News-Press Endorses Montee

Published yesterday in The News-Press:

We endorse Susan Montee for a second term as Missouri’s state auditor.

Ms. Montee, a St. Joseph native, is both a certified public accountant and a lawyer. Her opponent, also a lawyer, has disagreed with Ms. Montee about whether the auditor needs to be a CPA. But the fact remains she is and he isn’t.

As for the other major point of disagreement, we have not observed that Ms. Montee, a Democrat, has politicized her office. We agree with her that audits should be narrowly focused on “Are the dollars being spent the way they should be spent?” and that the reports should be made public as soon as they are completed.

Ms. Montee’s office has been particularly helpful in examining state tax credit programs and pointing out problems requiring legislative corrections.