© 2024 University of Missouri - KBIA
Donate
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Politically Speaking: Auditor Galloway talks about sudden shift into statewide office

St. Louis Public Radio | By Jason Rosenbaum,
Jo Mannies
Published August 25, 2015 at 3:14 PM CDT
Jason Rosenbaum | St. Louis Public Radio

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.

Galloway and St. Louis Public Radio reporter Jo Mannies talk before recording starts on the Politically Speaking podcast. Mannies and Galloway both have roots in Webster Groves.
Credit Jason Rosenbaum I St. Louis Public Radio
Galloway and St. Louis Public Radio reporter Jo Mannies talk before recording starts on the Politically Speaking podcast. Mannies and Galloway both have roots in Webster Groves.

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

Music: "Sowing Season (Live from Studio)" by Brand New

Copyright 2021 St. Louis Public Radio. To see more, visit St. Louis Public Radio.

Tags
Politics missouri state auditor nicole gallowayjoplin developmentsexual harassment allegationsMissouri Senate
Jason Rosenbaum
Since entering the world of professional journalism in 2006, Jason Rosenbaum dove head first into the world of politics, policy and even rock and roll music. A graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism, Rosenbaum spent more than four years in the Missouri State Capitol writing for the Columbia Daily Tribune, Missouri Lawyers Media and the St. Louis Beacon.
See stories by Jason Rosenbaum
Jo Mannies
Jo Mannies has been covering Missouri politics and government for almost four decades, much of that time as a reporter and columnist at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. She was the first woman to cover St. Louis City Hall, was the newspaper’s second woman sportswriter in its history, and spent four years in the Post-Dispatch Washington Bureau. She joined the St. Louis Beacon in 2009. She has won several local, regional and national awards, and has covered every president since Jimmy Carter. She scared fellow first-graders in the late 1950s when she showed them how close Alaska was to Russia and met Richard M. Nixon when she was in high school. She graduated from Valparaiso University in northwest Indiana, and was the daughter of a high school basketball coach. She is married and has two grown children, both lawyers. She’s a history and movie buff, cultivates a massive flower garden, and bakes banana bread regularly for her colleagues.
See stories by Jo Mannies
Related Content