On this week’s episode of Politically Speaking, St. Louis Public Radio’s political journo-duo – Jason Rosenbaum and Jo Mannies – welcome state Auditor Nicole Galloway to the program for the first time.
The Democratic official was appointed to statewide office earlier this year after the death of state Auditor Tom Schweich. Before taking the reins, Galloway was in her first full term as Boone County’s treasurer.
A native of Fenton, Galloway graduated from Missouri University of Science and Technology with degrees in applied mathematics and economics. She also earned an MBA from the University of Missouri-Columbia. As with recent state auditors like Republican Margaret Kelly and Democrat Susan Montee, Galloway is a certified public accountant.
Before she took the plunge into county politics, Galloway worked as corporate auditor for Shelter Insurance in Columbia and as an actuarial analyst with Allstate Insurance. She also worked at Brown Smith Wallace, where she audited insurance and reinsurance companies throughout the country. Gov. Jay Nixon appointed her to be Boone County treasurer in 2011 after the death of incumbent treasurer Jan Fugit.
After much speculation, Nixon picked Galloway last April to serve out the bulk of Schweich’s second term. She’s carried on Schweich’s practice of rating governmental entities on an “excellent” to “poor” scale and following up on state institutions that receive an unfavorable audit. Galloway recently delivered a blistering audit of Joplin’s city government, an entity she says entered into questionable deals after a devastating tornado in 2011.
Among Galloway's comments during the show:
- She is heartened by the constructive reaction of Joplin city officials to her office's devastating critique of their actions in the wake of the 2011 tornado. The audit said $1.5 million was misspent because of a faulty contract awarded to a developer who failed to fulfill his commitments to the city. Her office will be re-examining Joplin city government next year.
- She has reallocated office staff and resources to monitor local governments' compliance with Senate Bill 5, which revamps municipal court operations and limits the percentage of income a city can collect from traffic tickets and related court fines and fees.
- Her office plans to examine the General Assembly's personnel procedures as part of a scheduled audit of the Missouri House and Senate. That examination will likely look at policies regarding sexual harassment and interns, she said.
- Galloway already has announced plans to run for a full term in 2018.
Follow Jason Rosenbaum on Twitter: @jrosenbaum
Follow Jo Mannies on Twitter: @jmannies
Follow Nicole Galloway on Twitter: @nicolergalloway
