State Auditor Nicole Galloway Archives

Parson: State employees can support candidates, but don’t let it affect your job

January 31, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

U.S. Senator Josh Hawley, R-Missouri

A Missouri House committee reviewed this week U.S. Senator Josh Hawley’s allegations that State Auditor Nicole Galloway used “blatantly biased staff” to audit his office. Galloway, a Democrat running for governor, is having her office do an exit audit of Hawley’s office while he served as attorney general. A closeout audit of a statewide office is a standard practice by the Auditor’s Office.

In his mid-January tweets, Hawley revealed e-mails written by the Auditor’s Office in which an employee appeared to discuss changing part of the audit. Hawley released an e-mail from auditor Pam Allison which said she would “beef up” part of the audit that involved Hawley’s use of personal email/personal calendar.

State Auditor Nicole Galloway

During this week’s committee hearing, lawmakers learned that Galloway has a different employee heading the Hawley review. Jon Halwes, Galloway’s new audit director, says the staffing change was in response to the appearance of bias. The worker donated $50 to former Democratic U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill’s campaign.

During a press event Thursday, Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican, says individual rights should be at the forefront.

“If you’re a state employee, if you want to support a candidate, I don’t have a problem with state employees supporting a candidate. Do I think they should carry a sign around with them to work every day doing that? Probably not,” says Parson.

Gov. Mike Parson

“Whether somebody contributes to a candidate or not, I don’t have a problem with that. I probably have a problem if it affects the job they’re doing and if they’re using it for political gain. I’ve got a real problem with that.”

Halwes says he has not found any bias in the audit. He says the office has four levels of review and the layers would make it impossible to release a biased audit. Halwes went on to say that he’s voted Republican most of his life and it does not impact his work of being independent.

During a different Missouri House committee hearing this week, Galloway told the lawmakers that they should reserve judgement until they review the audit for themselves. The audit is not finished yet, but Galloway expects it to be released in the coming weeks.

See previous story:

Missouri House committee hears testimony from Galloway’s office about ongoing Hawley audit (AUDIO) https://wp.me/p16gMv-w7b

Missouri House committee hears testimony from Galloway’s office about ongoing Hawley audit (AUDIO)

January 30, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

A Missouri House oversight committee learned Wednesday that a state auditor’s employee overseeing the closeout audit of former Attorney General Josh Hawley (R) has been removed from that audit.

Missouri Auditor Nicole Galloway (2018 file photo)

Hawley, who’s now a U.S. Senator, has accused State Auditor Nicole Galloway’s (D) office of using blatantly biased staff, including those who came from former U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill’s (D) campaign.

State Auditor Nicole Galloway’s audit director, Jon Halwes, testified for about 90 minutes before the House Special Committee on Government Oversight. State Rep. Nick Schroer, R-O’Fallon, asked Halwes about employee Bobby Showers.

“He was the audit director on the (Hawley) audit until about two weeks ago, when I took over,” Halwes testified.

“Why did you take over,” Schroer asked Halwes.

“We removed him from the audit due to the appearance of bias,” Halwes said.

Representative Schroer says that Showers donated to Senator McCaskill’s campaign. The “St. Louis Post-Dispatch” notes Showers contributed $50 to McCaskill.

Mr. Halwes emphasizes that Showers was removed, because of the appearance that the audit might not be independent.

The closeout audit of Hawley’s office began in early 2019, according to Halwes. Hawley served as Missouri Attorney General from January 2017 to January 2019, before resigning following his November 2018 Senate victory over McCaskill.

Halwes took over the audit two weeks ago, which is about the same time Senator Hawley tweeted about his concerns with the auditor’s office. Halwes testified that he has not seen any indication of bias in Showers’ audit, as he’s reviewed it.

“In your two weeks since you’ve come into that position, has there been any indication of any actual bias in the course of this audit?,” State Rep. Peter Meredith, D-St. Louis, asked Halwes.

“I have not identified anything,” Halwes responds. “Okay, that’s good to hear,” Meredith told him.

In his mid-January tweets, Hawley revealed e-mails written by the auditor’s office in which an employee appeared to discuss changing part of the audit.

Hawley released an e-mail from auditor Pam Allison which said she would “beef up” part of the audit that involved Hawley’s use of personal email/personal calendar.

Allison was only briefly mentioned during Wednesday’s hearing, and none of the committee members asked about that e-mail.

As for Galloway, she says there has been no political bias nor impropriety during the audit process, emphasizing that audits are based on evidence and facts.

