Associated Press: Koster campaign involved in passing cash through committees. Koster’s Ethics Questioned, Check exchange raises concerns.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. "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. 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. The documents were provided to the AP by someone close to Koster's campaign on the condition of anonymity, because the person is not authorized to speak for the campaign. Koster defends his fundraising tactics as legal—and similar to those being used by other major statewide candidates. But it's unclear whether other campaign staffs have been so deeply involved in coordinating the money shuffling. A former Koster campaign aide now is concerned the tactics may have been illegal.

Officials at the Missouri Ethics Commission are reluctant to say publicly whether fundraising scenarios such as Koster's violate campaign finance laws, in case they later are asked to make a ruling. But "that's getting awfully close," said former Ethics Commission executive director Bob Connor, who remains on staff at the commission. "That could come before the commission if somebody thought it was improper."

Source: DAVID A. LIEB, Associated Press. Read more ...

Fellow Missourians if Chris Koster can violate the law to get illegal campaign contributions for the primary elections that he barely won, then what do you expect him to do when he becomes Attorney General? We believe he will sell that office to the highest bidder! We can't trust Koster with the laws that are meant to protect us. Mr. Koster is tainted! The AG's office will be run by his big donors. On the hand Sen. Gibbons is a clean honest man who puts the taxpayers before his interest.

We can't afford to trust Koster with the AG's office. Please elect Sen. Gibbons our next Attorney General. He has been a champion and friend of Missouri taxpayers while he served in the Missouri House and the Senate.


Missouri Taxpayers for Senator Gibbons as the next Attorney General.