Scott Fitzpatrick

Scott Fitzpatrick (Republican Party) is the Missouri State Auditor. He assumed office on January 9, 2023. His current term ends on January 11, 2027.

Fitzpatrick (Republican Party) ran for election for Missouri State Auditor. He won in the general election on November 8, 2022.

Fitzpatrick is a former Republican member of the Missouri House of Representatives, representing District 158 from 2013 to 2019.

Biography

At age 17 in 2003, Fitzpatrick began repairing docks in his hometown, starting a small business that became the Missouri-based marine manufacturing firm MariCorp U.S. MariCorp grew to become one of the largest dock and marina builders in the nation. As a businessman, he was recognized in the Springfield Business Journal’s “40 under 40” report and was the publication’s 2020 “Man of the Year.” As of 2023, MariCorp has at least 70 employees. Fitzpatrick has held political office since age 24 and has continued as CEO of MariCorp during this period.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]

Fitzpatrick is from Table Rock Lake, Missouri, and graduated from Cassville High School in 2006. He continued to run MariCorp while he attended the University of Missouri, where he graduated in 2010 with a bachelor’s degree in business and a business that had grown to 30 employees. He and his wife, Mallory, have three sons and still live in Cassville, Missouri.^[6]^[7]^[8]

Political career

State treasurer (2019-present)

Fitzpatrick was appointed Missouri treasurer on December 18, 2018, to replace Eric Schmitt. Fitzpatrick assumed office on January 14, 2019.^[9]^[10]

Missouri House of Representatives (2013-2019)

Fitzpatrick represented District 158 in the Missouri House of Representatives from 2013 to 2019.

Committee assignments

2017 legislative session

At the beginning of the 2017 legislative session, this legislator served on the following committees:

Missouri committee assignments, 2017
• Budget, Chair
• Joint Committee on Legislative Research
• Joint Committee on Public Assistance

2015 legislative session

At the beginning of the 2015 legislative session, Fitzpatrick served on the following committees:

Missouri committee assignments, 2015
• Budget, Vice Chair
• Fiscal Review, Vice Chair
• Government Oversight and Accountability
• Employment Security
• Joint Committee on Legislative Research

2013-2014

At the beginning of the 2013 legislative session, Fitzpatrick served on the following committees:

Missouri committee assignments, 2013
• Appropriations - Revenue, Transportation and Economic Development
• Budget
• Tourism and Natural Resources

Issues

ESG

See also: Environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG)

Environmental, social, and corporate governance


Select a topic from the dropdown below to learn more.

As treasurer, Fitzpatrick took positions in opposition to environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG), an approach to investing and corporate decision-making.

State financial officers, including treasurers, auditors, and controllers, are responsible for auditing other government offices, managing payroll, and overseeing pensions. In some states, certain SFOs are also responsible for investing state retirement and trust funds.

Opposition to Morningstar ratings of Israel investments (August 2022)

As state treasurer in late August 2022, Fitzpatrick and 17 other members of the State Financial Officers Foundation (SFOF) co-signed a letter addressed to the Morningstar investment rating service expressing their “serious concern regarding reports that Morningstar, Inc. (Morningstar), through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Sustainalytics, negatively rates firms connected to Israel in apparent alignment with the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.” The letter asserted the BDS movement was “antithetical to the global causes of peace, democracy, and human rights” and asked Morningstar to take corrective action immediately to terminate all research and ratings products that treat Israel-connected companies differently than companies operating in other free democracies.”^[11]

Opposition to SEC proposal to mandate ESG reporting (June 2022)

As state treasurer In June 2022, Fitzpatrick and 22 other state financial officials submitted a comment to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) opposing an SEC rule proposal titled the “Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors.” In December 2022, the Pittsburgh Business Times reported that if the SEC rule were finalized it “would become some of the first mandatory environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting requirements for U.S. companies, requiring the disclosure of climate-related risk information in registration statements and periodic reports.”^[12]^[13]

“We have watched with dismay as the Commission and other federal commissions and boards have proposed rules and policies that promote political causes that will adversely affect public finance and retirement income,” wrote the state financial officers in the letter. “The Proposed Rule is another such rule.”^[14]

Letter to Department of Labor regarding use of ESG criteria in ERISA decisions (May 2022)

In May 2022, Fitzpatrick and 37 state officials from 23 states cosigned a letter to the U.S. Department of Labor Employment Benefits Security Administration to oppose the implementation of proposed agency rule. The proposed rule would allow fiduciaries of private pension plans governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) to “make investment decisions that reflect climate change and other environmental, social, or governance (“ESG”) considerations, including climate-related financial risk, and choose economically targeted investments (“ETIs”) selected, in part, for benefits apart from the investment return.”^[15]

The cosigners objected to the rule, writing that it “would irrationally require fiduciaries to elevate immaterial and speculative risks in employee retirement savings investment decisions” where instead the fiduciaries should be “considering only the material financial or pecuniary factors of each potential investment.”^[16]

