Talk about a rocky start: just hours after she took the oath yesterday as Iowa state auditor, Mary Mosiman was asked to probe the allegedly improper use of federal funds by her former boss, Secretary of State Matt Schultz.

Today, the Iowa Democratic Party filed a complaint against Mosiman with the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board.

The complaint stems from how Mosiman used funds leftover from her 2010 re-election campaign for Story County auditor. Her most recent campaign finance disclosure form is available here (pdf). I enclose the Iowa Democratic Party’s press release from this morning:

IOWA DEMOCRATS CALL FOR ETHICS INVESTIGATION OF NEWLY APPOINTED AUDITOR MOSIMAN

Spent more than $1000 of campaign funds for personal expense while not holding or running for elected office

DES MOINES – Iowa Democratic Party Executive Director Troy Price today sent the following letter to Iowa Campaign Ethics and Disclosure Board Chair Megan Tooker asking her office to investigate whether state Auditor Mary Mosiman – who was appointed yesterday by Governor Terry Branstad – used campaign funds from her defunct campaign account for personal use.

Mosiman served as Story County Auditor from 2001 – 2010, when she resigned her position to take a job in Secretary of State Matt Schultz’s office.  While she was not a candidate for or an occupant of public office, she used more than $1000 in campaign funds to cover the costs of CPA trainings and partisan Republican travel around the state.

“The State Auditor’s responsibility is to make sure taxpayer dollars are being used properly,” said IDP Executive Director Troy Price.  “These expenses raise a serious question about our newly appointed Auditor.  If Mary Mosiman can’t spent her own money properly, how can we trust her with ours?”

Below and attached are copies of the letter sent to the Iowa Campaign Ethics and Disclosure Board.

Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board

Megan Tooker

510 East 12th, Suite 1A

Des Moines, IA 50319

Ms. Tooker,

I am writing to file an official complaint against State Auditor Mary Mosiman, who continues to maintain her campaign account Mosiman for Auditor from her previous campaigns for the office of Story County Auditor.

On December 22, 2010 the Des Moines Register reported that Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz announced Mosiman would serve in his office as deputy of elections. According to the Ames Tribune, Mosiman resigned from her position as Story County Auditor on January 3rd, 2011.

Despite no longer actively holding or seeking any political office, in 2012 Mosiman used her campaign account to purchase nearly $1,000 worth of various training sessions and reimbursing herself and additional $149.18 for travel to county Republican conventions. The January 19th, 2013 disclosure report for Mosiman for Auditor lists the following expenditures:

These payments, totaling $1,095.18 were made more than a year after Mosiman resigned from her elected position and began working for the Iowa Secretary of State’s office. As you know, Iowa Code 68A.302 states the following:

A candidate and the candidate’s committee shall use campaign funds only for campaign purposes, educational and other expenses associated with the duties of office, or constituency services, and shall not use campaign funds for personal expenses or personal benefit.

Since Mosiman neither held, nor was she seeking, an elected position in 2012, these payments for training sessions and travel were solely for “personal benefit” and in direct violation of Iowa Code. It is my hope that you investigate this misuse of campaign funds and take appropriate action.

Sincerely,

Troy Price

Executive Director

Iowa Democratic Party

We’re not talking about a large amount of money here, but they’ve got her dead to rights. Even a non-attorney can see that those expenditures are unrelated to Mosiman’s former duties as county auditor or her campaigns for that office.

I would not be surprised if the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board finds some excuse to avoid taking action against Mosiman. They’ve swept legitimate complaints aside before. But it will be interesting to see Mosiman’s rationale for using campaign funds in this way. The state auditor of all people should be squeaky clean when it comes to using money for its intended purpose.

Even if the ethics board eventually dismisses the Iowa Democratic Party’s complaint, count on this issue coming up during the 2014 campaign for state auditor.

UPDATE: The Iowa Republican blog’s Craig Robinson reacts.

Maybe instead of trying to find fault with Mosiman, the Iowa Democratic Party should police its own candidates first.

Former Governor Chet Culver has used campaign funds to pay for all sorts of things since leaving office.  There is his storage unit at Fleur Mini Storage that he paid $180.20 a month for from January of 2012 thru July of 2012.  One could say that was a personal benefit of $1,261.40. Culver also used campaign funds to pay for a $1500 event at Lucca, an upscale Restaurant in the East Village of Des Moines, in August of 2011.  Culver also spent $1,705.05 on out-of-state travel and food expenses in March of 2011.

If we are using the Iowa Democrat’s definition of “personal benefit” then Culver’s use of campaign funds for airline tickets, rental cars, fast food, mini storage, and $1500 dinners is a far more blatant violation of the rules than Mosiman taking CPA classes.

If Culver runs for office again, he will surely have to explain those expenditures. But he’s not running for anything as far as I know, and he wasn’t just put in charge of auditing how the public’s money is spent in Iowa.