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Rob Sand

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Not to be confused with Rob Sands.

Rob Sand
33rd Auditor of Iowa
Assumed office
January 2, 2019
GovernorKim Reynolds
Preceded byMary Mosiman
Personal details
Born (1982-08-12) August 12, 1982 (age 41)
Decorah, Iowa, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
SpouseChristine
Children2
Education
WebsiteGovernment website

Robert Sand (born August 12, 1982) is an American lawyer and politician who has served as the 33rd Iowa State Auditor since 2019. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Sand was assistant attorney general of Iowa from 2010 to 2017. In 2018, he ran for state auditor, defeating Republican incumbent Mary Mosiman. After considering a run for governor of Iowa in 2022, Sand opted to run for reelection. Sand was reelected in 2022. He is currently the only Democratic statewide officeholder in Iowa.

Early life

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Sand is from Decorah, Iowa. His mother, Leslie, worked as a physical therapist while his father, Kevin, was a doctor.[1][2] While he attended Decorah High School, he spent two years lobbying community leaders in Decorah to build a skate park.[3][4] Sand graduated from Decorah High School in 2001.[5]

Sand enrolled at Brown University, where he was awarded a Harry S. Truman Scholarship.[1] While he was in college, he took a semester off to intern in the Washington, D.C., office of U.S. Senator Tom Harkin, a member of the Democratic Party from Iowa.[6] He made his first political donation to Howard Dean's 2004 presidential campaign, but missed the Iowa caucus because he was modeling menswear in Milan.[7] He also modeled in Paris.[1] Sand graduated from Brown with a bachelor's degree in political science in 2005.[1]

Sand enrolled at the University of Iowa College of Law.[6] He earned his Juris Doctor in 2010.[8] In law school, he was both president of the Iowa Student Bar Association and an editor-in-chief of a law journal.[5] He caucused for Barack Obama' presidential campaign in 2008.[7]

Career

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Early career

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In 2006, Sand worked as an aide for State Representative Ed Fallon's campaign for governor of Iowa. After Fallon lost the primary election, Sand became the campaign manager for Denise O'Brien, the Democratic Party's nominee for Iowa secretary of agriculture.[9][10] While he was on the campaign trail, he met Tom J. Miller, the attorney general of Iowa.[3]

Miller appointed Sand assistant attorney general in September 2010.[11][5] Upon joining the attorney general's office, he became the lead prosecutor for the Iowa Film Office tax credit scandal, in which millions of dollars of film tax credits were fraudulently obtained.[12][13][14] After completing the Iowa Film Office case, Sand was recruited by Tom H. Miller, the deputy attorney general, to work in the Area Prosecutions Division, which focuses on prosecuting white-collar financial crimes.[5] Sand prosecuted an investment advisor for deceiving people to invest into the International Bank of Meekamui, an international Ponzi scheme emanating from Papua New Guinea.[15]

Rob Sand in 2019

Sand also prosecuted the Hot Lotto fraud scandal, in which seven lottery tickets across five states were rigged, with the amount totaling $25 million. Eddie Tipton, the former information security director of the Multi-State Lottery Association, confessed to rigging a random number generator in the largest lottery rigging scheme in American history.[16] Tipton was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2017.[17] After completing the prosecution, Sand resigned from the Attorney General's office so that he could run for office.[16]

State auditor

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In the 2018 elections, Sand ran for Iowa State Auditor.[11] He was not opposed in the Democratic Party primary election.[18] Sand defeated Republican Mary Mosiman, the incumbent, in the general election[19] 51% to 46%, while Libertarian Fred Perryman received 3% of the vote.[20][21] He became the second Democrat elected into that position in over a century.[22]

Sand was sworn into office on January 2, 2019. At his swearing-in ceremony, he announced that he would have a balanced leadership team, with his top three assistants being a Democrat, a Republican, and an independent.[23] As state auditor, Sand developed the Public Innovations and Efficiencies (PIE) program, which awards fiscal efficiency in government.[24] The PIE program inspired Shad White, the Republican state auditor of Mississippi, to develop a similar program.[25][26] Prior to the 2020 presidential caucuses, Sand's endorsement was sought by multiple candidates.[27][28] He did not endorse a candidate, though he did co-host a campaign event in Decorah with Cory Booker that he said did not constitute an endorsement.[1]

