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Rep. Curtman of Franklin County jumps into race for Missouri auditor

St. Louis Public Radio | By Jo Mannies,
Marshall Griffin
Published October 24, 2017 at 11:57 AM CDT
State Rep. Paul Curtman, a Republican from Franklin County, is running for state auditor in 2018.
Jason Rosenbaum | St. Louis Public Radio
State Rep. Paul Curtman, a Republican from Franklin County, is running for state auditor in 2018.

State Rep. Paul Curtman, a Republican from Franklin County, says he’s running for state auditor next year, after months of entertaining a possible bid for the U.S. Senate.

Curtman is touting his conservative credentials and his service in the U. S. Marine Corps in stops around the state to officially launch his campaign.

“I have a proven conservative record of fighting against higher taxes, wasteful spending, and the expansion of government,” Curtman said in a statement he sent by email to potential supporters.

State Rep. Paul Curtman, a Republican from Franklin County, is running for state auditor in 2018.
Credit Jason Rosenbaum | St. Louis Public Radio
State Rep. Paul Curtman, a Republican from Franklin County, is running for state auditor in 2018.

Curtman’s aim is to unseat Democratic incumbent Nicole Galloway, a certified public accountant and former Boone County treasurer. She was appointed to the post in early 2015 after the suicide of then-Auditor Tom Schweich.

Unlike Galloway, Curtman does not have an accounting background.

“It takes more than just being a wizard on Microsoft Excel or knowing how to use spreadsheets; you need somebody who can actually reach out and actually lead,” he said to supporters in Jefferson City. “This is an office where we actually have to have executive-type leadership so we can actually get out ahead of the problems that were discovered in the audits.”

Curtman also cited his background as a lawmaker: “It does absolutely no good to let audits sit on a shelf and collect dust, but rather we need a state auditor who actually has a relationship, can reach out across the aisle if need be, pick up the phone and make those calls to the leaders of the House and the Senate.”

But first, Curtman will likely face St. Louis County lawyer David Wasinger, a fellow Republican and former member of the University of Missouri’s Board of Curators. He’s the husband of St. Louis County Councilwoman Colleen Wasinger.

David Wasinger has put in $500,000 of his own money, which is why his latest campaign finance report showed him with $645,000 in the bank — close to the $665,000 reported by Galloway.

Curtman reported having $3,500 in the bank. But supporters expect him to quickly catch up. Curtman has a strong following among social conservatives and the "tea party" movement. He made campaign stops Tuesday in St. Louis, Jefferson City, and Lee's Summit. He has two more scheduled later this week in Springfield and Joplin.

He announced this year that he was exploring a possible bid against U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Democrat seeking her third term. But Curtman changed his mind after Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley, a Republican with many of the same supporters, declared his Senate bid a few weeks ago.

State Democratic Party chairman Stephen Webber issued a statement in response to Curtman's announcement: “No matter who the GOP eventually nominates, the fact remains that State Auditor Nicole Galloway’s independence and dedication to looking out for Missouri’s taxpayers is unmatched in Republican-controlled Jefferson City.”

Follow Jo and Marshall on Twitter: @jmannies @MarshallGReport

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

Missouri News
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
Marshall Griffin
St. Louis Public Radio State House Reporter Marshall Griffin is a native of Mississippi and proud alumnus of Ole Miss (welcome to the SEC, Mizzou!). He has been in radio for over 20 years, starting out as a deejay. His big break in news came when the first President Bush ordered the invasion of Panama in 1989. Marshall was working the graveyard shift at a rock station, and began ripping news bulletins off an old AP teletype and reading updates between songs. From there on, his radio career turned toward news reporting and anchoring. In 1999, he became the capital bureau chief for Florida's Radio Networks, and in 2003 he became News Director at WFSU-FM/Florida Public Radio. During his time in Tallahassee he covered seven legislative sessions, Governor Jeb Bush's administration, four hurricanes, the Terri Schiavo saga, and the 2000 presidential recount. Before coming to Missouri, he enjoyed a brief stint in the Blue Ridge Mountains, reporting and anchoring for WWNC-AM in Asheville, North Carolina. Marshall lives in Jefferson City with his wife, Julie, their dogs, Max and Liberty Belle, and their cat, Honey.