Platte County's Financial "Train Wreck" and the Role of Sandra Thomas

The editor of a Platte County newspaper is raising questions about the Republican candidate for state auditor's role in $195,000 in missing funds.

"The Landmark" editor Ivan Foley says Sandra Thomas is trying to take public attention away from "a train wreck in Platte County's bookkeeping."

He called a recent Thomas release on the issue "ridiculous."

Foley elaborates:

"I'm sure you've seen those movies where cops are standing by the scene of a major catastrophe and are trying to clear passersby from the area by saying: 'Move along, folks, move along. There's nothing to see here.' That's basically what Thomas' email said, or at least tried to say. One would have to be pretty naive to fully consume the goods being spewed by Thomas and county treasurer Bonnie Brown in that press release. It was an attempt to try to take public attention away from the train wreck that has occurred in Platte County's bookkeeping ledger while Thomas closed out the final days of a campaign for the Republican nomination for state auditor. Strangely, Thomas has gone from first denying any involvement or knowledge of the screw-up to suddenly trying to claim she rode in on a great white horse, found the discrepancies, checked the oil, kicked the tires, shook hands, kissed babies, and saved the world."

Thomas has said the money isn't really missing, and that this is all about an accounting error. She has blamed the treasurer, for not disclosing the errors sooner. Foley makes the case that that isn't the point.

"No money was missing? Again, this is semantics, as we've discussed previously in this column space. When for 10 months you can't account for $195,000, you have "missing" money that needs to be accounted for. That doesn't necessarily mean anything was stolen, and no media outlet to my knowledge said the money was stolen or that there was any wrongdoing of any type. What has been said in this column space all along is that there are legitimate questions of competency and of disclosure," Foley writes.

"The county commission had to hire an external auditor to take care of a process that should have been completed in-house by county officials."

If Thomas survives a recount requested by Jack Jackson, she will face Democrat Susan Montee for state auditor this November.