JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – State Auditor Nicole Galloway announced she will open an audit of the State Legal Defense Fund, the pool of money used to make payments due to lawsuits filed against the state. Galloway said the audit has been prompted by reports of widespread sexual and racial harassment within the Missouri Department of Corrections against female employees, which Kansas City’s Pitch newspaper reported in a major story last month, cost the state over $7.5 million between 2012 and 2016.
“Like many of my colleagues in state government I was alarmed and dismayed by recent reporting on sexual harassment and discrimination involving Department of Corrections employees, and by the troubling amount of taxpayer money the state is spending to settle these lawsuits,” Galloway said in a statement. “I intend to use the full authority of my office to broadly examine the finances and policies related to these payouts and the culture that may be allowing this activity to continue unchecked across state government.”
Galloway added that the purpose of the audit would illustrate a better picture of how much money is being spent on employee lawsuits throughout the entire state workforce, not merely those in the DOC.
Other elected officials have also spoken out against the harassment. Speaker Todd Richardson told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Thursday that he would use the powers of the chamber to ensure that the problem was solved.
“We cannot and will not tolerate what appears to be a pervasive culture of sexual harassment that is also costing taxpayers millions of dollars,” Richardson said. “My colleagues and I will work with our new governor to ensure this kind of inappropriate behavior is not allowed within any part of our state government.”
House Minority Leader Gail McCann-Beatty sent an open letter to Richardson requesting an investigation.
“The special committee should have broad authority to look into all aspects of this developing scandal and be granted subpoena authority… in order to compel witness testimony and the disclosure of relevant records,” she wrote. “The apparent failure of leadership at the corrections department demands immediate leadership by the House of Representatives to ensure that our corrections officers, who perform difficult and stressful jobs in a dangerous environment, receive the support they deserve.”
