Friday, March 23, 2018
Driving the Day
Media Advisory…. Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley will update the status of the Office’s ongoing investigation into The Mission Continues, the charity organization founded by Governor Eric Greitens, over allegations of potential violations of Missouri’s not-for-profit laws…10AM this morning.
What It Means
After taking a lot of criticism for the seemingly superficial report on the governor’s use of Confide, Hawley needs to show that he has the gumption to do a real investigation.
Greitens’ Dark Money Non-Profits
These days it seems like everything Greitens had touched has some degree of shadiness to it….
Jason Hancock reports (see it here) that a “liberal government watchdog has filed complaints with the Internal Revenue Service against two nonprofits that in 2016 directed nearly $6 million in anonymous campaign money into Missouri to help Eric Greitens’ campaign for governor…
Both groups are registered as 501(c)(4) tax-exempt organizations and they are required to file annual 990 tax returns. According to the complaints, neither group has filed the required returns. Freedom Frontier's 990 was due last November and American Policy Coalition's was due last August… The 990 form filed with the IRS is ‘one of the only ways to know more about their activity and whether they abused their tax-exempt status in order to avoid disclosure of who is spending big money to influence elections. The fact that they appear to have failed to file them raises a lot of questions…’
Both groups played a significant role in Greitens’ successful 2016 campaign for governor. Freedom Frontier donated $4 million to a political action committee called LG PAC, which in turn spent that money on TV ads lambasting Greitens’ rivals for the Republican gubernatorial nomination. American Policy Coalition donated $2 million to a political action committee called SEALS for Truth, which in turn gave $1.9 million of that money directly to Greitens’ campaign. At the time, it was the single largest campaign contribution ever given to a Missouri candidate.
In both instances, because nonprofits are not required to disclose their donors, the true origin of the money will likely never be known.”
Punch
Kansas City Star gives an update on recent developments in the Greitens trial (see it here), and Aaron Baker steals the spotlight with the quote of the day… “It's hard to keep track of who is driving this clown car and where they are headed…”
Counterpunch
“So, the liberal Democratic plaintiffs attorneys have a Republican lobbyist as spokesman….”
MEC Quorum-less
The mighty Jason Rosenbaum looks at the current “limbo” status of the Missouri Ethics Commission. See it here.
Pull Quote: [S]ome state senators have voiced concerns that Greitens will be choosing new commissioners who will then decide upon an ethics complaint that’s been filed against him. The complaint centers on a list of campaign donors from a nonprofit group created by Greitens before he became governor… The governor’s office has not responded to a request for comment about the commission vacancies…
eMailbag on the Idea of Parson Picking MEC Commissioners
As if the next guy in line to be governor doesn't have a conflict of interest in making MEC appointments? To the extent that it's a concern Greitens would pick people who would treat him favorably it would be of equal concern that Parson would do the opposite in order to boost his odds of becoming governor.
South City Scuttlebutt
Overheard over beers, one of the grand jurors in Governor Eric Greitens’ case received a standing ovation from his co-workers when he returned to work to which he muttered repeatedly “I can’t talk about it, I can’t talk about it….”
New Candidate Filings
Jacob Turk filed to run for Congress (District 5) as a Republican.
Edward Bell filed to run in House 26 as a Democrat
Bruce Goodrich filed to run in House 121 as a Republican.
New Committees
Ronna Ford formed a candidate committee (Citizens For Ronna Ford) to run for House 129 as a Democrat.
Michael Lind formed a candidate committee (Mike Lind For The People) to run for House 155 as a Republican.
Teresa Hensley formed a candidate committee (Teresa Hensley For Cass) to run for Cass County Prosecuting Attorney as a Democrat.
Lobbyists Registrations
John Bardgett Jr., John Parris, Kim Tuttle, Erika Leonard, and Chris Roepe deleted Jackson County.
$5K+ Contributions
Committee for a Healthy Community - $131,450 from American Heart Association.
We Are Missouri - $10,000 from O’Brien Law Firm PC.
Professional Firefighters of Central St. Louis County PAC - $12,050 from Professional Firefighters of Eastern Missouri PAC.
Missourians for Patient Care - $25,000 from Missourians for Patient Care.
Lincoln PAC - $10,000 from Caleb Arthur.
Lincoln PAC - $25,000 from Missouri Senate Campaign Committee.
Friends of Mark Dempsey - $15,000 from Central Missouri Physical Therapy LLC.
Progress KC - $10,000 from The Civic Council of Greater Kansas City.
Birthdays
Happy birthdays to Tom Loehner.
Saturday: Matt Bain, Kelly Schultz, Chris Liese, Tony Wyche and Mike Gibbons.
Sunday: Sens. Jason Holsman and Doug Libla, Reps. Robert Cornejo and Mark Matthiesen, and Saundra McDowell.
