A copy of the 13-page contract, obtained by The Star, offered up to $5,000 to a campaign canvasser if they would become a “consultant” for a company called Vortex Elite.
Under the contract, they would stop collecting signatures for the campaign and provide a slew of services, including “ground intelligence” on other campaigns and potentially leaving the state.
The source of the contract remains a mystery. But its existence appears to illustrate a broader, tactical push to stymie Missouri from holding a referendum to repeal the map. This comes amid a series of attacks from state officials and a new opposition group backed by national Republicans .
Sean Soendker Nicholson , a political consultant working with the referendum campaign, called People Not Politicians, provided The Star with a copy of the contract. He suggested the effort could be illegal, pointing to the mystery behind its source and a lack of campaign finance reports detailing any alleged payments.
“You’ve got to report this stuff,” Nicholson said, referring to campaign finance reports. “They’re spending cash money to get people to not work…somebody’s not following the law here.”
Aggressive opposition to the referendum has once again thrust Missouri into the national spotlight amid a nationwide redistricting frenzy. Missouri Republicans have sought to stifle the campaign after lawmakers approved the map this fall under pressure from President Donald Trump.
The referendum campaign, launched shortly after that vote, must turn in enough signatures from across the state, roughly 106,000 by Dec. 11 , to force a statewide vote on the map in November 2026 .
The copy of the contract obtained by The Star redacted the name of the person who received it, but it appears to be in effect from Nov. 2 to March 1, 2026 .
Richard Von Glahn , the campaign’s executive director, confirmed in an interview that the contract was provided to a paid canvasser who was collecting signatures on behalf of the campaign.
The People Not Politicians campaign is working with both volunteers and a company called Advanced Micro Targeting to gather signatures.
That canvasser signed the contract and is no longer working on behalf of the campaign, Von Glahn said. Von Glahn did not provide the name of the person or where they were collecting signatures to protect them from potential retaliation, but he confirmed the contract’s authenticity.
“It illustrates desperation from, I suspect, politicians who know that they have passed something that is not popular with the people of this state,” Von Glahn said. “This is desperation of people who are afraid of accountability.”
Von Glahn said he has heard reports of similar opposition efforts in Kansas City , Columbia , Joplin and Springfield .
“We think they’re trying to reach out to people all across the state,” he said.
The contract being used in Missouri comes as so-called dark money, paid opposition campaigns and massive amounts of political spending for and against ballot measures have exploded in national politics on both sides of the aisle.
Billionaire Elon Musk , for example, was sued for allegedly failing to pay a Philadelphia man $200,000 after getting people to sign a petition he supported.
Meanwhile, in Washington state , Republican supporters of several voter initiatives accused Democrats of a range of tactics to block the measures, such as cash incentives for signature gatherers to leave the state, according to The Seattle Times.
Inside the Mysterious Contract
While the existence of the contract has alarmed supporters of the referendum, its unknown source has raised a series of additional concerns about who might be involved in the push to halt the campaign.
Campaigners, in interviews with The Star, criticized the effort as a potential example of out-of-state money flowing into Missouri , an accusation that Republicans have also leveled at the campaign due to a series of high-profile donations from national progressive groups.
“I do not think this is locally-based opposition,” said Von Glahn. “What I do see evidence of is, you know, people who are trying to conceal sources of money and hire out-of-state people.”
The company listed on the contract, Vortex Elite, is not a registered business with the Missouri Secretary of State’s Office. The Star reached out to a company with a similar name and did not immediately hear back.
The contract also lists the name of prominent political consultant Rick Asnani , who has been involved in a series of campaigns in Florida . However, Asnani’s name, his company and his contact information were crossed out on the document.
Asnani, reached by phone, said the contract was an old form that his company used for a project in Florida . An undisclosed person or company was using that form with his name, said Asnani, who framed the issue as a likely mistake and emphasized he was not involved in any Missouri campaigns.
“I think somebody basically screwed up and just used an old contract that they shouldn’t have,” Asnani said. “But I’m not involved in any of that stuff.”
'Broken Bottles and Chains'
While the source of the contract remains unclear, its existence comes as Missouri has drawn national attention for its role in the ongoing redistricting fight spearheaded by the Trump administration.
Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins faces a lawsuit that alleges he illegally delayed the campaign by refusing to accept its paperwork and cast doubt on the validity of roughly 100,000 signatures.
Meanwhile, Attorney General Catherine Hanaway , also a Republican, has filed a federal lawsuit seeking to block the referendum, arguing that only lawmakers have the power to redraw the state’s congressional districts.
“Redistricting is now a bare knuckles fight all over the country and people are trying things that have never been done before,” said Chuck Hatfield , an attorney for the campaign. “We are down in the alley with broken bottles and chains right now — that’s what’s going on.”
Spokespeople for Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe , a Republican who signed the map into law, and Hanaway, the Republican attorney general, did not respond to requests for comment about whether they were concerned about the contract.
Rep. Brian Seitz , a Branson Republican who voted in favor of the map, said in an interview that he’s spoken with signature collectors in southwest Missouri and had not heard about similar contracts.
Seitz went on to broadly criticize “outside influences” that he said were affecting Missouri elections.
“I’ve not heard of that and I think a person should be able to make a decision of who they want to work for, when and where,” Seitz said. “But the bottom line is, I would like to see less out-of-state interference in both our elections and especially our state constitution.”
Put Missouri First, a new political action committee created to oppose the referendum, has not filed any campaign paperwork that connects the PAC to the consulting contract.
The PAC this week received $100,000 from two national Republican groups, the National Republican Congressional Committee and the Republican National Committee .
The PAC’s filings with the Missouri Ethics Commission list the same address as Ellinger Bell , a Jefferson City -based law firm heavily involved in Republican politics. Two lawyers with the firm, Marc Ellinger and Stephanie Bell , did not respond to multiple requests for comment this week.
The PAC’s treasurer, St. Louis -based attorney Matt Belz , also did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
But for Von Glahn, the campaign’s director, the contract illustrates the idea that there’s now an effort to pay individuals not to work on the referendum campaign.
He said the bevy of attempts to halt the referendum won’t work, pointing to the campaign’s announcement this week that they’ve collected more than 200,000 signatures across the state.
“This is only going to anger people,” he said.
©2025 The Kansas City Star. Visit at kansascity.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