An audit conducted by Sand's office in 2020 found that Governor Kim Reynolds misspent $21 million from the CARES Act on unrelated state contracts rather than on managing the COVID-19 pandemic.[29] The state returned the money to their coronavirus relief fund.[30] Sand alleged Reynolds broke Iowa's law against self-promotion by appearing in a taxpayer-funded video to promote wearing a mask. An Iowa ethics board later found Reynolds did not break any laws.[31] In November 2021, Sand said Reynolds improperly used nearly $450,000 in federal coronavirus relief funds to pay salaries for 21 staff members for three months in the last year.[32][33]

After considering a campaign for governor of Iowa against Reynolds,[34] Sand announced in December 2021 that he would run for reelection in 2022.[35] In January 2022, Mary Ann Hanusa, a Republican former state representative, announced that she would run for state auditor.[36] Todd Halbur, a small business owner, defeated Hanusa in the primary election[37] and Sand defeated Halbur in the November 8 general election with 50.1% of the vote.[38]

Senate File 478, a bill that would restrict the powers of the State Auditor, passed the Iowa Legislature in April 2023 and was signed by Governor Kim Reynolds in June.[39] Sand has held multiple press conferences and town halls across Iowa in opposition to the bill, claiming it is targeting him as the only statewide Democrat remaining in Iowa.[40][41] The bill, which was opposed by all Democrats in the Iowa House and Senate along with six House Republicans,[42] has been opposed by the National State Auditors Association, the American Institute of CPAs, and former U.S. Comptroller General David Walker.[41]

Personal life

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Sand and his wife, Christine (née Lauridsen), met in Des Moines and married in Madison County on June 2, 2012.[43] They have two children.[1]

Sand wrote The Winning Ticket: Uncovering America's Biggest Lottery Scam, a book about the Hot Lotto scandal, with Reid Forgrave, a reporter for The Des Moines Register. The book was published on May 1, 2022.[17]

Electoral history

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Election Political result Candidate Party Votes %
2018 Iowa State Auditor election [44]
Electorate: 2,167,914
Turnout: 1,295,368 (61.55%)		Democratic gain from RepublicanRob SandDemocratic660,16950.96%
Mary Mosiman Republican601,32046.42%
Fred Perryman Libertarian33,4212.58%
Write-in 4580.04%
2022 Iowa State Auditor election [45]
Turnout: 1,199,371		Democratic hold Rob SandDemocratic600,71950.09%
Todd Halbur Republican597,82649.84%
Write-in 8260.07%

