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Kinder campaign claims staff misappropriated campaign funds

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The gubernatorial campaign of Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder released Friday that it has conducted an internal review after being notified by a third party of potential financial discrepancies within the Friends of Peter Kinder committee.

Amended reports have been filed by the now-terminated committee, and the results of the audit have been turned over to federal authorities.

The campaign said the termination was at the advice of the Missouri Ethics Commission (MEC). The lt. governor and his campaign said that they immediately contacted authorities and began an internal investigation and discovered that former independent contractors had incorrectly prepared MEC reports to conceal unauthorized payments and expenditures from the campaign.

The campaign subsequently retained a St. Louis-based CPA to perform a comprehensive forensic review of the Friends of Peter Kinder financial reports. All amendments to the Friends of Peter Kinder Committee reports have been prepared by the CPA, also a former IRS agent, and filed with the MEC. The campaign states that from an operations standpoint it has not been impacted by the situation.

The campaign has been operating from the Missourians for Peter Kinder committee since August. The new committee posted what was considered a strong quarter and currently has $275,973.15 on hand. The amended reports show that Justin Brown remains the treasurer of both committees. While Pam Dixon, a leading member of Kinder’s campaign team, is now in charge of maintaining the records of the tampered

Logan Thompson
Logan Thompson

with account.

Initially some news outlets insinuated there was a connection to the problems with the firm of Barklage and Knodell, however subsequent facts have surfaced showing their firm does not file ethics reports.

David Barklage told The Missouri Times, “I originally alerted the campaign of the potential discrepancies  and recommend an audit. Our company is not involved in filing ethics reports.”

“A source close to the Lt. Governor told The Missouri Times on the condition of anonymity that the forensic audit has initially pointed at former staffer Logan Thompson. Thompson is a former staffer to politicians serving in the Missouri House and was owner of Thompson Political Operations, and until recently worked as a personal trainer.

The Kinder campaign stated that, “Out of respect for law enforcement, Kinder and his campaign team have declined to make any further comment at this time”. Calls to Thompson were not immediately returned.

Update: Barklage and Knodell sent out a statement Friday evening.

“Our company is the one who first reported potential discrepancies to the Kinder organization last year. Our company also initiated an audit of the books prior to ending our relationship which was taken over by the campaign after we left. Our company did no financial reporting for Lt. Governor Kinder in either the 2008 or 2012 the campaign, nor any time since 2012. Our firm ended its long-term relationship with the Lt. Governor when the Lt. Governor decided to run for Governor which created a conflict of interest for the firm.”

Update 2: The Missouri Times was unable to contact the campaign, and attempted to contact someone from the Lt. Governor’s official office. No attempt to contact the Kinder campaign went unreturned.