For immediate release: Oct. 7, 2020
Contact: Maura Browning, Communications Director (573) 526-0949
Statement on Investigation of Auditor Galloway
Jefferson City, Mo. — Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft issued the following statement regarding a lawsuit filed against the Secretary of State by State Auditor Nicole Galloway:
“These are the facts. We received a complaint against Auditor Galloway. By law, we had 30 days from receiving the complaint to either dismiss the complaint or begin an investigation. This complaint was substantially similar to the one filed against then-Attorney General Josh Hawley in 2018, the same complaint Auditor Galloway helped us investigate.
“Our office does not comment on ongoing investigations, but since Auditor Galloway has chosen to make this a legal and political fight, rather than simply complying with the Sunshine law, we felt the need to respond to this matter.
“Our office made a very narrowly-tailored request for documents to the Auditor’s office – any emails or documents related specifically to an op-ed submitted to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch – in order to allow us to come to a quick resolution. Instead, her office failed to comply with the Sunshine law (as held in Gross v. Parson) by stating it would take them at least 30 days to provide our office the documents since our request was so large. Because the Auditor’s office failed to comply with the Sunshine law, our office issued a subpoena for the emails. So far her office has not cooperated, and instead has decided to fight the subpoena.
“In the spirit of transparency, we would like to encourage the Auditor to cooperate with this investigation. If her office would provide the documents which show there was no wrongdoing, we could close this investigation and move forward.”
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Visit www.sos.mo.gov to learn more about the Office of the Missouri Secretary of State.