Ames Woman, Iowa State Grad, Appointed as State Auditor

Mary Mosiman, an Ames resident and graduate of Iowa State University, who just began serving as the state's newest and first female auditor has already been challenged her first week on the job.

Gov. Terry Branstad appointed her to the position and she started her new job Monday, replacing David Vaudt who resigned to become the new Governmental Accounting Standards Board chairman. His last day was May 3.

Democrats said Tuesday that Mosiman "improperly spent more than $1,000 from her Story County auditor campaign committee after leaving that office to join the Secretary of State’s Office as a deputy secretary of state in 2011," according to a report in the Des Moines Register.

Mosiman had been the Story County auditor from 2001-2010 until she began working as the deputy secretary of state under Matt Schultz.

Iowa Democratic Party Executive Director Troy Price said she used the campaign funds to cover the costs of CPA trainings and partisan Republican travel around the state. The party has filed an ethics complaint.

Mosiman said in a statement according to the Register that she didn't feel she had violated the law.

“I believe these were allowable expenses because I have been a candidate in the past and I intend to be a candidate in the future,” she said in the statement. “I will work with the board and abide by any decisions it makes.”

Branstad said earlier this week that he felt Mosiman met his requirements for state auditor.

“I had two major requirements for Iowa’s state auditor: that the individual was a CPA, and that the individual would adhere to the sound budgeting principles followed by David Vaudt,” Branstad said in a prepared statement. “In Mary, we found that and more. She is a talented, passionate public servant who will keep a very close watch over Iowa’s tax dollars.”

Mosiman is the state's first female auditor according to the Gazette.

Mosiman previously served as the Story County auditor for three terms before working in the Secretary of State's Office.

“I can’t wait to get started,” Mosiman said according to the Gazette. “I look forward every day to working the best that I can to not only validate the governor’s decision but also to earn the same type of confidence from the people of Iowa.”

Sign up for Ames Patch's Newsletter/Like Ames Patch on Facebook/Follow us on Twitter: @AmesPatch