of federal funds received in the State Treasury as a result of the ARRA...." That sound like transparency and accountability to me.
How about we let Susan Montee (D), a CPA, do her job, you know, the person elected statewide by the voters of Missouri?
Meanwhile, the Missouri House Democratic Campaign Committee issued a press release (And gave us a hat tip. No, we didn't know about it until we got the press release like everyone else):
Moves are being made in several quarters in our state government to ensure that the use of the funds provided our state by the federal recovery package will be transparent and accountable.
First of all, to make the injection of federal dollars more transparent to the public, State Auditor Susan Montee has set up a handy-dandy stimulus tracker on her website. Once the federal dollars start flowing into state coffers, the tracker will update daily to reflect every dollar allocated by our state government. Campaign finance junkies who like to play "Follow the Money" might find a fix during the long months in between campaign finance reports.
Also, in a move that could aid Montee, the unlikely team of Senators Gary Nodler (R-Joplin) and Joan Bray (D-University City) have guided a bill through the Senate, SB 313, that would create two separate funds for federal stimulus dollars. The first is a "Federal Budget Stabilization Fund" for money intended to bolster the General Revenue, like unemployment benefits and Medicaid reimbursements. The other, the "Federal Stimulus Fund" is for any additional funds. The idea here is to make sure the legislature doesn't reroute federal stimulus dollars for other purposes by putting it all in general revenue.
Interesting to see that both Nodler and Bray are termed in 2010. In any case, it's nice to see state officials making an effort on behalf of transparency.
