The state auditor is the watchdog of taxpayers’ money, and on Nov. 2, state Auditor Susan Montee, a Democrat, will defend her position against Republican challenger Tom Schweich.
The office audits more than 200 state boards and commission, all state agencies, the state court system, school districts and public universities and community colleges.
“We are the only office out there that is trying to make sure tax dollars are spent in the right way,” Montee said.
A big divide between the candidates is their beliefs on what qualifications are required to hold the seat. Montee believes that an accountant should lead the office, and Schweich downplays this as a requirement.
“While you can have someone head up any office that doesn’t know hands on the job, it means that you have to hire someone that does,” Montee said.
Former state Auditor Claire McCaskill, now U.S. Senator, was not a CPA. She hired a deputy auditor, who was both a CPA and attorney, to run the daily business, Montee said.
“When I came in, I didn’t hire a deputy. I don’t have to have a filter,” Montee said. “I’m hands on with every single audit that leaves the office.”
Her challenger Tom Schweich, a former federal prosecutor and U.S. ambassador, is not a certified accountant.
Between 2005 and 2008, Schweich was the senior official of the U.S.
State Department’s law enforcement division. In that time, Schweich initiated several internal audits of the State Department’s law enforcement division, according to his campaign website.
Yet Montee said that Schweich uses the word “audit” as a generic term for looking things over. He has never completed an audit report that an accountant would perform.
Elected in 2006, Montee became the first Missouri state auditor to be both an attorney and certified public accountant.
Montee led the audit of the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority (MOHELA), which uncovered numerous instances of financial abuse, including severance packages to former executives that total almost $2.3 million.
“They had road blocks in place to get money to students that needed it to get an education,” Montee said. “And yet they were spending all kinds of money on a new building, salaries, trips and training. It was awful.”
In those situations, she said she can see the difference she is making in families’ lives. This is also true with her audit of the Riverview Gardens School District, which identified fraud on the part of the superintendent, who was later convicted of the crimes.
While both the MOHELA and Riverview Gardens audits indirectly affected the African-American community, Montee said she works with certain issues that affect the black population more directly. When she has audited Missouri Department of Transportation, she said she looks at the minority participation requirements to make sure they are being met.
“We don’t get to issue opinions on policy, but once there is a policy in place, then we can say, ‘Your policy is to increase minority hiring and you’re not doing that,’” Montee said.
Before being elected as state auditor, Montee was the Buchanan County Auditor from 2000 to 2006. Montee also served on the St. Joseph City Council for four years, beginning in 1998.
Montee has also reviewed issues in public education and child safety. She said her audits of student immunization compliance, day care and senior center licensing, and the Safe Schools Initiative have resulted in legislative proposals to solve the inadequacies she uncovered.
Montee said she is not tired yet.
“It took me a long time to get everything reorganized like I like I wanted it,” Montee said. “And I still have things to do.”
