Auditor's role, not qualifications, at issue in election

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Win or lose in her re-election bid, State Auditor Claire McCaskill already has ushered the office into a new era -- or, more appropriately, an old era.

McCaskill is the first Missouri auditor since 1974 not to be a certified public accountant. Four years ago, she defeated an opponent who had made that qualification a big issue.

This year, none of the four auditor candidates is a CPA.

In that sense, the election is a flashback to the past, because before 1974, Missouri had never elected a CPA as auditor.

McCaskill, a Democrat, is an attorney and politician by trade, serving as a state lawmaker and Jackson County prosecutor before defeating Republican deputy state auditor Chuck Pierce -- a CPA -- in the 1998 election.

This year, McCaskill faces Republican Al Hanson, a former commodities trader and tire dealer who was convicted of theft in 1978 and now runs a prison ministry from his Concordia home.

Her other challengers include Libertarian Arnold Trembley of St. Louis, a computer programmer, and Green Party candidate Fred Kennell of Maplewood, who has never used his economics degree and is currently unemployed.

None see any advantage to being a certified public accountant.

For that matter, neither do some accountants.

"The leader of the auditor's office isn't the one out there looking at the papers," says Drew Blossom, a CPA and partner of KPMG in Kansas City. "It's about making decisions about what directions audits go ... it's a sense of good judgment, identifying risk areas, managing people."

In four years in office, McCaskill has managed a staff of more than 150 people and produced more than 400 audits -- many examining not only the finances but the performance of state agencies.

McCaskill claims that her audits have identified $400 million in taxpayer savings, if all of her recommendations were followed.

State law does not require agencies to implement audit findings.

In fact, the auditor's office has very little power besides publicity, which McCaskill is good at generating.

"We are trying to do audits that are impactful, that people are interested in," McCaskill said recently while explaining her approach to transportation department officials, who at times have accused McCaskill of overstating some of her findings. "Then people will read about them and put pressure on state government to change."

According to the Missouri Constitution, the auditor's office is to audit the accounts of all state agencies, establish appropriate accounting systems for state officials and perform any other audits and investigations required by law.

To qualify to serve as auditor, the constitution requires only that a person be at least 30 years old, a citizen of the United States for at least 15 years and a resident of Missouri for 10 years.

The unofficial qualification of being a certified public accountant began with George Lehr's election in 1974. Lehr was a CPA in both Missouri and Kansas. After him came CPA auditors Thomas Keyes, James Antonio and Margaret Kelly.

Yet there is also precedent for McCaskill's qualifications.

The two auditors who preceded Lehr were Republicans John Ashcroft and Kit Bond -- both attorneys who went on to become governors and U.S. senators.

McCaskill, likewise, has made no secret of her desire to run for governor some day.

It's that political aspiration that draws some of the biggest criticism from her opponents.

"I'd like to see the auditor's office depoliticized and not used as a political stepping stone," said Hanson, who says he has no other political goals or loyalties. State Republican Party leaders have disavowed Hanson, who similarly says he wants nothing to do with them.

As third-party candidates, Trembley and Kennell also stress independence as their best qualification for the office.

"A Libertarian could be equally impartial in auditing a political administration of one of the big two" parties, said Trembley, who is hoping to pick up votes from Republicans not satisfied with Hanson.

Kennell acknowledges that he believes McCaskill has been doing a good job. But "I would be independent of the Democratic Party. I would be independent of campaign contributors," he said.

If an independent approach has become a top qualification, McCaskill said her challengers have nothing on her.

"I'm very proud of the work we've done. I think it's shown a great deal of independence," she says. "We have not tried to curry favor with anyone."

The four candidates running for Missouri state auditor:CLAIRE MCCASKILL

PARTY: Democrat.

AGE: 49. Born July 24, 1953.

HOME: Jefferson City.

EDUCATION: Bachelor's degree in political science and law degree, both from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

EXPERIENCE: Attorney; clerk for the Western District of the Missouri Court of Appeals; assistant Jackson County prosecutor; served in the Missouri House, 1983-1988; member of the Jackson County Legislature, 1991-1992; Jackson County prosecutor, 1993-1998; state auditor, 1999-2002.

FAMILY: Husband Joseph; son, Austin; daughters Maddie and Lily.

QUOTE: "I'm very proud of the work we've done. I think it's shown a great deal of independence. We have not tried to curry favor with anyone."AL HANSON

PARTY: Republican.

AGE: 72. May 15, 1930.

HOME: Concordia.

EDUCATION: Bachelor's degree in history and general science, Augsburg College, Minneapolis, Minn.

EXPERIENCE: Army infantry officer; heavy-equipment tire salesman; owner of tire retail business; member of the Minneapolis Grain Exchange; convicted of theft in 1978 and served nine months in a Minnesota prison; upon release, began a Christian prison ministry; ran unsuccessfully for Minnesota auditor and several other offices in both Minnesota and Missouri.

FAMILY: Wife Janette; four daughters: Shari, Susan, Shirley, Sandra.

QUOTE: "I'd like to see the auditor's office depoliticized and not used as a political stepping stone."ARNOLD TREMBLEY

PARTY: Libertarian.

AGE: 51. Born May 25, 1951.

HOME: St. Louis.

EDUCATION: Bachelor of science degree in English from Northern Arizona University; certificate in data processing, Florissant Valley Community College.

EXPERIENCE: Computer programmer for MasterCard International; ran for state Senate in 1998 and state treasurer 2000.

FAMILY: Single.

QUOTE: "A Libertarian could be equally impartial in auditing a political administration of one of the big two (parties)."FRED KENNELL

PARTY: Green.

AGE: 44, Born Jan. 31, 1958.

HOME: Maplewood.

EDUCATION: Bachelor's degree in economics from Washington University in St. Louis; master's degree in economics from Purdue University.

EXPERIENCE: Former cab driver, truck driver, machine shop worker and substitute teacher; currently unemployed and planning to return to college to get a teaching certificate.

FAMILY: Single.

QUOTE: "I don't have too much qualms with the present auditor, but I would be independent of the Democratic Party. I would be independent of campaign contributors."

Source: The Associated Press