07/07/2009

By DAVID A. LIEB  / Associated Press

Former State Department official Tom Schweich kicked off his campaign Tuesday for Missouri auditor with a pledge to act as "a fiscal hawk" over the state's share of federal stimulus money.

Schweich's entry into the race sets up a Republican primary for the chance to challenge Democratic Auditor Susan Montee in 2010. Republican House Budget Committee Chairman Allen Icet already is in the contest.

The Missouri auditor's office oversees about 135 employees and produces around 100 audits annually of state agencies and local governments.

Schweich, 48, is a St. Louis attorney, author and college instructor who initially had considered running for the seat being vacated by Republican Sen. Kit Bond. He had the encouragement of his mentor, former Sen. John Danforth. But Schweich decided last month to defer to Rep. Roy Blunt to avoid a divisive GOP Senate primary.

Schweich has never run for office. He was Danforth's chief of staff for the 1999 federal investigation into the deadly government siege at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, and followed Danforth to the United Nations, where he was chief of staff for the U.S. delegation.

President George W. Bush appointed Schweich to the State Department in 2005 as an international law enforcement official. Two years later, Bush picked Schweich to coordinate the anti-drug and justice reform efforts in Afghanistan.

Schweich asserted that he "imposed fiscal discipline" at the State Department on officials who were not accounting for inventory or were approving $100,000 invoices without itemization for recovery efforts in Afghanistan or Iraq.

He compared the war-spending mentality with the current pressure to spend federal stimulus money quickly to help revitalize the economy.

"We need to make sure that there is somebody who is independent, who is tough, who is fair-minded and who has a lot of experience in audits and investigations to make sure this stimulus money is not misused," Schweich said during an event in Columbia.

Montee said Tuesday that the stimulus dollars are just a portion of Missouri's $9 billion of federal money that her office tracks annually. She said that's why it's important for the auditor to be a certified public accountant, as she is and none of her potential opponents are.

"There's some pretty tough reporting standards that we as a state are going to have to adhere to," Montee said.

Schweich declined Tuesday to evaluate Montee's job performance. But he took a swipe at Icet, who has promoted his role as a legislative budget chairman as a reason why he should be auditor.

"If you're involved in creating the programs you're auditing, that's problematic," Schweich said.

Icet, of the St. Louis suburb of Wildwood, announced Tuesday that he had received the endorsements of 80 of his fellow 88 Republican House members and two state senators.

"I don't think anyone else in the state has as much understanding of the entire state budget as I do," said Icet, who has served in the House since 2003 and as budget chairman since 2005.