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Schweich says preparing to announce state auditor bid soon

St. Louis Public Radio | By Jo Mannies
Published June 25, 2009 at 4:58 PM CDT

This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, June 25, 2009 - Visiting Washington University law professor Thomas Schweich says he has "taken a lot of the preliminary steps'' to run for Missouri state auditor in 2010, after dropping his earlier consideration of a bid for the U.S. Senate.

"I'm taking the necessary steps to run a credible campaign for auditor, including putting together a first-rate campaign organization,'' said Schweich, a Clayton High School graduate with a lengthy resume in the administration of a fellow Republican, former President George W. Bush.

Schweich has yet to set up a campaign committee, but emphasized that he has yet to spend any money. However, he said he's preparing to line up a strong staff.

Schweich also plans to attend a meeting this weekend of state Republican leaders in Jefferson City. Among other things, he's expected to emphasize his qualifications. Schweich, 48, said he'd "conducted investigations and audits for 20 years. I have a lot of experience in this area."

If he follows through, Schweich would be the second Republican to announce a bid for the post now held by a Democrat, state Auditor Susan Montee, who is running for re-election. State Rep. Allen Icet, R-Wildwood and chairman of the House Budget Committee, declared his candidacy earlier this month.

Icet also is slated to attend this weekend's GOP meeting in the state capital.

A couple months ago, Schweich had been receiving encouragement from several prominent St. Louis area Republicans -- notably retired Sen. John C. Danforth, R-Mo. -- to make a run for the U.S. Senate seat to be vacated after 2010 by incumbent Republican Christopher "Kit" Bond.

But a few weeks ago, Schweich backed out, with he and Danforth endorsing the only remaining Republican to announce for the post, U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Strafford.

With a laugh, Schweich dismissed reports by a Democratic-leaning blog site that he'd recently declared his candidacy while talking to a potential Web designer while in a Wash U locker room. That conversation went viral when the designer posted a "tweet'' on his Twitter site.

Actually, said Schweich, it was a casual exchange while "I was combing my hair after working out."  Nothing official.
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Government, Politics & Issues St. Louis Beacon archivesThomas Schweich
Jo Mannies
Jo Mannies has been covering Missouri politics and government for almost four decades, much of that time as a reporter and columnist at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. She was the first woman to cover St. Louis City Hall, was the newspaper’s second woman sportswriter in its history, and spent four years in the Post-Dispatch Washington Bureau. She joined the St. Louis Beacon in 2009. She has won several local, regional and national awards, and has covered every president since Jimmy Carter. She scared fellow first-graders in the late 1950s when she showed them how close Alaska was to Russia and met Richard M. Nixon when she was in high school. She graduated from Valparaiso University in northwest Indiana, and was the daughter of a high school basketball coach. She is married and has two grown children, both lawyers. She’s a history and movie buff, cultivates a massive flower garden, and bakes banana bread regularly for her colleagues.
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