Pro-American Energy Letter to President Biden (April 2022)

In April 2022, Fitzpatrick and 26 other state financial officers cosigned an open letter to President Joe Biden (D) criticizing his administration for promoting an ESG agenda and enacting policies that “thwart the vitality of American energy production.” The letter specifically criticized Biden for canceling the Keystone XL pipeline, disallowing new oil and natural gas leases on federal lands, canceling drilling projects in Alaska and imposing “anti-oil and gas rulemaking from the highest levels of government.”^[17]

“Instead of asking Americans to purchase electric vehicles—which is simply not an option for a great number of American families—government leaders should eliminate barriers to and expand development of these critical resources, bringing down the price of gas at the pump,” wrote the letter signers. “Most Americans cannot afford to purchase an electric vehicle or equip their home with a full set of solar panels, and many in rural America need traditional fuel to run the trucks that service their farms and help feed their communities.”^[18]

Letter to John Kerry regarding banking access for energy firms (May 2021)

Fitzpatrick was one of fourteen state treasurers who co-signed a May 2021 letter sent by West Virginia Treasurer Riley Moore (R) to Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry. The treasurers informed Kerry of their concern that he and others in Joe Biden’s administration were “privately pressuring U.S. banks and financial institutions to refuse to lend to or invest in coal, oil, and natural gas companies, as part of a misguided strategy to eliminate the fossil fuel industry in our country.” The signatories told Kerry that they “strongly oppose the Biden Administration’s efforts to cut off financing for law-abiding industries that are essential to the economy and our citizens’ way of life.”^[19]

According to a March 12, 2021, Politico story referenced in the letter, Kerry was “prodding major U.S. banks privately to announce commitments for climate-friendly finance.” The report also revealed that the Biden administration and several climate policy groups held a March 9, 2022, teleconference to discuss “potential financial sector regulations and executive actions to limit risk from climate change-fueled shocks.” Politico listed representatives from the following groups as participants on the call: the Center for American Progress, Public Citizen, Rainforest Action Network, Sierra Club, and 350.org.^[20]^[21]

“I can assure you that a financial institution’s decision to choose not to participate as a lender and provider of capital to a certain institution because of political pressure will be a consideration in determining where the state of Missouri puts its money,” Fitzpatrick said.^[22]

Intervention in JPMorgan denial of service to Missouri conservative group (November 2021)

In November 2021, WePay, a payment processing firm owned by JPMorgan Chase, refused to process payments for event tickets being sold by Defense of Liberty, a right-leaning group in Missouri. The event was to feature Donald Trump, Jr. as the speaker. Explaining its refusal to process ticket payments, WePay told Defense of Liberty: “Per our Terms of Service, we are unable to process for hate, violence, racial intolerance, terrorism, the financial exploitation of a crime, or items or activities that encourage, promote, facilitate, or instruct others regarding same.”^[23]

In response, Fitzpatrick sent a letter on November 17, 2022, to JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, urging Dimon to intervene. Fitzpatrick argued that WePay had “failed to provide any additional information or specifics about how the group or this event fall into any of these troubling categories.” Fitzpatrick quoted from WePay’s statement to Defense of Liberty, which said that the “decision is final” and that “information regarding our review process is proprietary so no additional information is available in these instances.”^[23]

“Boycotts, bans and cancellations will not unite us, but listening to those with whom we disagree without preconceived judgements might help,” wrote Fitzpatrick to Dimon. “While as a private business you are free to choose who you want to do business with, it will be the policy of the Missouri State Treasurer’s Office that the state of Missouri will not do business with JP Morgan Chase, or any other financial institution that discriminates against customers based on mainstream political ideology so long as that discrimination continues.”^[23]

In a November 18, 2022, statement JP Morgan Chase announced that the bank “never and would never close an account due to a client’s political affiliation,” and that after “further review, we determined that this organization didn’t violate the terms of service, and we are reaching out to the client to discuss reinstating the account.”^[24]

Opposition to U.S. Department of Labor ESG rules (December 2021)

In December 2021, Fitzpatrick and 35 other state financial officers and attorneys general submitted a public comment to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) in opposition to a proposed DOL rule that would encourage financial managers to consider ESG factors when selecting investments for private sector pension plans.^[25]

Titled the “Prudence and Loyalty in Selecting Plan Investments and Exercising Shareholder Rights,” the rule would state that pension plan managers “can make investment decisions that reflect climate change and other environmental, social, or governance (‘ESG’) considerations, including climate-related financial risk, and choose economically targeted investments (‘ETIs’) selected, in part, for benefits apart from the investment return.”^[25]

Fitzpatrick and the other officials wrote that the rule “would allow employers and investment managers to invest employee retirement savings in a way that benefits social causes and corporate goals even if it adversely affects the return to the employee” and that it would permit “proxy voting in ways that support ESG investment goals contrary to shareholder interests.”^[25]

The state officials wrote that they were “opposed to investment managers and employers being encouraged or mandated to consider ESG factors and protected from legal action when they do” and that the DOL’s proposed rule “makes what should be a financial decision into a political one.”^[25]

West Virginia letter supporting financial system access for fuel industry (November 2021)

Fitzpatrick was a co-signer on a November 22, 2021, letter sent by West Virginia Treasurer Riley Moore (R) and addressed: “To Whom It May Concern in the U.S. Banking Industry.” The signatories were the treasurers, auditors and comptrollers from fifteen states. The letter identified them as the “fiduciaries and stewards of more than $600 billion” in combined investment capital.

