More ethics complaints have been lodged in the race to become Missouri's next governor.
This time, it's a Washington D.C.-based group called the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust alleging that gubernatorial candidate Chris Koster and a Democrat-backed political action committee shirked Missouri campaign finance laws in the final days of the primary election season.
The new complaints were revealed just days after Democrats filed a complaint about Republican candidate Eric Greitens for accepting campaign cash through several organizations that haven't identified their donors as required by state law.
The complaint against Koster, who currently is the attorney general, focuses on $1 million in contributions by the "Jobs and Opportunity" PAC. It alleges the group, which is linked to the Democratic Governors Association, failed to properly file a report with the Missouri Ethics Commission and, as an out-of-state committee, illegally gave Koster money within 30 days of the Aug. 2 primary.
Koster campaign manager Andrew Whalen scoffed at the complaints, saying they were filed by a group that doesn't disclose its donors. He suggested Greitens was behind the attack.
"It's no surprise Eric Greitens would rely on a secretive, D.C.-based, dark money group to handle is dirty work for him, since he won't disclose his largest donor and has funded his campaign from ethically challenged contributors," Whalen said in a statement.
Greitens accepted $1.975 million in July from a federal super PAC called "Seals for Truth," which also wasn't required to list its donors when the check was written.
(c)2016 the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
