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The first words of Jay Ashcrofts opening message for visitors to his gubernatorial campaign website jump out in bold: I am an engineer.

Ashcroft earned a law degree from St. Louis University and bachelor and masters degrees in engineering management from Missouri University of Science and Technology.

The Missouri secretary of state is licensed as an attorney and last year officially joined the legal team defending his ballot language for a reproductive rights initiative to restore legal abortion in Missouri. He has never been licensed as a professional engineer.

Its his training in the engineering field, however, that hes selling hard in his campaign.

But Ashcrofts use of the title, and whether he is using it honestly, or even perhaps illegally, has become a flash point for the campaign just weeks before the Aug. 6 primary. A complaint to the state licensing board for engineers, from a supporter of one of his opponents, objects to his use of the term and cites a state law limiting use of the word.

It is also the newest attack line being used to chew away at Ashcrofts once-impressive polling lead in the eight-way Republican primary for governor.

Its silly politics, Ashcroft said in an interview with The Independent.

But with three weeks to go before the primary, Ashcroft is explaining why he can call himself an engineer, not his policy plans. At least 11 times during the Republican gubernatorial debate last week with two of his rivals, Ashcroft used the title engineer to describe himself and the quality of his plans for Missouri.

And Ashcroft calls his policy plan a Red Print, wordplay that substitutes the shorthand for the Republican Party in the word blueprint with its inclusion of the shorthand reference to the Democratic Party.

I am a typical engineer, Ashcroft said during the debate. Im not your typical politician. I dont want to talk to people, I want to get stuff done. I want to act in the best interest of the people. I dont want to just talk about it when Im running for election. I want to do it when it matters and move conservative policy forward.

The complaint, filed June 27 and first reported by KSDK-TV in St. Louis, was by a Rolla engineer who contributed $520 in March to Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoes campaign. The engineer did not respond to telephone messages and emails to discuss the complaint.

Mike Hafner, an adviser to Kehoes campaign, said the campaign did not contact the engineer or ask for the complaint to be filed.

After graduating from Missouri S&T, Ashcroft worked for four years at Systems & Electronics Inc., now Leonardo DRS, and was enrolled with the licensing board as an engineering intern at that time.

Later, he taught mechanical engineering and engineering technology at St. Louis Community College.

I am not a licensed, professional engineer, Ashcroft said, but said he has both the resume and legal right to use the term.

Under revisions to the licensing law made in 2007, no one without a license can call themselves an engineer while offering to design buildings, structures, products, machines, processes, and systems that can affect the health, safety, and welfare of the public.

But the licensing board will not discipline someone referring to themself as an engineer as long as that is clearly not indicating or implying that such person is holding himself or herself out as being a professional engineer.

The undergraduate engineering management program Ashcroft completed at Missouri S&T is accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology.

If a person graduates from a program accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC) of ABET, then yes, this person typically uses the title of engineer, said Amanda Grace Taylor, director of communications for the board.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers issued a position paper on the question of titles in 2022. Titles like professional engineer should be protected and used only by licensed individuals, the paper states.

But the title engineer has a broader meaning as well, which the public understands to be someone who has acquired special knowledge and ability in the engineering field. Someone who graduated from a board-accredited program, the paper states, should not be prohibited from using the title Engineer.

Regardless of whether he is licensed or not, Ashcroft said his use of the title for his campaign is legal.

if you actually look at the statute, he said, the statute specifically says that I made the requirements.

As Ashcroft became more strident in defending his use of the title engineer, during the debate last week, he aimed his response in a new direction, questioning the need for the state licensing board that received a complaint he is using the title illegally.

Ashcroft suggested that all professional licensing was government overreach when asked are you an engineer by the debate moderator.

He listed his education and employment, then went further:

Why in the world are Republicans asking whether or not the government has to give us permission to go out and work legally? Ashcroft said. Im an engineer, but its none of the governments business. We need to get rid of this red tape. We need to allow people to live their lives the way they see fit, instead of kowtowing to faceless bureaucrats.

The statement drew a quick rebuke from the Democratic Governors Association, which called it a completely dangerous suggestion that could potentially create countless unsafe hazards.

Hafner, the adviser to Kehoe, also said Ashcrofts statement is a dangerous idea. Kehoe, who is leading the latest polls, did not attend the debate at Parkway West High School.

As a fake engineer Im sure Jay Ashcroft would like to use crayons and an etch-a-sketch to design our roads, bridges and buildings, but we believe there should be some level of oversight when it comes to keeping Missourians safe, Hafner said.

Missouri has regulated the engineering profession since 1941 and the Board for Architects, Professional Engineers, Professional Land Surveyors and Professional Landscape Architects is one of 39 licensing boards housed in the Division of Professional Registration.

The boards examine the skills of professionals from accountants and barbers to tattoo artists and veterinarians. Each has the ability to discipline licensed professionals and prosecute people who offer services without a license.

Professional licensing is essential to protecting the safety and health of Missourians, said state Rep. Jeff Coleman, a Republican from Grain Valley who chairs the House Professional Registration and Licensing Committee. Coleman has not endorsed any candidate in the GOP primary for governor.

There may be some unnecessary regulations and lawmakers watch for that, Coleman said.

We have to have licensing in order to make sure that the people that are dealing with our folks, regardless of whether its engineering or medical or financial, that you have to have a license to prove that you are qualified to be able to do those things, to make sure that you are not hurting those citizens, said Coleman, who is a licensed financial adviser. Thats what the licensing process is all about, to make sure that you have the knowledge and the ability to take care of who youre trying to help.

One of Missouris most deadly disasters was an engineering failure, Coleman said, recalling the 1981 collapse of two skywalks at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kansas City that killed 114 people and injured scores of others.

Then-Attorney General John Ashcroft, Jay Ashcrofts father and later U.S. attorney general during the George W. Bush administration, accused the engineers of gross negligence in a license action in 1984 as the elder Ashcroft was running for governor.

That was an engineering problem, and we cant have those types of issues happening because you didnt get your license and cant prove to us that you know what youre doing, Coleman said.

In a statement to The Independent on Friday, Ashcrofts campaign said he didnt propose abolishing professional licensing.

The regulatory regime in Missouri stifles economic growth and as governor, Jay will take a close look at all regulatory and bureaucratic policies and consider ways of modernizing them to grow our economy, said Jason Roe, a consultant working for Ashcrofts campaign.

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Missouri governor hopeful Ashcroft knocked off balance by complaint about use of engineer - Missouri Independent