Mr. Halwes emphasized that too, during his testimony. He says audits are based on facts and evidence, not political beliefs. Halwes testified the auditor’s office has four levels of review. He says it would be impossible to release an audit that isn’t independent, because of those layers.

Halwes, who’s now overseeing the Hawley audit, is a career employee who has worked for the state auditor’s office for about 35 years. He testifies he’s voted Republican most of his life and that it doesn’t impact his independence to audit Democrats or others.

Auditor Galloway issued a statement after the hearing, reiterating what Chairman Ross told the committee and audience on Wedneday: that Missouri law prohibits the Auditor’s office from discussing the content of an ongoing audit. She says the team involved in the Hawley audit has nearly 90 years of audit experience, working for state auditors in both parties, dating to former State Auditor Margaret Kelly (R).

Galloway also says that David Kirby, who is the auditor’s legislative liaison, had no role in the audit process involving the Hawley closeout audit. Mr. Kirby was Senator McCaskill’s campaign manager.

House Special Committee on Government Oversight Chairman Robert Ross, R-Yukon, is concerned about Hawley’s allegations. He called the hearing.

“We as legislators rely on audits for a lot of oversight and watching how our government is performing,” Ross told Capitol reporters after the hearing. “We have to know that those are being performed without bias.”

Despite his concerns, Ross says Galloway has been tough on Republicans and Democrats, adding that she’s given “excellent” ratings to Republicans. Ross says there could be additional hearings in the future.

Galloway’s statement says the Hawley audit will be released “in the coming weeks.”

Click here to listen to House Special Committee on Government Oversight Committee Chairman Robert Ross’ comments to Capitol reporters, including Missourinet’s Brian Hauswirth, after the January 29, 2020 hearing in Jefferson City:

Governor addresses Missourians: ‘State of our state is strong’

January 15, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

Gov. Mike Parson delivered today his State of the State address to the Missouri Legislature. Parson outlined themes at the forefront of his administration – jobs, workforce development, infrastructure, and making a brighter future for Missouri’s young people.

Gov. Mike Parson (Photo courtesy of Tim Bommel, House Communications)

He touted the state’s low unemployment rate and some of his accomplishments while in office, including job expansions at Bayer, General Motors, Nucor Steel, Bunge, Briggs & Stratton, Dollar Tree, Aurora Organic Dairy and the USDA offices in Kansas City.

“That is why I am confident telling you today that the state of our state is strong and by working together, we will be ready for an even better future,” says Parson.

Let’s cut to the chase for the lowest paid state workers in the nation – Parson is proposing another pay increase for most of them. The Missouri Transportation and Conservation Departments are not included in the proposed 2% pay bump because those departments work under a different pay boost system.

Parson unveiled today his $30 billion state budget proposal for the fiscal year beginning in July. It includes the elimination of 325 full time equivalent state worker vacancies – no layoffs. The Labor and Industrial Relations Department would get rid of 124 positions and Department of Corrections would slash 137. The other vacancies being tossed are from other state agencies.

The governor says Missouri is “creating a new horizon of opportunity for infrastructure.” He says funding to fix or replace 250 Missouri bridges has led to some of the most exciting infrastructure investments. Parson rolled out the plan during last year’s State of the State address and the Legislature signed off on it.

“By combining our bridge proposal with federal funding secured by Congressman Graves, Missouri is now on track to significantly reduce the number of deficient bridges in the 6th Congressional District, which encompasses nearly half of our entire state,” says Parson.

According to Graves’ website, his northern Missouri district covers more square miles than nine states and includes St. Joseph and Hannibal.

Parson’s FY21 outline includes $50 million to keep a cost share infrastructure program going, another $4 million to continue repairing about 60 state levees and a $5 million boost to expand broadband internet access.

Missouri’s four largest cities – St. Louis, Kansas City, Columbia and Springfield – have all made rankings for their violent crime rates. With the mayors and police chiefs of these cities in the audience, Parson said he wants Missouri’s laws strengthened that target violent criminals, like gun ownership restrictions for minors and domestic abusers.

“I have never waivered in my support for the Second Amendment. But we all have to understand the very real issue of violent crime affecting our neighborhoods and the potential consequence of doing nothing,” he said.

Some state lawmakers are not on board with the idea and say such measures would violate the Second Amendment.

The governor’s budget plan includes adding four more Highway Patrol troopers to work on St. Louis highways and $1 million to protect crime victims and witnesses during investigations.

