Missouri auditor hopeful visits Cape Girardeau as part of introduction tour

A former federal official touting his resume as a top corruption fighter at the United Nations and in Afghanistan said Wednesday that he wants to be the next Missouri State Auditor.

Tom Schweich, who can trace his Missouri roots back six generations, visited Cape Girardeau to launch his local effort to win the Republican primary in 2010. The local stop was the last one of a two-day tour of the state on which Schweich sought to introduce himself.

"I've broken some china in my day," Schweich said. "But the only china I have broken are of people interested in cronyism and corruption."

Schweich is a St. Louis attorney who focused on corporate compliance with state and federal regulations while he was with the Bryan Cave law firm. He was chief of staff for former U.S. Sen. Jack Danforth's 1999 investigation of the Waco, Texas, Branch Dividian fire and chief of staff to Danforth and two other ambassadors at the United Nations. Schweich in 2005 was named second-ranking law enforcement official in the U.S. State Department and in March 2007 was appointed coordinator for Counternarcotics and Justice Reform in Afghanistan.

Those jobs required an independent, nonpolitical approach, the same approach Schweich said he can bring to the auditor's job. Schweich was briefly mentioned as a potential U.S. Senate candidate in 2010, and said he was uncertain about becoming a political candidate. "The only reason I hesitated is I never considered myself to be a politician," he said during a news conference at the Broadway Federal Building. "I considered myself a public servant, not a politician."

Republican Tom Schweich announces his 2010 candidacy for Missouri State Auditor Wednesday afternoon from the old Federal Building steps in Cape Girardeau. (Kit Doyle)

The skills gained in private law practice and in federal agencies will help him watch over the massive federal grants that are part of the economic stimulus bill approved in February, Schweich said. "We have got to have an auditor who is a conservative, a fiscal hawk," he said.

Schweich faces a likely primary against state Rep. Allen Icet, R-Wildwood, who sought to gain publicity as Schweich was announcing by releasing endorsements from fellow lawmakers. The list of 80 names includes area Reps. Steve Tilley, R-Perryville, Clint Tracy, R-Cape Girardeau, Ellen Brandom, R-Sikeston, Shelley Keeney, R-Marble Hill and Billy Pat Wright, R-Dexter, as well as Sen. Jason Crowell, R-Cape Girardeau.

The winner of the August 2010 Republican primary will likely face incumbent Democrat Susan Montee in November 2010.

Endorsements don't win races, Schweich said. Icet is chairman of the House Budget Committee and Icet winning endorsements from fellow lawmakers isn't surprising, he added.

"The only reason people would endorse someone else is that they don't know me," he said.

rkeller@semissourian.com

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