To this day, the source of that money has not been revealed.
Sen. Claire McCaskill reminded Missourians of that today when she tweeted the following:
Strong leaders set an example. If Gov Greitens is serious about ethics he would immediately disclose where 1.9 mill in secret $ came from.
The Greitens contribution, which was later surpassed by contributions of $4 million , $2.5 million and $2.5 million to his campaign from the Republican Governors Association, was investigated in the October 15 Turner Report:
A political action committee named SEALS for Truth contributed $1.975 million to Republican gubernatorial candidate Eric Greitens July 18, just in time to help Greitens continue the multi-million dollar advertising campaign that launched the former Navy SEAL to the GOP nomination.
The PAC's October financial disclosure report, filed Friday with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) indicates that when it comes to SEALS for Truth, there are likely no SEALS and no truth.
The report shows the PAC only received one contribution, $2 million from something called the American Policy Coalition, on July 18, with most of that passed on immediately to the Greitens campaign.
The American Policy Coalition would appear to be a 527 committee, which is not allowed to contribute money directly to candidates, but which can participate in a laundering process by giving the money to another group, in this case, SEALS for Truth.
The American Policy Coalition website is only one page and has only three words- American Policy Coalition- on it, in bright red, accompanied by an American flag.
The FEC report only shows a Washington, D. C. post office box for the American Policy Coalition's website- P. O. Box 26445.
Coincidentally, the only address shown for SEALS for Truth is also a Washington, D. C. post office box- P. O. Box 29525.
In addition to the $1.975 million it contributed to the Greitens campaign, SEALS for Truth also paid $6,305.50 to the Clark Hill law firm for legal services and $5,000 to the Jackson-Alvarez Group for "research/consulting services."
Jackson-Alvarez has been involved with campaigns in Maryland and New York in which FEC complaints were filed, charging candidates with coordinating with PACs in violation of federal law.
Incumbent Rep. John Delaney, D-Maryland, filed an FEC complaint September 21 alleging that the husband of his Republican opponent Amie Hoeber was funding her campaign through the Maryland USA PAC, which was not spending money on any other candidate. Hoeber's husband, who was also working on her campaign, contributed $2.1 million to the PAC, which only received $1,000 from any other source.
Jackson-Alvarez also provided its services to the New York Jobs Council PAC, the recipient of an FEC complaint, which noted that not only was the firm advising the PAC, but also advising the Congressional candidate, Andrew Heaney, with money from companies owned by Heaney being funneled through the PAC.
The SEALS for Truth contribution also brought on a complaint, this one filed with the Missouri Ethics Commission by former Rep. Carl Bearden, who claimed Greitens did not follow the procedures for accepting contributions from out-of-state committees and was playing fast and loose with state laws.
The Ethics Commission ruling, issued August 31, said the Greitens campaign did not violate state law because contributors to SEALS for Truth would be named when the PAC filed its FEC disclosure report.
It appears that Bearden was correct in his assessment of how the Greitens campaign was dealing with state laws, though not necessarily in his belief that state law had been violated.
The SEALS for Truth FEC filing only indicates that the Greitens campaign violated the spirit of Missouri election laws by keeping Missourians from being able to trace the source of nearly $2 million by laundering it through two committees that appear to have been created solely for that purpose.
12 comments:
No facts to this alleged story. Appearance & innuendo =Fake News
Harvey HUTCHINSON 303-522-6622 voice&text 24/7
Harvey, that is ridiculous. That story came from going through records of the Missouri Ethics Commission and the Federal Election Commission. Two days after I originally published the information, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, using the same records, came to the same conclusions. When you toss about accusations like fake news when something is clearly sourced and accurate, it makes it that much harder to distinguish between real news and fake news. I understand that you don't seem to have an interest in knowing who is really contributing to our politicians, but there are many people who would like to know.
You use the word "appearance"
That is NOT sourcing
Have you done any reports on Coster's finances?
Check out the rich old ailing gentleman in St Louis, that Coster put the move on his wife; would be a good source for campaign money
Harvey, you are deflecting. In none of your last three comments do you reveal anything that would make it appear like what I was writing was fake news. It was extremely well sourced,completely from public documents. You also try to switch gears with your question about Chris Koster's finances and with a comment I would put more into the category of fake news.
Had you checked you would have found that I have written about Koster's finances during the last campaign and, in fact, did considerable digging into his finances when he first ran for attorney general. I have also written about the conflicts of interest that he had involving cases that came before the attorney general's office.
Eric Greitens is our governor now, not Chris Koster. The questions have never been answered about the $1.975 million contribution from Seals for Truth and we also have no idea who the contributors are to the Republican Governors Association. I wrote many times about the lawyers and unions who contributed to Koster. In the case of Eric Greitens, we have no idea where his support is coming from and this support was critical in his defeating John Brunner, Peter Kinder, and Catherine Hanaway for the Republican nomination before he defeated Koster.
Glad you did report on Koster.
Many instances the mainstream media across the State totally ignored anything unflattering on him.
While on the subject of money coming into the State( my apologies if you have already covered); where did the $39 million to finance the thugs to come in and burn Ferguson down, come? And put encourage bulls eyes on police officers all over the cointry!
I mostly agree with whatever Harvey is trying to say. I think.
The only political donations I want to read about are the ones made to democrats.
Most Republicans go to church at least once a week and wear their flag pins whenever they need to look good. The thought that people making multi million dollar donations from mysterious sources would either expect to get access or influence is laughable.
Most all of these republicans are as honest as they come, but the same certainly cannot be said about the typical democrat, at least according to Rush Limbaugh and Alex Jones.
The best reason to elect self made billionaires to pubic offices is that they don't care about money! You can't say the same about the typical democrat.
I hear the IRS will be investigating everyone who contributed twenty-seven dollars to Bernie Sanders last year.
Well said, Hugh, on the billionaires, and non politically correct.
To anonymous, re your friend Berniie, Crookrd Hillary stabbed him in the back every chance she got, some possibly illegal!
I thought that comment would be right up your six Harv.
Say my name at least five times, click your heels together, and then give me a call!
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