He also wants $22 million owed to counties for transporting jail inmates and holding offenders who end up going to state prison. Another $824 million would go to the Missouri Department of Corrections to fund the state’s 21 prisons, overtime pay for correctional officers, treatment programs and efforts to retain workers and keep prisoners from reoffending, etc.

The Public Defender System’s budget faces about $8 million reduction compared to the current fiscal year. Most of the cut would be to services provided to Missourians who can’t afford their own legal representation. The office handles roughly 80,000 legal cases per year.

As for making a brighter future for Missouri’s young people, Parson wants $3.56 billion in base funding for K-12 public schools – a $10 million increase compared to the current fiscal year. He’s proposing to boost school transportation spending by $10 million to an overall $117 million.

According to Parson, about 30% of Missourians have a four-year degree from a college or university. The governor says society needs to move away from the stigma that not having a college degree is a failure. He’s seeking $750,000 to certify about 12,000 new high school students as work-ready.

“This is a major step that could open doors to students not sure if college is in their immediate plans, but still put them on a path to greater opportunities,” says Parson.

Parson says about 30% of Missouri’s population has a four-year degree from a college or university. He wants the state to work to expand access to virtual education for high school students and those who are home schooled.

Meanwhile, the governor’s budget blueprint would give the same level of funding as the current fiscal year for Missouri’s colleges and universities – about $927 million.

Parson is asking lawmakers for a $4.4 million boost to fund his signature Fast Track workforce incentive grant. The additional funding would open the door for applicants attending Missouri’s private colleges and universities.

Fast Track is designed to fill Missouri’s greatest workforce needs by covering the full cost of schooling for adults 25 or older pursuing a certificate, credential or bachelors in a high demand field. The program is primarily for adults 25 years or older, but some provisions allow Missourians younger than 25 to get grants if they have been out of school for at least two years.

The governor is also requesting an extra $4.8 million to fund the A+ scholarship program.

Now that Parson has sketched his financial wishes, the Legislature can get to work on crunching the numbers. Budget hearings could begin as early as next week.

State Auditor Nicole Galloway, a Democrat running for governor, issued a response to Governor Parson’s address.

Gov. Parson has kicked 100,000 Missouri children off their healthcare. He created this problem and has resisted every opportunity to fix it. Our state deserves better than that.

Watch my official response to Gov. Parson’s State of the State response here:https://t.co/8HSwpuzU7K

— Nicole Galloway, CPA (@nicolergalloway) January 15, 2020

Missouri audit: Charter school exec exaggerated attendance to get $1.4 million in extra state aid

October 29, 2019 By Alisa Nelson

A new audit says the leader of a now-closed St. Louis charter school significantly inflated student attendance for at least three school years to get $1.4 million in additional state funding. State Auditor Nicole Galloway tells Missourinet Michael Malone, who was executive director of St. Louis College Prep Charter School, attempted to cover-up the school’s money problems.

Audit: St. Louis charter school exec exaggerated attendance to get $1.4 million in extra state aid

“The actual enrollment that the school reported to the state was less than the average daily attendance that they reported to the state,” says Galloway. “That should have been an immediate red flag, but it was not caught.”

The audit also found suspicious credit card use, including the purchase of gift cards, hotel stays, a vacation package, alcohol and items from Amazon. Malone resigned one year ago after allegedly admitting to fibbing attendance figures. Galloway’s office has sent the audit’s findings to the Attorney General’s Office for review.

“Taxpayers should be made whole,” says Galloway. “This is money that is supposed to go towards educating kids throughout the entire state and this charter school in St. Louis falsified records to get money in a fraudulent way. There should be consequences for that.”

The school opened in 2011 and lost its sponsorship earlier this year from the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

Galloway says she’s interested in a broad review of charter schools’ oversight by their sponsors.

“It’s important to remember that charter schools have multiple levels of oversight,” she says. “There’s a board that overlooks the charter school, a charter school sponsor, which can be a college, university and also the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, the state, has oversight of charter schools.”

Galloway goes on to say rigging attendance numbers to get extra state aid is not a widespread problem in Missouri.

“That’s partially what makes this audit so catching is that the executive director admitting to falsifying records and defrauded taxpayers in the state of Missouri of $1.4 million dollars,” she says.

