State Sen. Chris Koster is willing to do whatever it takes to fend off long-time Democrats opposing his candidacy for Missouri Attorney General, at least that is the message sent out in the latest round of fundraising reports.
Tuesday Koster filed a report with the Missouri Ethics Commission that claimed he amassed $593,674 during the first quarter of 2008. A closer examination reveals that 90 percent of his contributions originated with political committees, $226,500 of which was funneled through legislative committees under the guise of in-kind contributions; those funds originated from the Economic Growth Council, a group created by Koster campaign staffer Chuck Hatfield in Dec. 2007.
An examination of the committees reported with in-kind contributions by Koster and the report filed today by the Economic Growth Council identifies 17 committees through which funds were funneled, all reported by Koster as $13,450 contributions.
Contributors to the Economic Growth Council, also closely match the list of donors to which Koster returned funds in the last quarter after a Supreme Court decision that reinstated caps on contributions. Major contributions include $125,000 from James Stowers and $73,725 from Supporters of Health & Research Treatments.
Individual reports filed by committees through which the Economic Growth Council passed funds, show the same amount going to LUC Media in Marietta, Georgia for ad buys benefiting Koster.
A press release issued Tuesday afternoon by Koster's campaign says the funds are for prepaid television ads.
"From those who could contribute only a few dollars to the donors who could give a little more, I am honored to have so many Missourians on my side," Koster said in the release.
Koster's campaign is reporting just over a million dollars on hand with $200,000 in debt.
Update: The Donnelly campaign is pointing out that $78,875 of Koster's reported contributions from the last quarter are actually from April, which was not included in the reporting cycle. Five of those contributions are the in-kind funds discussed above.
"It appears [Koster] needs to brush up on Missouri's Ethics Law or on the Gregorian calendar," fellow Attorney General candidate Margaret Donnelly charged, according to KY3.
Related Links:
Missouri Ethics: Missouri Economic Growth Council Report (1q-2008)
Missouri Ethics: Missourians for Koster
4 comments:
Jeff Harris and Margaret Donnelly should be furious about this. Koster is intentionally skirting Missouri's campaign finance laws - what kind of Attorney General will he make? Maybe he'll just tell law breakers "it's okay I'm not ethical either"!
I'm confused. I thought Chris Koster became a Democrat last year. This makes him sound as if he never left the Republican party.
Great, great analysis. Probably some of the most precise analysis I have seen in a long time. We should get the MPN staff jobs on the MEC, that way we can close some of these loopholes that allow people like Koster to skirt around the system. Koster's integrity continues to be challenged, and this report is no exception. Kudos to MPN and their breakdown of his actions.
Attorney General Jay Nixon
took $635,851 in cash and in-kind contributions beyond the $1,375 limit from these party committees. That’s the most out of the three gubernatorial candidates.
I assume Jeff Harris, Margaret Donnelly (and all of you)are going to start attacking Jeff's former boss?
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