With many questions about the performance of State Comptroller Jason Mumpower, I wondered what distinguishes one to serve as State Comptroller? So, I went looking and could really find nothing to support Mumpower as Comptroller.

First, before I get into this, a disclosure. Years ago, both now Secretary of State Tre Hargett and Comptroller Mumpower, while serving as General Assembly Representatives unpleasantly pushed  my Father to step down from his House seat. At the time, I was privately telling my Father the same thing. He had a good run of 26 yrs representing District 83 in the State House. All good things come to an end. So, my rebuke of the Comptroller has nothing at all to do with the former. In fact, I see Tre Hargett from time to time and always enjoy our interactions. But back to Mumpower, who is this guy?

With all that is going on in Memphis regarding fund mismanagement and an unstaffed Memphis Comptrollers office, my first Mumpower red flag came when I saw a deployment of Comptroller resources for this investigative report (Forensic Audit) of Toone, TN in Hardeman County. Findings included mismanagement of inventory, inappropriate personal use of a city owned lawnmower and questionable bid practices. Public loss findings were less than $10K. So why isn’t the Comptroller active in Shelby County where there are likely billions in losses going back years? Why no staffing in the State’s largest County? And why won’t the Comptroller’s office formally interview me after my submission of some 30 citizen complaints?

A high-level operating public funds misuse conspiracy can be the only explanation for an intentionally negligent Republican Comptroller. Or maybe the Comptroller is just an idiot. Based on what I could find, Mumpower may just be an idiot. As stated earlier, I went back to look at the backgrounds of previous Comptrollers and this is what I found.

Jason Mumpower – Neither educationally or occupationally distinguished. King College graduate with a B.A. in Economics. I don’t recognize this seemingly Elitist invitation only Harvard Government Executives credential that Mumpower holds. Mumpower also served in the General Assembly as Majority Leader and is a comic book collector that likes Spiderman. Nothing really of value related to public accounting and finance in Mumpower’s resume.  (Comptroller Website and Wikipedia).

Justin Wilson – Educationally and occupationally distinguished. Justin Wilson served as Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation and as Deputy to the Governor for Policy under former Governor Don Sundquist. He was a member of the Financial Advisory Board of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and he served as Chairman of the Nashville Electric Board, the Davidson County Metropolitan Health Board, and the Community Health Agency of Nashville and Davidson County. He was Foreman of the Davidson County Grand Jury, and he has served in leadership positions for numerous Nashville business as well as civic and charitable organizations. Comptroller Emeritus Wilson was also a partner in the law firm of Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis where he served on its Executive Committee. He is a graduate of Stanford University, Vanderbilt University School of Law, and New York University with a LLM in taxation (Comptroller Website).

John Morgan – Educationally distinguished with graduate work and occupationally distinguished. A native of Middle Tennessee, born January 4, 1952, Nashville, TN. Married to Donna Akin Morgan; two children, Brian and Kevin; Church of Christ; B.S., Austin Peay State University, 1974; graduate work, Louisiana State University, 1974-76; research assistant, Legislative Fiscal Review Committee, 1976-78; research assistant, Department of Finance and Administration, 1978-80; administrative assistant to the state treasurer, 1980-82; assistant director, Bond Finance, comptroller of the treasury, 1982-83; director, Bond Finance, comptroller of the treasury, 1983-87; assistant to the comptroller and director, Bond Finance, January-October 1987; vice-president, director of public finance, Third National Bank, October 1987-February 1989; executive assistant to the comptroller of the treasury, February 1989-January 1999; elected comptroller of the treasury, January 1999 and re-elected by each successive General Assembly; member of National Association of State Auditors Comptrollers and Treasurers, Executive Committee; American Society Public Administration; National State Auditors Association; former member of Tennessee Municipal League Risk Management Pool, and Tennessee Municipal Bond Fund (TN Secretary of State).

William R. Snodgrass – Educationally and occupationally distinguished. Snodgrass graduated from David Lipscomb College (now University) in 1942. He then served in the U.S. military from 1943 to 1946. Following the war, he attended the University of Tennessee (UT) in Knoxville, graduating with a B.S. in accounting in 1947. He subsequently pursued graduate work there and was appointed research assistant in the Bureau of Business Research at the university in 1947. He became a consultant on municipal accounting and finance for UT’s Municipal Technical Advisory Service in 1951. This work led to his appointment as director of budget and director of local finance for the State of Tennessee in 1953. In January 1955, the Tennessee General Assembly elected the thirty-three-year-old Snodgrass as comptroller of the treasury for a two-year term. Each successive assembly reelected him until he retired on January 13, 1999 (TN Encyclopedia).