The letter began: “We are writing to notify you that we will be taking collective action in response to the ongoing and growing economic boycott of traditional energy production industries by U.S. financial institutions.” The signatories wrote their individual actions would be tailored to fit each state’s unique laws and economic position, but that the coordinated objective would be “to select financial institutions that support a free market and are not engaged in harmful fossil fuel industry boycotts for our states’ financial services contracts.”^[26]

Opposition to Federal Reserve Bank appointee (January 2022)

In January 2022, Fitzpatrick was one of 25 members of the State Financial Officers Foundation (SFOF) who co-signed a letter to President Biden, asking him to withdraw the nomination of Sarah Bloom Raskin to the Federal Reserve Bank Board of Governors.^[27]

In a May 2020 New York Times commentary titled “Why Is the Fed Spending So Much Money on a Dying Industry?,” Raskin wrote that Federal Reserve policy decisions should oppose investments in fossil fuels and support investments in the renewable energy sector: “The decisions the Fed makes on our behalf should build toward a stronger economy with more jobs in innovative industries — not prop up and enrich dying ones.”^[28]

Fitzpatrick and the signatories on the SFOF letter wrote that they were concerned Raskin “would use the supervisory authority as Vice-Chair for Supervision at the Federal Reserve Bank to disrupt the private banking sector, reliable energy supplies, and the U.S. economy.”^[27]

In March 2022, Raskin withdrew her name from consideration for the Federal Reserve position.^[29]

Reclaiming state investment fund proxy voting power (June 2022)

In June 2022, the board of the Missouri State Employees' Retirement System (MOSERS) voted to remove proxy voting authority from the investment firms that managed the system’s funds. As treasurer, Fitzpatrick was a member of the board. A news release from the treasurer’s office said that Fitzpatrick had encouraged the board to take back its proxy authority “to protect Missouri State Employee retirement funds from being used by activist investment managers to advance left-wing social and political causes which are harmful to shareholders and violate their fiduciary obligations to Missourians.”^[30]^[31]

In July 2022, Fitzpatrick asked Missouri state lawmakers to “work on legislation to address the impacts of ESG investing and make sure that state pension plans are not allowing their assets to be voted by asset managers that are advancing a woke political agenda.”^[32]

Opposition to Morningstar ratings of Israel investments (August 2022)

In late August 2022, Fitzpatrick and 17 other members of the State Financial Officers Foundation (SFOF) co-signed a letter addressed to the Morningstar investment rating service expressing their “serious concern regarding reports that Morningstar, Inc. (Morningstar), through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Sustainalytics, negatively rates firms connected to Israel in apparent alignment with the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.” The letter asserted the BDS movement was “antithetical to the global causes of peace, democracy, and human rights” and asked Morningstar to take corrective action immediately to terminate all research and ratings products that treat Israel-connected companies differently than companies operating in other free democracies.”^[33]

“Missouri has clear anti-BDS laws and these allegations are troubling,” Fitzpatrick said. “Not only is Israel an important democratic ally, but once again, we are faced with a company entrusted to provide non-partisan research and ratings betraying that trust to further a political agenda.”^[34]

Elections

2022

General election

General election for Missouri State Auditor

Scott Fitzpatrick defeated Alan Green, John Hartwig, and Arnie Dienoff in the general election for Missouri State Auditor on November 8, 2022.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Scott Fitzpatrick (R)	59.4	1,219,553
	Alan Green (D)	37.6	772,005
	John Hartwig (L)	3.0	61,329
	Arnie Dienoff (Independent) (Write-in)	0.0	7

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 2,052,894
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Missouri State Auditor

Alan Green advanced from the Democratic primary for Missouri State Auditor on August 2, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Alan Green	100.0	322,177

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 322,177
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Missouri State Auditor

Scott Fitzpatrick defeated David Gregory in the Republican primary for Missouri State Auditor on August 2, 2022.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Scott Fitzpatrick	64.7	378,915
	David Gregory	35.3	206,868

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 585,783
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Libertarian primary election

Libertarian primary for Missouri State Auditor

John Hartwig advanced from the Libertarian primary for Missouri State Auditor on August 2, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		John Hartwig	100.0	2,978

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 2,978
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.