Missouri State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick says a recent audit of former Gov. Mike Parson’s office found policy and recordkeeping issues but uncovered no criminal wrongdoing.
The audit gave the Office of Governor a “fair” rating and cited concerns involving travel documentation, employee compensation and record retention during Parson’s final months in office. One finding involved 174 state aircraft trips costing more than $375,000, with auditors unable to identify a specific state business purpose for 58 of those flights based on available records.
Speaking with Missourinet, Fitzpatrick said the audit does not warrant criminal referrals.
“So as far as referrals, no, I mean, there was nothing criminal in nature. I mean, there were some policy violations in terms of the way that some of the things were handled, like comp time. Really, a lot of it comes down to a record-keeping thing.”
The report also questioned more than $28,000 in compensatory time payments to top-level employees and cited missing records that should have been maintained under state law.
Fitzpatrick told Missourinet the purpose of the audit is to help current state officials learn from issues identified during the previous administration.
“So, in this case, Governor Kehoe can see the issues that arose during the prior administration. And the goal would be for them to be able to prevent those things from happening in their office moving forward. So, this is not a situation where we’re trying to throw stones at the Parson Administration.”
Fitzpatrick was appointed state treasurer by Parson in December 2018 before taking office in January 2019.
He said audits are intended to promote transparency and accountability regardless of who occupies an office.
“It’s not about trying to make Governor Parson look bad. It’s really just about making sure that regardless of who we’re auditing, we are transparent. We treat everybody the same. It’s really for the sole purpose of making government work better for the taxpayers.”
The audit makes several recommendations related to record retention, travel policies and internal controls.
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