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.
The article also notes one of Koster's dealings which took place in Jasper County:
The next day, about 330 miles to the southwest, McNay met Jasper County Democratic Chairwoman Susan DeCarlo at an Italian restaurant in Joplin. It was the second time she had delivered a $13,750 check for the 129th Legislative District Democratic Committee of which DeCarlo is treasurer. McNay left the restaurant with a pair of $13,450 checks - one a direct contribution to Koster, the other an indirect contribution made payable to Koster's advertising buyer, LUC Media of Marietta, Ga.
The quid pro quo arrangement outlined in the AP article was noted in the April 15 Turner Report when I wrote:
An elaborate money laundering operation established by former Jay Nixon aide Chuck Hatfield enabled Chris Koster to continue to far outpace his opponents in the Democratic race for attorney general.
Hatfield's Economic Growth Council, registered with the state on Dec. 23, funneled nearly half a million dollars into Democratic committees across the state, according to Missouri Ethics Commission documents.
For instance, the 128th District Democratic Committee, Webb City, received $27,500 from the Economic Growth Council, and immediately sent half of that amount to Koster and the other half to LUC Media, Marietta, Ga., a firm that specializes in political advertising, apparently to be used on Koster's behalf.
The 12th and 14th Legislative District committees, two of many which have Mark Miles as treasurer, received $27,500 apiece from the Economic Growth Council, with half of the money going to the Koster campaign in cash and the other half reported as an "in-kind" contribution. It appears those "in-kind" contributions went to LUC Media.
The Economic Growth Committee made contributions of this kind to committees all over the state, and Koster's campaign disclosure form, filed today, shows sizable contributions from all of them.
The committee's funding comes from a wide variety sources, including an aging billionaire, but not the one who has been written about extensively in this blog over the past few days. Though Rex Sinquefield has contributed heavily to Koster's campaign through his political action committees, this time the billionaire is James Stowers, 84, of the Stowers Institute, who contributed $125,000 to the committee...the same amount he gave directly to Koster's campaign one year ago during the time when campaign contributions were not in effect. The Economic Growth Council also received $73,725 from the Supporters of Health Research and Treatments, an amount also nearly identical to what the group gave Koster one year ago.
Among the other contributors who circumvented contribution limits by giving first to the Economic Growth Committee, which then laundered their cash through the legislative committees were:
-Ameristar Casinos, St. Charles and Kansas City, $17,450
-Regional St. Charles County Leadership Fund $12,500
-Land Trust No. 12 LLC, O'Fallon $20,000
-McEagle Fund LLC, O'Fallon $5,000
-Carey & Davis LLC, St. Louis, $100,000
-Technology Drive LLC, St. Louis, $25,000
-Healy Law Firm, St. Louis, $25,000
-Hubbard for Senate, St. Louis, $30,000
-John F. McDowell, Boeing, $10,000
The Economic Growth Council spent $489,865.45 during the first three months of 2008, according to the report.
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