David Wasinger, Republican candidate for state auditor, recently stopped in Jackson as he visited several cities throughout the state.
“You have to get out and talk to people and see what their concerns and thoughts are,” Wasinger told The Cash-Book Journal May 31.
Having met with people in St. Louis, Jackson, Cape Girardeau, Sikeston, Joplin and Neosho, Wasinger said he was “getting a real good response throughout the state.”
Wasinger is a certified public accountant and independent lawyer who was born and raised in Hannibal. He is seeking to unseat Democratic incumbent Nicole Galloway, who was appointed in 2015 by then-Gov. Jay Nixon after Auditor Tom Sweich committed suicide.
“I think Jefferson City needs to be cleaned up,” Wasinger said. “I do not like the direction the State has been moving in the past 10 years. If this continues, my two sons won’t have the opportunities I had.” He claims there is “lack of trust and confidence in elected officials.”
He said he’s running for state auditor because “this is the best office to root out corruption.”
The state auditor determines if tax dollars are spent efficiently, economically and legally, and how well public funds are protected from fraud or abuse.
“The auditor is the independent watchdog for Missouri taxpayers,” said Wasinger. State government audits cover state agencies, boards, commissions, statewide elected officials, the legislature, the state’s financial statements and federal awards expended by the state.
The auditor also reviews the state’s municipal and circuit courts, 90 of Missouri’s 114 counties, and the auditor can be petitioned by citizens to audit local political subdivisions.
There are two kinds of audits, explained Wasinger. There are financial audits to make sure money is being spent correctly, and there are performance audits to make sure people are doing the right thing.
Currently there is a petition by residents of St. Louis to have its city government audited. “It will take two years to perform,” Wasinger said. The audit’s purpose is to “see if there is fraud, waste or corruption in the City of St. Louis.”
Another big issue is the “Clean Missouri” ballot initiative this November, said Wasinger. Part of the initiative is to take the job of political redistricting (following a census) from the hands of a bipartisan commission and give it to the state auditor, who would work with a demographer.
According to a Jan. 29 St. Louis Post-Dispatch article, progressive billionaire mega-donor George Soros is behind this effort to weaken Republican power in the state.
Wasinger explained how it would work: legislative districts could redrawn by a Democrat auditor so that districts with a very high percentage of Democrat voters (such as St. Louis) could have its boundaries redrawn so it reaches out with “tentacles” deep into Republican territories, diluting the Democrat percentage but still keeping a majority.
Under this scenario, it’s possible that Jackson could end up in a legislative district that stretches to St. Louis and would have a majority of Democrat voters in it. That would make it difficult for Jackson voters to ever elect a Republican to state office, as they would be outvoted by Democrats in St. Louis.
Wasinger said he is qualified for this office because it historically has gone to a CPA or lawyer, and he is both.
Wasinger joined a small law firm in 1991 that would later become Wasinger Daming in Brentwood. As an independent lawyer, his primary area of practice is business law.
He gained national recognition after the 2008 financial crisis when he filed suit against Countrywide Home Loans. Because of his work, the banks were held accountable for defrauding taxpayers of billions of dollars in defective mortgages. These cases have been recognized as among the most complex and largest in the history of the United States, leading to settlements of more than $18 billion that went back into the pockets of taxpayers.
“It was a very, very high-octane case,” Wasinger recalled.
For his work on these crucial cases and others, Wasinger has been voted one of the “Best Lawyers in America” by his peers.
A former member of the University of Missouri Board of Curators, Wasinger is a strong believer in higher education. He and his wife, Colleen, endowed the Anything is Possible Scholarship Fund at the University of Missouri.
Wasinger is passionate about community service and is dedicated to giving back to the people of Missouri. He has served on various community boards. He is the former president of both the St. Louis Jaycees and the City of Town and Country Chamber of Commerce. He is a former member of the Board of Directors for the Chil-dren’s Miracle Network and a current member of the Board of Directors for the Boy Scouts of Greater St. Louis. In 2015 the Boy Scouts presented Wasinger with the James West Award for his contributions.
David and Colleen live in St. Louis with their two sons.
