In a challenge to whistleblower protection in Missouri, a Cole County circuit judge ruled against the Greene County Sheriffs office, in favor of State Auditor Nicole Galloway.
This comes from a 2017 case of whistleblower complaints about the use of public resources in Greene County in connection with a tax ballot issue.
In answer to a records request, the auditor did not share documents that would reveal whistleblower identities. Sheriff James Arnott sued.
The brief decision upholds the state whistleblower law that says, “Individuals who make a report under this section may choose to remain anonymous until the individual affirmatively consents to having the individual’s identity disclosed.”
In her response to the court’s ruling, Galloway stated, “Without the information provided by whistleblowers and the legal safeguards that shield those individuals, the audit of Greene County may not have happened.”