A 2015 state audit found that the former Hope Academy charter school in Kansas City inflated attendance data to get an added $4.3 million in state funds. The school closed in 2014. A 2015 state audit also uncovered that the St. Joseph School District in northwest Missouri fudged attendance information in summer school classes – leading the district to lose $2 million in state aid.

The complete audit report can be found here.

Dogan: vehicle stops report highlights largest racial disparity in Missouri history (AUDIO)

July 24, 2019 By Brian Hauswirth

A Missouri House committee will hear testimony Wednesday morning in Clayton about racial profiling and civil asset forfeiture. The House Special Committee on Criminal Justice will hold the 9 a.m. hearing at the St. Louis County Council chambers.

State Rep. Shamed Dogan, R-Ballwin, speaks on the Missouri House floor on February 7, 2019 (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

Missouri’s 2018 vehicle stops report shows African-Americans were 91 percent more likely to be stopped than white motorists. State Rep. Shamed Dogan, R-Ballwin, who chairs the committee, tells Missourinet it’s a continuation of a troubling trend in Missouri.

“We’ve been collecting this data for 20-plus years and when we started out, they found that African-Americans were 33 percent more likely to be stopped in vehicle stops than whites and now it’s all the way up to 91 percent,” Dogan says.

He says that’s the largest racial disparity in Missouri history. His committee will be hearing testimony today, and Dogan hopes to hear from law enforcement officers, prosecutors, community leaders and the public.

“Well we hope to get people’s individual perspectives whether they’ve been racially profiled, suspected they’ve been racially profiled,” says Dogan.

He says there are currently no consequences for racial profiling, in state law.

Chairman Dogan expects the committee to draft a report by December, and wants to see reform legislation filed in January. Dogan says the committee is also looking into civil asset forfeiture, in addition to racial profiling.

“So we’re hoping to find some sort of common ground where law enforcement will, one, admit that there are problems with both of these issues and two, help us find out what some solutions are that are going to be palatable to them,” Dogan says.

He notes State Auditor Nicole Galloway (D) found that $9.1 million in cash and property were seized in 2018 through civil asset forfeiture, compared to $7.1 million in 2017.

The committee will hold a second hearing on August 1 at 9 a.m. at the Robert Mohart Center in Kansas City.

The House Special Committee on Criminal Justice was formed during the 2019 session, to explore ways to reform Missouri’s criminal justice system.

Dogan’s ranking Democrat is State Rep. Steven Roberts, D-St. Louis, who chairs the Missouri Legislative Black Caucus.

Dogan and Roberts worked together with a bipartisan group of lawmakers to pass House bill 192 this year, which revises mandatory minimum sentences. It requires Missouri’s Probation and Parole Board to evaluate those serving mandatory minimums and decide if they should be released.

Supporters say about 48 percent of Missouri’s prison population is serving time for drug offenses and other nonviolent crime.

Click here to listen to Brian Hauswirth’s full interview with State Rep. Shamed Dogan, R-Ballwin, which was recorded on July 22, 2019:

KFVS: Juden says upcoming Missouri state audit is a targeted attack on his reputation

July 19, 2019 By Brian Hauswirth

Former Missouri Department of Public Safety (DPS) Director Drew Juden says the state auditor’s office will be releasing an audit soon about the DPS director’s office.

Former Missouri DPS Director Drew Juden (file photo courtesy of DPS)

In an exclusive interview with Missourinet Cape Girardeau television partner KFVS, Juden describes the audit as a targeted attack on his reputation.

KFVS also spoke exclusively to former Governor Eric Greitens, who defended Juden during an on-camera interview, calling him “one of the best people I know.”

In November, Missouri Governor Mike Parson (R) requested that State Auditor Nicole Galloway (D) audit the DPS director’s office. Parson appointed former Missouri State Highway Patrol Colonel Sandy Karsten as DPS Director last August. After she was appointed, Karsten requested that the Office of Administration (OA) conduct an initial review of the DPS director’s office.

“Our initial review raised concerns that warranted a more in-depth examination of past public safety administration practices,” Karsten said in a November news release. “The previous state audit of the DPS Director’s office was completed nearly five years ago. A state audit is the appropriate next step to ensure the DPS Director’s office is fulfilling its obligations to the people of Missouri.”

DPS includes the Highway Patrol, the Missouri National Guard, Capitol Police, the Missouri Veterans Commission, the Missouri Gaming Commission and the State Fire Marshal’s office.

Juden provided KFVS with two draft audits from Auditor Galloway’s office.

You can find the entire KFVS report and interviews with Juden and former Governor Greitens here.