Jefferson City, Mo. — Rep. Tim Jones will officially leave his office and the post of House Speaker in a few weeks and he’s using a little of his remaining time to publicly jab one of Missouri’s most popular Democrats: Attorney General Chris Koster.
A few weeks ago a story ran in the New York Times implying that Koster’s office provided special treatment to some of his corporate donors by limiting Missouri’s participation in legal fights with them. Jones — widely speculated to be eyeing his own run for AG in 2016 until he announced he would be taking a position at the Hammond Institute for Free Enterprise — announced today the formation of the House Oversight Committee on Public Officials and Government Accountability.
Rep. Jay Barnes, R-Jefferson City, will chair the committee along with vice chair Rep. Stanley Cox, R-Sedalia.
“The thorough investigative work completed by the New York Times has uncovered some deeply disturbing allegations that raise serious questions about Attorney General Koster and how the decisions made by his office have been impacted by large campaign contributions,” Jones said in a statement. “We deserve to know the truth about what happened in these instances where it appears the best interests of the people of Missouri took a backseat to large sums of money that ended up in Koster’s campaign coffers.”
The article points to Koster’s reversal of his office’s participation in a lawsuit against the makers of 5-Hour Energy Drinks hours after meeting with their corporate lawyer as just one example of apparent wrongdoing. In the lengthy response penned by Koster’s own chief of staff, James Farnsworth, and largely absent from the Times piece, Koster’s office says the investigation was ended simply because it should never have been initiated at all.
According to the memo sent to Times reporter Eric Lipton, Koster was not aware his office had engaged in a multi-state lawsuit against the energy drink maker and, upon learning of his office’s recent move to take part through the company’s lawyer, Koster reversed the move, adding that he thought the lawsuit itself had no legal merit. Koster also noted that, ultimately, only 3 states ended up joining the lawsuit.
What’s not immediately clear is how much authority the committee will have, given that Jones’ will be out of office thanks to term limits in January. Two committee members are also slated to leave office, and The Missouri Times confirmed with several committee members that they never agreed to serve on the committee and weren’t even notified of its formation.
“I have no idea about this committee and wasn’t asked to or agree to be on it,” said committee member Rep. Kevin Engler, R-Farmington. “This is the first I’ve heard of it. I don’t know what the point of it or what authority we have over the situation.”
Cox told The Missouri Times that he learned he would be serving on the committee when a reporter called him, but that he felt the legislature needed to play a strong role in the oversight of statewide offices.
“As always, we will conduct a fair and open hearing with the goal of figuring out what we can do to improve Missouri law going forward,” Barnes told The Missouri Times. Barnes said he did not have a firm timetable on when hearings would begin, but indicated it would likely not begin until December.
Rep. John Diehl, R-Town and Country, will officially be selected speaker at the opening of the legislative session. When that happens, his office confirmed he will be under no obligation to officially renew Jones’ committee and, when vacancies arrive, he’s under no obligation to fill them. Diehl’s office did not comment on whether or not they would renew the committee once he ascended to the post of Speaker.
One committee member had harsh words for Jones, but spoke on the condition of anonymity.
“This is honestly kind of silly,” the member said. “The Speaker generally derides the New York Times, frankly, as I do, for being hopelessly liberal, and now as a lame duck he uses their story for some committee with no authority. Tim is going to do great in his new role, but I hope he isn’t getting the two roles confused here in the transition.”
Collin Reischman was the Managing Editor for The Missouri Times, and a graduate of Webster University with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism.
