....It is a wonderful job because there are so many challenges and yet the rewards are so great. When we can find ways that we can increase efficiency and free up resources so we don't have to have the kind of cuts that we are seeing right now it is a very good place to be in and a very good feeling to have. And so, it's with those feelings, you know, that I say I'd like to continue to do the job for another four years....
....I have done a little reflecting on the last three and a half years and I really am proud of the work that we've done. We have reorganized the office, we've gone from four different divisions down to three, we've streamlined the way we do stuff, we do one type of report which means we can share resources so we can get more places, uh, we found all kinds of places to save, and, and make things more efficient. We, for the first time ever in Missouri history, won the national award for, uh, audit of the year, last year for our performance audit work on low income housing [applause]. And I have a whole stream of federal officials coming to work with us on the, uh, single audit work we were a part of the early reporting on weatherization. And 'm working now with the Department of Energy and their inspector generals to make sure that we get all our money spent in the right way and that our stimulus money stimulates the economy in the way it's supposed to do.
So, I've been approached by Republicans and Democrats alike to work on initiatives in their counties and in their cities. And I really feel like we have done a good job in our office and that people recognize the value of the office as a resource...
...with this, from republican State Auditor candidate Representative Allen Icet:
Are Tom Schweich's Song Writing Chops as Bogus as Conservative Credentials?
On March 29, 2010, a video, "Gimme Back my Freedom", was posted on YouTube. The video showcased Tom Schweich and a small group of young adults attempting to woo conservatives with targeted lyrics. At the end of the video credit for the lyrics and music was given to Tom Schweich and he personally claimed the copyright in the video.
On April 7, 2010, Fired Up! found that the music was significantly like the song "Bohemian Like You", which was written by Courtney Taylor-Taylor, the lead singer of Dandy Warhols. Schweich later responded to the accusations through the Saint Louis Beacon, denying them and saying, "The words and music are my own."
Then Fired Up! received documentation from the Dandy Warhols stating that a lawyer for Tom Schweich had contacted them to seek permission for the use of the music of their "Bohemian Like You" song, which they refused....
State Auditor Susan Montee (D) was the keynote speaker at the Saturday morning brunch for the Jackson County Democratic Committee's Truman Days celebration held at the Hyatt Crown Center in Kansas City.
State Auditor Susan Montee (D): ....I want to take the opportunity to, now that I have you all here, to just talk a little bit about what we, what we do in the Auditor's office....There are so many things going on that make it important to, to know when you go in and choose who you want to be serving in that office. Because it, it just, it's especially in tough economic times like we're in, to have someone, uh, who is working in there that understands that everything we do in that office can have some kind of effect on the decision making that it does....
....We do audit all of state government, all of the boards and commissions, we audit the court system. So we, we do traditionally do, when you think of in the office, but we do a lot of things on top of that as well. You know, we do all the small counties. And in the small counties we sure are seeing a lot of problems out there. We do all eighty-nine of them. So now, at the end of, at the end of this year I will have been to all eighty-nine of those counties one time in the four years in addition to a lot of other things...We're dumping a lot of unfunded mandates on these counties. It's very hard for them, um, to actually do some of the things that they need to. And we go in and we work and try to be, you know, a team member with them. And really it is, it is a time for, uh, all of us to be working together to get through the tough stuff...
Most of the candidates who have filed for State Auditor haven't submitted their first quarter 2010 campaign finance reports with the Missouri Ethics Commission yet (the reports are due soon). But, any single contribution over $5000 must be reported within forty-eight hours to the commission. There's an interesting disparity in those big bucks contributions among the candidates. For instance, take our rock star candidate, Tom Schweich (r):
5191 Other(Report of Contribution Received Over $5000) 04/08/2010
4685 Other(Report of Contribution Received Over $5000) 04/05/2010
4510 Other(Report of Contribution Received Over $5000) 04/02/2010
4308 Other(Report of Contribution Received Over $5000) 03/31/2010
4168 Other(Report of Contribution Received Over $5000) 03/29/2010
3975 Other(Report of Contribution Received Over $5000) 03/26/2010
3945 Other(Report of Contribution Received Over $5000) 03/25/2010
3875 Other(Report of Contribution Received Over $5000) 03/24/2010
That's eight large contribution reports within two weeks. Freedom isn't free.
I wonder if the production costs for his rock video will show up on the complete report. Given the production values, there's certainly enough money here to produce a whole bunch more. But, I digress.
One of Missouri State Auditor Susan Montee's (D) potential republican challengers, Tom Schweich - rock star, put out a gawdawful music video. It's so bad that it rises to great art - if you have a hankerin' for kitsch.
Let's see, Chinese communists, handouts, fights, God, something about conception, foreign kings' rings, allusions to tentherism, elitists, and apparent outtakes from an exercise video. What's not to love from a right wingnut perspective?
At 2:17 in the video there's a music stand with the legend "Webster Univ Music Dept" Did they "borrow" it? (It's actually considered an honored, but alas, illegal, tradition to steal music stands from music schools.)
This would have worked better as an arrangement for string quartet, without the juvenile teabagger lyrics and the lame garage band.
Years ago an acquaintance in the music business related a story about his first club audition. The manager told him after he played, "I can't hire you to play here. If I did I'd be afraid they'd arrest you for loitering." Bingo.
Excuse me while I go find an icepick to stab out my ear drums.
Republican Tony Laszacs of Waynesville filed for the US Senate race today. An easier task than finding 10K signatures for a Moderate Conservative Party. Republicans tend to be unhappy to have votes siphoned. Ask Jon Ashjian.
Democrat Abdul Akram of Kansas City filed for Auditor. I'm not sure what in particular Susan Montee has done too badly and she's one of the more direct officials from what i've seen. So the margin of victory should be an interesting baseline for "well-known Democrat v. unknown Democrat" races (typically it's around 83/17 for the wellknown Dem)
Also, Republican Curtis Farber filed for the opportunity to lose by a large percentage to Mike Colona in HD67, Republican Clifford Olsen of Jeff City filed in HD114, and Libertarian Bradley Stubbs filed in HD142.
The last days to file are Friday, Monday, and Tuesday. The weather should be awesome. Our state capital is pretty nifty too.
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.
At 2:17 in the video there's a music stand with the legend "Webster Univ Music Dept" Did they "borrow" it? (It's actually considered an honored, but alas, illegal, tradition to steal music stands from music schools.)
