Two days after the Nov. 3 election, Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft formally cleared Missouri State Auditor Nicole Galloway of allegations that she violated state law by using government staff and money to publish an op-ed in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch criticizing Gov. Mike Parson’s stance on abortion.
Ashcroft began an investigation after conservative Liberty Alliance group submitted a complaint against Galloway on Sept. 9.
In a letter to Galloway dated Nov. 5, Ashcroft blamed the length of the investigation on the fact that Galloway took too long to supply emails regarding the op-ed after Ashcroft’s office submitted a sunshine request.
“Ultimately, your office provided my office with 32 pages of documents on the afternoon of Friday, October 30, 2020,” he wrote. “Had my office received these 32 pages, many of which are redundant, my office could have closed this matter sooner.”
Galloway issued a statement on Thursday:
“Since this review began last month, my office has complied with inquiries from the Secretary of State’s Office. As I said from the start, no laws were broken. I’m pleased Secretary Ashcroft came to the same conclusion.”
Galloway lost in the statewide contest against Parson by nearly a half-million votes, 1,216,192 votes (40%) to Parson’s 1,713,152 (57.171%).
In St. Louis County, however, she won with 59% of the vote, and with 80% of the vote in St. Louis.
