GOP says Kanzler their man in auditor race

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Although a primary election awaits him, attorney Jay Kanzler Jr. of St. Louis County already has won the backing of the state Republican Party in his campaign to unseat Democratic State Auditor Claire McCaskill.

Kanzler filed candidacy papers Monday at the secretary of state's office with a Republican official at his side. He immediately began criticizing McCaskill for not identifying more wasteful spending in state government.

McCaskill said she welcomed a potential challenge and debate against Kanzler. Her office has performed almost 500 audits, "most of which identify wasteful spending," she said.

Although Kanzler is the second Republican to file as an auditor candidate, state party leaders have not backed the campaign of Al Hanson of Concordia, who did not immediately return a telephone message Monday.

Candidate filing ends today. Party primaries are Aug. 6, and the general election is Nov. 5. So far, McCaskill faces no Democratic challengers.

Kanzler, 41, of University City is an associate general counsel for Washington University in St. Louis and previously was a partner at the Bryan Cave law firm in St. Louis. At the university, Kanzler said, he makes sure that nearly $1 billion in federal and state tax dollars are spent correctly.

He lost his only previous political race -- a 1996 bid for his hometown city council.

Among Kanzler's attributes are his work experience and potential fund-raising ability, as well as his home base in the state's most populated and politically contested county, said Scott Baker, spokesman for the state Republican Party.

Wanted a warning

Kanzler said he is running to ensure that tax dollars are spent wisely. He said McCaskill should have warned Missourians in advance of the state's present budget troubles.

"As part of the overall duties of the auditor's office, recommendations should have been made to the state legislature that wasteful spending was going on, that the government could not continue to spend at the rate it was spending," Kanzler said.

Kanzler had no specific examples of wasteful spending.

McCaskill said her audits have highlighted hundreds of millions of dollars worth of wasteful programs and spending.

She said Kanzler didn't understand the role of the auditor's office if he was suggesting it should have warned of a budget shortfall.

"The auditor's role is to audit. It is not to do revenue forecasting or budgeting," she said.

Kanzler also was critical of a McCaskill audit in January that recommended the Legislature raise taxes charged to employers to prevent the state unemployment compensation fund from becoming insolvent.

He said higher taxes would just hurt businesses.

McCaskill said her suggestion could avert greater costs for businesses. If the trust fund becomes insolvent, money would be borrowed from the federal government to pay unemployment claims and businesses could have to make up for that money with interest.