Nov. 29, 2019

PRESS RELEASE By Steph Deidrick

This morning, the St. Louis Post Dispatch released a story detailing troubling allegations made by a former aide to Governor Mike Parson.  For your reference, here is the story: https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/after-appeal-to-missouri-governor-nonprofit-settled-loan-for-just/article_232bb6f9-a40c-550b-878b-0d5afdcbf718.html

The story mentions a whistleblower complaint made to the State Auditor’s Office, but the Post-Dispatch failed to detail our complete series of responses to the reporter.  While we have requested a correction, we also wanted to provide the facts below: 

The State Auditor’s Office received an anonymous whistleblower complaint regarding the Governor’s office on Sept. 3. At no time did the whistleblower identify themselves by name.  Based on that call, our office could not confirm if this individual was a staffer to Governor Parson. The anonymous complaint was received by phone and no materials or supporting documentation were submitted to the office by the whistleblower. The whistleblower’s Sept. 3 phone call to our Hotline was the only contact made to the State Auditor’s Office.

In response to a Sunshine request from the Post-Dispatch, our office confirmed there was no written complaint or documentation submitted to our office. Additionally, the newspaper asked if there were audio recordings of the phone call.  There are no recordings because our office does not record whistleblower complaints for privacy reasons.

Based on the limited information provided via phone and no documentation, investigators determined there was not enough information to further investigate. The Post-Dispatch requested internal communications between our public corruption team and attorneys. Those records are closed by law. 

Our office welcomes any whistleblower with additional information to come forward. They can do so by emailing moaudit@auditor.mo.gov, calling 800-347-8597 or going online at auditor.mo.gov/hotline. By law, our office protects the identities of whistleblowers.  

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