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PrintKANSAS CITY — Federal authorities have opened an investigation into the state’s license fee offices and whether they were improperly awarded to Gov. Matt Blunt’s political supporters, The Kansas City Star reported Saturday.
A spokeswoman for Blunt’s office denied any knowledge of an investigation into fee-office practices, according to the Star.
The Star reported that two sources familiar with the investigation said the fee-office investigation is being handled out of the U.S. attorney’s office in the Eastern District of Arkansas.
“I cannot confirm or deny the existence of an investigation into any matter that may have come to our attention,” said Bud Cummins, the U.S. attorney for that district, which is based in Little Rock.
Contracts to run license fee offices, where citizens renew their driver’s licenses and obtain license plates, are viewed as patronage perks handed out by new governors to reward political allies. The 182 fee offices in the state collect money from residents who renew driver’s licenses and make other fee payments on motor vehicles.
Exactly which fee-office operations might be under examination was unclear on Friday.
Whichever party is removed from the governor’s office has traditionally complained about fee-office abuses by the winner, and 2005 brought several complaints.
Under normal practice, the Department of Justice would assign an investigation to an out-of-state office if the in-state office recused itself because of a potential conflict of interest. The U.S. attorney in St. Louis, Catherine Hanaway, is a Republican and former speaker of the Missouri House. An attorney in her office refused to comment on any recusal.
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