The suggestion by Governor Matt Blunt and the leadership in Missouri's Republican party that State Auditor Claire McCaskill is conducting some kind of witch hunt in her attempts to document how state money and equipment have been handled in the changeover from state-operated license offices to private ones is ludicrous.
After what was in all probability a tense meeting with Ms. McCaskill Thursday, the governor pretty much told her where to go Friday. According to today's Kansas City Star, Blunt wrote a letter to Ms. McCaskill, telling her she would be provided with the "books, accounts and papers" of state agencies, as the law requires, but when it comes to requests for any other information, they will be treated as Sunshine Law requests and she will not receive any documents that are not available to the general public.
In other words, the governor is saying that the official who is designated by the state constitution to make sure tax money is being spent properly is not going to have the means to do that.
Blunt and his spokespeople have made it seem as if Ms. McCaskill is only wanting information from license fee offices (including how state property has been disposed of) in an attempt to embarrass the governor.
This might be a valid claim if she had only started these types of audits with the beginning of the Blunt administration. That is not the case. She was just as tough on the administration of Mr. Blunt's inept predecessor, Bob Holden.
With this decision and with Blunt's decision earlier this week to veto a bill which would have made more information about campaign contributions and lobbyist expenditures available on the internet to the general public, it appears that we have an administration that is either corrupt, politically inept, or a combination of both.
You can find the Kansas City Star article at: http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/12146251.htm
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