Secretary of State Shultz's use of federal money to be audited

DES MOINES - The Iowa State Auditor said her office will review Secretary of State Matt Schultz's use of federal grant money to pay for a special state agent to conduct voter fraud investigations.

In a letter dated May 31 to state Sen. Tom Courtney, D-Burlington, Republican Auditor Mary Mosiman wrote she will review the appropriateness of Schultz's use of Help America Vote Act money to hire an Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation officer to root out voter fraud.

Courtney had asked for such an investigation from Mosiman's predecessor, David Vaudt, who left his state post for a national job as chairman of the Governmental Accounting Standards Board.

In her letter, which was released today by the Senate Democratic caucus staff, Mosiman wrote the investigation would be conducted by her chief deputy because of a potential conflict of interest. Mosiman worked in Schultz's office as an elections deputy before she was appointed to Vaudt's post by Gov. Terry Branstad last month.

Schultz released a statement on the news of the investigation.

“The proper and fair administration of elections in the State of Iowa is my responsibility as the chief elections official,” he said. "Iowans deserve clean and honest elections. We continue to believe that the investigation expenditures are an appropriate use of HAVA funds, under Title 1, as they are being used to improve the administration of federal elections."

Brad Anderson, a Democrat who is running for the secretary of state's post, issued his own statement criticizing Schultz's actions.

“Matt Schultz is finally getting audited for possible misuse of federal Help America Vote Act funds,” the statement read. “It is nice to see someone is going to review whether or not spending $280,000 on a partisan investigation that has led to zero convictions of anyone knowingly committing voter fraud is a good use of taxpayer dollars. To be candid, I believe Secretary Schultz's investigation is a complete waste of taxpayer money, and he should be held accountable.”

The audit letter came the same day attorneys from the Iowa Attorney General's office argued that one of two lawsuits the American Civil Liberties Union in Iowa filed against Schultz over his voter fraud investigation should be withdrawn.

The suit involves a pair of emergency rules Schultz had promulgated in the run-up to the 2012 election. The rules allowed Schultz to access to the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements program database to verify an individual's immigration status, but those rules were stayed by the court following a complaint.

On Friday, the attorney general's office asked Polk County Judge Scott Rosenberg to dismiss the suit the ACLU filed against the emergency rules because, as Assistant Attorney General Meghan Gavin said, the rules “are no longer in effect.” She added the attorney general's office thinks it's totally appropriate for the ACLU to pursue its suit against similar permanent rules later enacted by Schultz's office.

But Joseph Glazebrook, who argued the ACLU's point, said the issue isn't only with the rules, but the process Schultz used to get the rules passed created real damage for potential voters. Responding to a question from Rosenberg, Glazebrook said the executive branch does have the authority to decide when it wants to adopt emergency rules, but it is subject to review by the judicial branch. He said dismissing the case now would make it “very hard” for anyone to challenge an emergency rule, no matter the content.

Rosenberg said he would issue a decision at a later date.