Scott Fitzpatrick

Brooke Foster of Missourians Against the Deceptive Online Gambling Amendment says the measure known as Amendment 2 won’t actually provide much money to help education as proponents contend.

Missouri State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick says he'll only investigate the state's charter schools — which are all in Kansas City or St. Louis — if formal complaints show “specific problems. Union leaders sent a letter to the auditor's office in August.

The Missouri Auditor's office no longer needs consent from governing boards or a petition drive to launch an audit if an initial investigation shows “improper government activity” — including fraud, waste of resources or violations of law.

Missouri voters passed a constitutional amendment in November 2022 that required Kansas City to increase its minimum funding of the police department. But the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that the language on the original measure was so inaccurate that it casts doubt on the fairness of the election.

State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick, a Republican, issued an audit of Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft's office and downgraded his administration to the second-lowest rating because it illegally withheld documentation about election cybersecurity. Ashcroft, who is also a Republican, criticized the report as a political attack.

A Missouri appeals court ruled that Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft's titles for six abortion-rights ballot issues were "replete with politically partisan language." Even though the proposed constitutional amendments cover all aspects of reproductive health care, Ashcroft's titles had a single-minded focus on abortion.

State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick says a review of the Children’s Division, which has struggled for years to recruit and retain staff, may not happen right away because of staff constraints in his own office. Meanwhile, Missouri has a backlog of more than 10,000 open child abuse and neglect cases.

The litigation asks a Cole County judge to reject the proposed constitutional amendments or rewrite the summary and fiscal note.

The attorney general's office refused to sign off on a proposed amendment that would add abortion rights to the Missouri constitution. Although the state auditor's fiscal note estimated minimal cost to the state, Andrew Bailey demanded that the auditor inaccurately increase the estimate by billions of dollars.

Proponents of an initiative petition seeking to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution have been unable to begin collecting signatures because of a showdown between the attorney general and state auditor. In a lawsuit, Missouri ACLU claims that Attorney General Andrew Bailey has made an illegal effort to falsely increase the cost of the amendment.

Emails show Missouri Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick’s office completed its work on the cost estimate for an abortion rights ballot issue, but Attorney General Andrew Bailey refused to give what has traditionally been considered perfunctory approval — and demanded the auditor falsely inflate the numbers.

The former state Treasurer replaces Nicole Galloway, who was the last remaining Democrat in Missouri to hold an elected statewide position.