Wow! Here’s the money quote from an AP article in the Sedalia Democrat:
E-mail communications obtained by The Associated Press show Koster’s campaign staff helped direct donors wishing to give more than the state limit to the Economic Growth Council, then coordinated the transfer of that money to local political party committees and onto Koster’s campaign – a potential violation of an 8-year-old ruling against such orchestration.
Someone close to the Koster campaign gave the documents to AP on condition of anonymity–“because the person is not authorized to speak for the campaign.” To say the least.
The gist of it seems to be that donors can legally route money through local political party committees, but the candidates themselves are supposed to stay out of it. The money just arrives in their mailboxes and they’re pleasantly surprised, don’t you know.
That’s not exactly how it worked in Koster’s case, though:
They met at an Italian restaurant in southwest Missouri. A campaign aide for Democratic attorney general candidate Chris Koster and the treasurer for a local Democratic committee. The purpose: a check exchange.
Koster’s aide handed the Democratic official a check from an innocuous-sounding group called the Economic Growth Council, along with a pair of letters she had created – one from the Economic Growth Council accompanying its money, the other from Koster’s campaign soliciting money from the local political committee.
The letters were formalities. The Democratic official provided Koster’s aide a pair of checks similar in size to the amount she had received.
Just like that, Koster’s campaign channeled nearly $27,000 to itself – part of the roughly $450,000 from big-time donors that got routed around campaign contribution limits to Koster in a three-month period.
Translation: when Koster’s campaign had to give back over-the-limit contributions, somehow that money all ended up back in his coffers. Here’s how that happened: his aide was taking checks which presumably came from donors who wanted to “recontribute” the money he’d returned to them. The aide delivered those checks to local party committees, and got checks for approximately the same amount as she had just given to the person from the local committee.
Naturally, Donnelly and Harris are crying foul, using approximately the same language:
Donnelly’s press release says:
“This story raises serious questions and demands a thorough investigation. Candidates for Attorney General should be held to the highest, not the lowest, legal and ethical standard.” said Donnelly.
Donnelly spokesman Daniel Nava says “This does not come as a complete surprise. After all he trained under Republican Attorney General Bill Webster who went to prison over similar financial wrongdoing.”
Harris’s says:
“Candidates for public office, especially candidates for Attorney General, must hold themselves to the highest ethical standards. This article raises serious questions about Senator Koster’s conduct.”
Members of the Ethics Commission are not committing themselves publicly on the issue in case they have to rule on it later.
Koster himself defends the tactics as legal. He’s only doing what other candidates do, he says. But he isn’t naming specific candidates who’ve done the same.
One would think this issue would end up before the Ethics Commission, but it will end up one place for sure–in Harris and Donnelly ads. The revelations can’t possibly be good for Koster’s campaign.
