Missouri GOP official sues another over ballot summary of constitutional amendment
Missouri Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick is suing Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft over how his office summarized a ballot question that would expand the power of the treasurer’s office.
The lawsuit marks an unusual legal dispute between two top Republican officials.
Lawmakers this spring approved a constitutional amendment that would authorize the treasurer to make a wider range of investments. The proposal, which will go to a statewide vote in 2022, isn’t controversial and a resolution placing it before voters passed the House and Senate with near-unanimous support.
But Fitzpatrick alleges the way Ashcroft wants to describe the amendment on the ballot will nudge voters to reject it and is inaccurate.
“The erroneous and biased summary statement and fair ballot language should be vacated and replaced with corrected language that provides voters with true and impartial information about the amendment,” a complaint filed by Fitzpatrick’s office says.
The treasurer’s office filed the lawsuit in Cole County Circuit Court on Monday.
Missouri Republicans
Republicans hold every statewide office in Missouri except for auditor and typically tamp down open dissension, in contrast with pervasive infighting in the House and Senate.
The treasurer’s office is often a non-controversial position focused on promoting savings accounts and unclaimed property. But it also has upwards of $3.6 billion in public funds invested each day, earning millions for the state every year.
In a brief statement, Fitzpatrick spokeswoman Mary Compton said only that the treasurer believes the ballot language “is in error” and that the lawsuit is the “mechanism the law provides to correct it.”
Compton said Fitzpatrick had no further comment because the matter involves pending litigation.
Jay Ashcroft
In a statement, Ashcroft said that both lawmakers and the treasurer’s office had the opportunity to draft ballot language but deferred to his office.
He said that based on the resolution’s wording, “I believe the ballot language my office prepared, and then subsequently approved by the Missouri Attorney General’s office, to be fair, unbiased and clear to Missouri voters when they head to the polls to consider this constitutional amendment.”
The amendment would allow the treasurer to invest in municipal securities and other government bonds likely to generate a higher rate of return. The investments would have to have high marks from ratings agencies — a safeguard against risky bets.
The summary statement approved by Ashcroft says the measure would “allow the General Assembly to override the current constitutional restrictions of state investments” by the treasurer. Fitzpatrick alleges the description is inaccurate and biased.
Fitzpatrick alleges the summary implies that only the legislature can dictate investments investment options, and the complaint calls the word “override” inflammatory and likely to prejudice voters against the measure.
Fitzpatrick’s complaint suggests that a judge order an alternative summary that says the amendment would allow “state investments in municipal securities possessing one of the top five highest long term ratings” or the highest short-term rating.
