JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. _ Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, who last week announced an investigation into the office operations of outgoing Attorney General Josh Hawley, has asked the state's auditor to help him investigate.
Ashcroft, who like Hawley is a Republican, began the investigation last week after the left-leaning American Democracy Legal Fund, in a complaint filed Nov. 2, said that Hawley may have illegally used public resources to boost his U.S. Senate campaign.
Ashcroft, in a letter sent Monday to Democratic Auditor Nicole Galloway, noted that unlike his office, Galloway has subpoena power to investigate the allegations.
Galloway is already scheduled to conduct a close-out audit of Hawley's administration.
The legal fund's complaint came after the Kansas City Star reported on Oct. 31 that political advisers who would run Hawley's U.S. Senate campaign also directed taxpayer-funded staff, confusing the attorney general office's chain of command.
The advisers also worked to raise Hawley's national profile after Hawley took office as attorney general, the Star reported.
Hawley has called the complaint "frivolous" and on Twitter on Friday blamed the controversy on his political adversaries. Hawley beat incumbent Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Democrat, on Nov. 6.
"Get over it," he tweeted.
Hawley did not mention that the complaint was filed before the election and that the decision to investigate was made by Ashcroft, a fellow Republican.
McCaskill argued in the campaign's closing days that Hawley may have committed a crime by inviting political advisers to manage aspects of his office.
"It is against the law to use state resources for political gain," McCaskill, a former prosecutor in Kansas City, said. "You cannot use taxpayer-paid staff to assist in any political purpose. The last (Republican) attorney general went to prison for utilizing his office and his state staff to promote him politically. Those are the facts."
In 1993, Missouri Attorney General William L. Webster was sentenced to two years in prison for conspiracy and embezzlement of state resources after an investigation revealed Webster was using state resources for political purposes.
