Probe of GOP complaint against Galloway leads to legal fight

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Republican Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft’s investigation of Democratic Auditor Nicole Galloway over a GOP group’s allegations of campaign finance violations has prompted a legal fight.

With Galloway engaged in a tight race for the governor’s seat with Republican incumbent Mike Parson, Ashcroft agreed last month to look into concerns raised by the Liberty Alliance that an opinion piece Galloway wrote on a restrictive state abortion law was submitted by one of Galloway’s state-paid press aides.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that the nonprofit said that violated state law barring the use of taxpayer dollars for campaign purposes.

But the auditor’s office said there is no law prohibiting Galloway, as an elected statewide officeholder, from speaking on any variety of topics.