Republican state auditor nominee and current Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick is the latest guest on Politically Speaking, where he talked about his plans for the office if he prevails in November.
Fitzpatrick won a hotly contested GOP primary earlier this year against state Rep. David Gregory.
Fitzpatrick is now facing off against Democrat Alan Green on Nov. 8. Green served in the Missouri House from 2014 through 2020. You can listen to Green’s episode of Politically Speaking by clicking here.
Here’s what Fitzpatrick had to say during the show:
- How his primary against Gregory prompted him to barnstorm the state and raise the money needed to win.
- His desire to more carefully monitor how local governments are spending federal pandemic funds. Some jurisdictions, like St. Louis and St. Louis County, received hundreds of millions of dollars from the American Rescue Plan Act.
- How he would want to make monitoring public school funding a bigger priority if he’s elected to the auditor’s office.
- He responded to the contention that it would be better for a Democrat to be state auditor, since Republicans control most of state government already.
Fitzpatrick served three full terms in the Missouri House, including two years as chairman of the powerful Budget Committee. Gov. Mike Parson appointed the Barry County Republican to be treasurer in early 2019 after Eric Schmitt was picked to be attorney general. He won a full four-year term in 2020 against Democrat Vicki Englund.
Fitzpatrick is a native of Shell Knob, a community about 40 miles from Branson. He started a dock-repair business while he was in high school, a company that grew dramatically while he was in college.
If Fitzpatrick wins his race and Schmitt prevails in the U.S. Senate contest, Republicans will control every statewide office.
Follow Jason Rosenbaum on Twitter: @jrosenbaum
Follow Scott Fitzpatrick on Twitter: @FitzpatrickMO
