Missouri board dismisses complaint against Ashcroft for describing himself as engineer
Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft did not violate state law when he described himself as an engineer in his unsuccessful bid for governor, the top agency overseeing engineer licenses in the state has found.
The dismissal letter was dated one day after Ashcroft came in third place in the Republican primary for governor on Aug. 6. Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe won the GOP nomination while Sen. Bill Eigel received the second most votes.
Rhonda Bullock, the executive director for the Missouri Board for Architects, Professional Engineers, Professional Land Surveyors and Professional Landscape Architects, informed Ashcroft of the dismissal in a letter dated Aug. 7.
“Based on the information gathered, it was the Board’s decision that you have not violated any provision of (state law) or the Board rules,” according to the letter, which The Star obtained a copy of. It stated that the board voted to dismiss the complaint on Election Day.
Ashcroft’s engineering background became a flashpoint in the Republican primary after a complaint was filed accusing him of “fraud and dishonesty.” It alleged that Ashcroft was not licensed as an engineer and “therefore is violating the law by holding himself out as one.”
Ashcroft had aggressively pushed back on the allegation, pointing to the fact that the person who filed the complaint had donated to Kehoe’s campaign. The board’s dismissal letter also referenced a second complaint that was also dismissed.
Ashcroft, in a phone interview, said the dismissal was expected and attacked the complaint as politically motivated.
“This was a political hit job. It was completely false, the allegation,” he said. “The law was clear.”
He declined to say whether he felt the complaint hurt his campaign. But he said that the dismissal “shows how difficult it is for the people of this state to know the truth when they go to vote.”
“Regardless of who is running, regardless of the election, we should all want a process where it’s not difficult for the people of the state, voters of the state, to find out the truth, so that they can vote accordingly, as they so desire,” he said.
Ashcroft had largely centered his campaign on his engineering background in ads and on his website. In a video launching his campaign, Ashcroft said “I’m an engineer and engineers fix problems.”
His biography with the Secretary of State’s Office states that he graduated with degrees in engineering management from Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla and later worked for a “defense-based engineering company” in West Plains.
While state law bans people without engineering licenses from holding themselves out to be professional engineers, it allows individuals to use the word “engineer” without facing discipline “so long as such use is reflective of that person’s profession or vocation and is clearly not indicating or implying that such person is holding himself or herself out as being a professional engineer or is willing or able to practice engineering as defined in this section.”
