Icet running for state auditor

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — As House budget chairman, Rep. Allen Icet helped determine how Missouri’s money should be spent. Today, he announced he now wants to audit how those expenditures occur.

The lawmaker from the St. Louis suburb of Wildwood is the first Republican to announce a 2010 challenge to Democratic Auditor Susan Montee.

Icet, 52, first was elected to the House in 2002 and term limits prohibit him from seeking re-election. He has served as House Budget Committee chairman since 2005.

“One thing I’ve tried to be very diligent with as budget chairman is being very careful with where taxpayers’ money is spent,” Icet said in an interview today. “On the auditor’s side, it’s the flip side of the coin. ... You ensure the money is spent where it’s supposed to be.”

Icet said he hopes he can get the Republican Party to unite behind his candidacy to avoid a primary.

But St. Louis attorney Tom Schweich, also a Republican, said today that he is considering a run for auditor. Schweich is a former state department official under President George W. Bush who had considered running for U.S. Senate in 2010. Last week he announced he would not do so.

Montee has said she would seek a second, four-year term. When she first ran, she stressed her background as a certified public accountant, an attorney and as Buchanan County’s auditor.

“I’m more convinced then ever you need to be a CPA to be in this job, if you’re actually going to work the job,” Montee said.