An attorney who grew up in Decorah is running for State Auditor in Iowa. Over the last seven years, democrat Rob Sand says he learned a lot about financial crime while working for the Iowa Attorney General. The former Assistant Attorney General prosecuted tax credit fraud during the Iowa film office scandal, and led the prosecution of a multi-state, lottery-fixing scheme.
Last fall, Sand resigned and decided to run for state auditor, saying the office must be improved. One of his tasks was to read the auditor office's public corruption investigations. He says they're full of mistakes and that the current auditor "refuses to hire anyone with a law enforcement background."
In addition, the state auditor is required by law to promote efficiency, but Sand says employees continue to enter data manually. He's confident the agency's $9 million annual budget could be spent more efficiently.
After earning his degree at Brown University, Sand later graduated from the University of Iowa law school. He also says his very first job was catching chickens, and now he's avid outdoorsman.
Current State Auditor, republican Mary Mosiman, is running for re-election. The Iowa primary will be held June 5th.
