Apparently, Rep. Steve Hunter, the undisputed king among legislative gift recipients, erred in his earlier disclosure report filed with the Missouri Ethics Commission.
The new total listed for Hunter for the months of January through May is $2,426.39, up $61.59 from the total printed in The Turner Report June 10. Since that time, Hunter has amended his report, seemingly to add $61.59 from Chris Liese, lobbying partner of former State Rep. Gary Burton, R-Joplin, for meal, food and beverage. Liese is listed on Ethics Commission records as a lobbyist for Isle of Capri Casinos, St. John's Regional Medical Center, and numerous other organizations and special interests. On the same day, Hunter accepted $53 from Craig Overfelt, lobbyist for the Missouri Bankers Association, for meals, food and beverage.
For some reason, lobbyists' disclosure forms for May have not yet been placed on the Ethics Commission website. As I have mentioned earlier, they must be reviewed by the representatives and senators first to make sure there are no mistakes.
Since May 1, Hunter has accepted $1,032.94 worth of gifts from lobbyists, according to Ethics Commission documents. If Hunter had accepted absolutely no gifts from lobbyists from January through April, he still would have ranked 20th out of the 163 representatives for amount of gifts claimed on the disclosure forms.
If you only count the gifts Hunter received from lobbyists in April and May, and leave out the first three months, the Joplin legislator would still rank seventh among the 163 representatives. In April, Hunter received $537.76, giving him a two-month total of $1,570.70.
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