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| Eric Greitens |
Missouri's Eric Greitens, who went from Navy SEAL to one of the nation's most corrupt governors, appears already to have stepped in doo-doo in his bid to make a political comeback by replacing retiring U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO).
Greitens' earlier problems started with a sex scandal but ultimately led to questions about "dark money." Now, he appears to have more campaign-finance problems, according to a report from Associated Press and KY3 in Springfield:
A federal elections watchdog group on Wednesday filed another complaint against former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens, alleging that money from his old gubernatorial campaign was illegally spent on kickstarting his campaign to run for retiring U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt’s seat.
The Campaign Legal Center, a Washington-based nonprofit, filed its complaint with the Missouri Ethics Commission against Greitens, who resigned in 2018 amid a sex scandal and other claims of campaign finance misconduct. He’s running in a crowded Republican primary for Blunt’s seat.
At issue is $100,000 that the Campaign Legal Center alleges Greitens’ state gubernatorial committee illegally spent to kickstart his Senate campaign. State campaign funds cannot be used for federal campaigns.
In October, the nonprofit filed a complaint over the spending with the Federal Elections Commission (FEC). Greitens’ Senate campaign has said that “no gubernatorial campaign funds were used for the Senate campaign” in response to the FEC complaint.
Will that satisfy the FEC, considering Greitens' not-so-distant past? Maybe not:
The latest complaint claims that Greitens’ state committee didn’t properly report the spending to the Missouri Ethics Commission as an in-kind contribution to the federal committee.
“It violated both state and federal law for Greitens to spend $100,000 in gubernatorial campaign funds on his U.S. Senate race without proper disclosure,” Brendan Fischer, the nonprofit’s director of federal reform, said in a statement. “Missouri voters have a right to know where the money being spent to influence their votes is coming from.”
Greitens’ Senate campaign and his state committee treasurer didn’t immediately reply to requests for comment about the complaint.
Is this a case of history repeating itself? It certainly has that smell about it:
If the latest claims against Greitens are true, his state committee is at risk of violating a 2020 consent order with the Missouri Ethics Commission that stemmed from a campaign finance violation during his 2016 gubernatorial run.
In February 2020, the ethics commission found “probable cause” that Greitens’ state committee failed to report a donor list from his charity for his 2016 political campaign and issued a $178,000 fine, though it required payment of just $38,000.
The consent order said Greitens’ campaign would owe the rest if it committed any more violations between then and February 2022.
Whats the latest on Ollie Whackbar?
ReplyDeletePlenty of Lutefisk?
Greitens has consistently proven he's a psychopath. Like when he doxxed the girl he tied up although she had nothing to do with him being exposed for it.
ReplyDeleteGreitens seems determined to have a career in politics, but maybe he isn't cut out for it, for a variety of reasons. Seems he just can't figure out basic campaign-finance laws. The guy's obviously intelligent, but you wonder if his wiring upstairs is a little off.
ReplyDelete@8:37 --
ReplyDeleteWe have more coming on Ollie Whackbar, maybe tomorrow. Will be interesting to see if he winds up connected to the Mark Meadows story, which seems to be No. 1 on the news pages fro the second day in a row.
If Greitens had any shame, he might be wise to stay out of the limelight for awhile.
ReplyDeleteI think it's well known that Greitens was a Navy SEAL, but he also was a Rhodes Scholar. This is not a stupid guy, but you'd never know that from the way he runs his campaigns.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Mark Meadows, his texts reveal that even some right-wingers were sickened by the events of Jan. 6.
ReplyDeleteFrom Axios:
n an electric moment for the 1/6 investigation, Rep. Liz Cheney last evening read aloud texts that Don Jr. sent then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows during the siege:
"He's got to condemn this sh** Asap," President Trump's son texted.
"We need an Oval address," Don Jr. texted later. "He has to lead now. It has gone too far and gotten out of hand."
Why it matters: It's clear that, whatever they say now, Trump allies knew in the moment that 1/6 was a calamity for Trump and the country.
The texts were among nearly 9,000 documents Meadows turned over to the committee before he stopped cooperating.
Cheney said Fox News' Laura Ingraham texted Meadows during the insurrection: "Hey Mark, the president needs to tell people in the Capitol to go home ... this is hurting all of us ... he is destroying his legacy."
Sean Hannity texted, according to the committee: "Can he make a statement? ... Ask people to leave the Capitol."
More from Axios:
ReplyDeleteHow we got here: Meadows had initially handed over thousands of records, including the text exchanges, according to lawmakers. But his attorney announced last week that Meadows believed he was protected by executive privilege and would no longer cooperate with the investigation.
“When the records raise questions — as these most certainly do — you have to come in and answer those questions,” said Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), who chairs the select committee.
“And when it was time for him to follow the law, come in, and testify on those questions, he changed his mind and told us to pound sand. He didn’t even show up,” Thompson added.
The committee released a report on Sunday outlining its recommendation to hold Meadows in contempt after he failed to appear before the panel last month.
The committee alleges in Sunday's report that the former chief of staff sent an email the day before the deadly riots telling an individual that the National Guard would be present to "protect pro Trump people."
Meadows is the third person to face a recommendation for contempt proceedings from the committee, after former White House strategist Steve Bannon and former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark.
My God, Trump Jr., Sean Hannity, and Laura Ingraham actually were voices of reason on Jan. 6. And it sounds like Trump didn't listen to any of them.
ReplyDeleteSaw a former SEAL being interviewed and he said they were all sociopaths to some extent being youd have to be to do the type of work they do
ReplyDeletehttps://www.rawstory.com/marjorie-taylor-greene-ali-alexander/
ReplyDelete