Chris Koster more reliant than ever on political committee contributions

State Sen. Chris Koster accepted 90 percent of the donations to his campaign over the last 28 days from political committees.

Koster, a candidate for Attorney General, has come under fire from Democrats and Republicans alike for his use and potentially illegal abuse of political funds to funnel contributions to his campaign warchest.

MPN's analysis of campaign finance reports from the Missouri Ethics Commission show that since the beginning of 2007, 75 percent of Koster's funds for the current election were raised from political committees - that's a total of $1.17 million.

Koster's campaign reported raising $118,000 in the last 28 days, but just 8 percent of that came from individuals and businesses in Missouri. The majority, $106,200, came from political committees.

Regionally Koster reported raising no money in three of Missouri's outstate regions and less than both of his major opponents in each of the remaining three regions.

At the close of the reporting period Koster's campaign reported $16,855 cash-on-hand and $200,000 in debt.

The huge draw down in available funds is due to $761,000 in media and advertising expenses over the last month. Koster's campaign also found $73,800 to donate to political committees during the period, including $3,500 to La Raza, a group that endorsed Koster earlier this month. These contributions are all erroneously reported as expenditures and not contributions.

The campaign also donated $3,500 total to seven St. Louis-based Democratic Ward organizations.

One noticeably absent expenditure in the reports is any payment to either the Missouri Department of Revenue or the Internal Revenue Service for payroll taxes on behalf of his staff.

Related Links:
MPN: Attorney General Campaign 2008

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