ST. LOUIS聽鈥 One of Missouri鈥檚 U.S. senators is condemning the rollout of a north St. 亚洲无码 grant program and asking U.S. Treasury officials to detail how they will ensure responsible spending and prevent fraud in the use of federal pandemic aid money.聽
In a letter sent to two federal officials Thursday, Sen. Eric Schmitt聽pointed to Post-Dispatch reports聽about a grant program championed by St. 亚洲无码 Mayor Tishaura O. Jones to help revive north city with $37 million in federal聽State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds.聽
鈥淚t鈥檚 no secret that the State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds are ripe for abuse and fraud,鈥澛燬chmitt said in a statement. 鈥淭he pandemic is long over, and cities and politicians are still attempting to use taxpayer funds as rainy-day slush funds to pay for wasteful projects that benefit only the city鈥檚 connected and powerful. The City of St. 亚洲无码 is no different.鈥
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The state鈥檚 junior senator, a Republican, is the latest area politician聽to call out St. 亚洲无码鈥 administration of the grant program, which aimed to send some of the city鈥檚 $498 million haul of 2021 pandemic aid to businesses on the beleaguered north side.
St. 亚洲无码 Comptroller Darlene Green, a Democrat, on Wednesday called for a 鈥渄o-over鈥 of the grant award process in a 鈥渞isk assessment鈥 produced by her office鈥檚 internal audit section. State Rep. Steve Butz, D-St. 亚洲无码, has asked the Missouri Auditor鈥檚 office to look into the program. And Alderwoman Cara Spencer, who is running for mayor, has used her position on the board overseeing the program to question its rollout.
Schmitt cited Post-Dispatch reporting that found the grants were awarded to businesses whose addresses turned out to be empty buildings with unpaid taxes. The Post-Dispatch also found that nearly $1.3 million in grants slated for entities tied to the family of Alderwoman Shameem Clark Hubbard.
Clark Hubbard sponsored the legislation expanding the program鈥檚 eligibility, which allowed the nonprofits affiliated with her family to qualify. She also sits on SLDC鈥檚 board, and though she recused herself, she advocated for a vote approving the grant winners. She has since said she had no influence on SLDC鈥檚 selection process.
鈥淭he competitive process to award the grants is under doubt, given grants were provided to those politically connected despite not originally being qualified,鈥 Schmitt wrote in his letter.
Mayor Jones has said she has no plans to restart the program, insisting that the program has not been 鈥渃ompromised from a legal or compliance standpoint.鈥 The mayor also said聽she would not 鈥渓et a few bumps in the road kill the ultimate goal鈥 of reinvesting in long-neglected north St. 亚洲无码. The St. 亚洲无码 Development Corporation, tasked with administering the grant program, has tried to alleviate concerns by emphasizing that most of the money has not yet been paid out pending ongoing due diligence of its selected winners.
And last week, SLDC finally released portions of grant applications it had declined to release under Missouri Sunshine Law requests from the newspaper, though the portions of the applications SLDC released聽did not fully describe all winners鈥 plans for the money.
Schmitt has tried to carve out misuse of pandemic aid money as one of his issues. Earlier this year Schmitt railed against what he called the U.S. Treasury鈥檚 鈥渕isuse鈥 of COVID relief money. In a resolution, Schmitt wrote that pandemic aid was being used as a 鈥渟lush fund鈥 and was 鈥渆mblematic of Washington addiction to wasteful spending.鈥 It failed on a party-line vote.聽
Schmitt and Jones, former colleagues in the Legislature, also have a history. The two were known for trading barbs on social media at the beginning of Jones鈥 term, when Schmitt was still Missouri attorney general and making headlines for lawsuits against school districts over mask mandates.聽
In 2022, Schmitt used his office to sue the city聽on the same day Jones signed a bill to use $1.75 million in pandemic aid to help women in Missouri, where abortion is illegal, travel to clinics in Illinois. A St. 亚洲无码 judge last year ruled in the attorney general鈥檚 favor. And in 2021, Schmitt sued to try and block the city鈥檚 indoor mask mandate. He ultimately withdrew the suits as the pandemic dissipated.
In his latest missive against the city and Jones鈥 administration, Schmitt asks the Treasury officials to lay out how they are ensuring responsible spending of pandemic relief dollars. He also asks Treasury to say whether it believes聽鈥渢hat there are substantial allegations of fraudulent activity鈥 in local government pandemic aid and how that has factored into its rulemaking for the program.
鈥淭here desperately needs to be accountability,鈥 Schmitt said in his statement. 鈥淚鈥檓 leading the charge again to put a stop to this waste and abuse of taxpayer money. Enough is enough.鈥