Bibliography

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  • Sand, Rob; Forgrave, Reid (2022). The Winning Ticket: Uncovering America's Biggest Lottery Scam. Potomac Books. p. 240. ISBN 9781640123717.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f Ember, Sydney (December 7, 2019). "The Bowhunting Influencer of Iowa Democrats". The New York Times. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  2. ^ "Decorah native State Auditor Rob Sand hosts series of town hall meetings". Decorah Newspapers. October 2, 2019. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  3. ^ a b Rodgers, Grant (December 20, 2015). "Meet the man who battles white-collar crime". The Des Moines Register. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  4. ^ Scull, Sarah (August 12, 2021). "State auditor speaks on P.I.E, partisanship and public trust". Creston News Advertiser. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  5. ^ a b c d "Decorah native Rob Sand announces he's running for Iowa State Auditor". decorahnews.com. November 13, 2017. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  6. ^ a b Rynard, Pat (September 29, 2015). "Rising Star Profile: Rob Sand". Iowa Starting Line. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  7. ^ a b Romano, Andrew (January 19, 2004). "Can the Youth Vote Save Obama?". Newsweek. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  8. ^ "Decorah native State Auditor Rob Sand hosts series of town hall meetings". decorahnewspapers.com. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  9. ^ "24 Oct 2006, 10 - The Muscatine Journal at". Newspapers.com. October 24, 2006. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  10. ^ "3 Nov 2006, 4". Globe-Gazette. November 3, 2006. Retrieved August 19, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ a b "Democrat Rob Sand will run for Iowa auditor in 2018". The Des Moines Register. November 13, 2017. Retrieved November 16, 2018.
  12. ^ "Dept. head testifies at trial for former Iowa Film Office manager". Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier. August 25, 2011. Retrieved May 13, 2020.
  13. ^ "Judge Sentences Producer to 10 Years in Prison for Iowa Film Tax Credit Fraud". iowaattorneygeneral.gov. May 31, 2012. Retrieved May 13, 2020.
  14. ^ "Filmmaker acquitted on fraud charge in tax credit scandal". dmregister.com. May 11, 2017. Retrieved May 13, 2020.
  15. ^ "Money adviser gets 20 years in prison for investment scam". Newton Daily News. March 16, 2017. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  16. ^ a b Forgrave, Reid (May 3, 2018). "The Man Who Cracked the Lottery". The New York Times. Retrieved November 16, 2018.
  17. ^ a b Clayworth, Jason (April 27, 2022). "Lottery scam detailed in Iowa auditor's new book". Axios. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  18. ^ "The Des Moines Register 05 Jun 2018, page A7". Newspapers.com. June 5, 2018. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  19. ^ "Iowa election 2018 results: Rob Sand defeats Mary Mosiman for state auditor". The Des Moines Register. November 5, 2018. Retrieved November 16, 2018.
  20. ^ "Here's who won the races for Iowa's state offices". wqad.com. November 6, 2018. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  21. ^ "Decorah native Sand elected state auditor". Decorah Newspapers. November 7, 2018. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  22. ^ "Rob Sand is second Democratic auditor in over 100 years". KCRG. January 2, 2019. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  23. ^ "Decorah native Rob Sand takes oath of office, announces 'tri-partisan' leadership team". Decorah Newspapers. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  24. ^ Golbitz, David (July 28, 2022). "State Auditor Sand talks saving taxpayer money and PIE during Sunset Park visit". The Daily Nonpareil. Council Bluffs, Iowa. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  25. ^ White, Shad (February 2, 2022). "GUEST COLUMN: New Award Honors Good, Efficient Government". The Vicksburg Post. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  26. ^ Hawk, Emily (April 14, 2022). "Sand: 'I'm interested in public service.'". Oskaloosa Herald. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  27. ^ Lowry, Rich (September 17, 2018). "Top Democrats flock to Iowa to help 'young Robert Mueller'". Politico. Retrieved November 16, 2018.
  28. ^ Masters, Clay (January 12, 2020). "Why The Most Coveted Democratic Endorser In Iowa Isn't Picking Sides". NPR. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  29. ^ Rynard, Pat (October 19, 2020). "Kim Reynolds Misspent COVID Funds, Rob Sand's Audit Finds". Iowa Starting Line. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  30. ^ "Iowa to return $21 million in CARES funding used on IT infrastructure". Kcci.com. December 14, 2020. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  31. ^ "Auditor alleges Gov. Reynolds broke self-promotion law with COVID video". The Des Moines Register. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  32. ^ "Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds abused COVID money, State Auditor Rob Sand says". The Des Moines Register. November 15, 2021. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  33. ^ "Kim Reynolds should repay $450K in federal COVID relief, Rob Sand says". The Des Moines Register. March 1, 2022. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  34. ^ Kauffman, Clark (June 14, 2021). "Rob Sand says he's praying for guidance whether to run for Iowa governor". The Gazette. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  35. ^ Gruber-Miller, Stephen. "Democrat Rob Sand to seek reelection as Iowa state auditor, won't run for governor in 2022". The Des Moines Register. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  36. ^ Pfannenstiel, Brianne (January 5, 2022). "Republican Mary Ann Hanusa to run against Democrat Rob Sand". The Des Moines Register. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  37. ^ Jett, Tyler (June 7, 2022). "Republican Iowa auditor race goes to Todd Halbur". The Des Moines Register. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  38. ^ Gruber-Miller, Stephen (November 18, 2022). "Todd Halbur concedes to Rob Sand in Iowa auditor's race". The Des Moines Register. Retrieved November 20, 2022.
  39. ^ "Gov. Kim Reynolds approves final bills from the 2023 legislative session". June 2, 2023.
  40. ^ "What does Iowa's taxpayer watchdog lose from new bill? And why he's campaigning to stop it".
  41. ^ a b Wang, Amy B. (April 29, 2023). "Iowa legislature passes bill restricting state auditor's access to records". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved July 15, 2023.
  42. ^ "Iowa House votes to restrict state auditor's access to information, ability to go to court". The Des Moines Register.
  43. ^ "Sand-Lauridsen vows June 2". Decorah Newspapers. May 22, 2012. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  44. ^ "Election Night Tabular Results - November 6, 2018 General Election". Iowa Secretary of State. November 6, 2018. Retrieved January 27, 2019.
  45. ^ "2022 General Election CANVASS SUMMARY: Auditor of State" (PDF). Iowa Secretary of State. November 8, 2022. Retrieved November 26, 2023.
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Party political offices
Preceded by
Jonathan Neiderbach
 Democratic nominee for Auditor of Iowa
2018, 2022 		Most recent
Political offices
Preceded by Auditor of Iowa
2019–present 		Incumbent
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