When MoEEP met to discuss scoring and endorsing candidates, we agreed to focus on those within the legislative branch, the candidates who are asking the people of Missouri for the power to create the laws that affect the children of this state. We did not consider evaluating the election for State Auditor, because it did not seem necessary.

But on October 6, news broke that Scott Fitzpatrick, one of the candidates for State Auditor, posted the following statement on his campaign website: “I’ll ensure schools are following the law and keeping politically divisive curriculum like Critical Race Theory, and discussions relating to gender or sexual preferences out of the classroom.”

This is incredibly dangerous, for four reasons.

1. We firmly believe that discussions of gender and race belong in the classroom, and his position would prevent educators from teaching fully and accurately.

2. We do not accept the premise of his statement, that CRT is being taught, or that it would be problematic, if it were. In fact, his position will marginalize entire populations of students and educators.

3. The direct insertion of extreme politics will undermine the authority of an important elected office.

4. The Missouri Constitution, in creating the position of State Auditor, gives that position no power that could be reasonably read to include auditing curriculum. His position represents overreach at the least and gross abuse of power at the worst. (Read the full text of the relevant section of the Missouri Constitution below.)

For these reasons, we have decided to evaluate candidates in this race.  Based on the same criteria used in the legislative races, we have reviewed all candidates running for the executive office of Auditor:

Missouri Auditor Candidate Scores

Alan Green - MoEEP Approved!

• This candidate has served in the legislative and executive branches of the state government and has a background in business administration.

• He has pledged to keep the Auditor independent.

Scott Fitzpatrick - Anti-Equity

• This candidate will overstep constitutionally granted bounds and has no accounting background 

• This candidate said in a debate he will be non-partisan but campaigns with extremely partisan rhetoric and states he will conduct non-fiscal audits based on the platform of the Republican Party

John Hartwig - Unclear

• He has accounting and business experience and has stated independence but that is all we know about this candidate since he has never held public office before and has little information publically available

Enabling Language from the Missouri Constitution

Article IV: Section 13

State auditor—qualifications and duties—limitations on duties.— The state auditor shall have the same qualifications as the governor. He shall establish appropriate systems of accounting for all public officials of the state, post-audit the accounts of all state agencies and audit the treasury at least once annually. He shall make all other audits and investigations required by law, and shall make an annual report to the governor and general assembly. He shall establish appropriate systems of accounting for the political subdivisions of the state, supervise their budgeting systems, and audit their accounts as provided by law. No duty shall be imposed on him by law which is not related to the supervising and auditing of the receipt and expenditure of public funds.

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Or, of course, read it yourself