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Greitens faces further scrutiny over top donor

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Two GOP gubernatorial candidates, Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder and businessman John Brunner, joined calls for Eric Greitens to repudiate his top donor, Michael Goguen, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist who is under investigation for holding a woman as a sex slave.

Kinder and Brunner joined former Speaker Catherine Hanaway Thursday to ask Greitens to return the $1 million Goguen has donated to Greitens’ campaign since September.

The presumed Democratic nominee, Attorney General Chris Koster, also called for Greitens to return the money.

Presidential candidate John Kasich has already returned $250,000 in donations from Goguen, and Greitens’ three opponents in the GOP primary are asking the former Navy SEAL to do the same.

Kinder
Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder

Kinder noted that Sequoia Capital, Goguen’s capital firm, had already forced out the embattled executive and argued that was reason enough for Greitens to disassociate with him.

“While I have defended Eric Greitens in the past, I cannot support him and his current refusal to call out this heinous behavior by his largest donor – Michael Goguen,” Kinder said in a statement. “Mr. Greitens’ campaign has defended the allegations against Goguen by saying they first need to ‘sort out the facts.’ A shocking response.

“I waited before speaking out, in hopes that Mr. Greitens would do the right thing, as others have, and return the money. Three days later, he hasn’t.”

The Brunner campaign credited Kasich for his quick actions in returning the money just days after the news came out of the lawsuit filed against Goguen.

“We urge Mr. Greitens to do the right thing, to follow Governor Kasich’s lead and return the money immediately,” Brunner said in a statement. “Mr. Greitens has built his campaign platform on promises of ethics reform. We do need ethics reform now, and it begins in our own backyards.”

Hanaway voiced her appreciation for the support from Brunner and Greitens.

“I thank Lt. Gov. Kinder and Mr. Brunner for joining my call for Mr. Greitens to return the $1 million donation from Michael Goguen,” she said.

Koster also took the opportunity to hit at Greitens .

“I think most Missourians will find it surprising that Mr. Greitens is relying so heavily on such a troubling person to finance his campaign,” he said. “I would hope Mr. Greitens would do the right thing and return the money.”

These calls to return the $1 million in donations comes the day of the first debate between all four Republican gubernatorial candidates takes place in Columbia. It will likely become a point of contention at the debate.

Exacerbating matters, Greitens has also outraised the three other GOP candidates, in large part because of his out-of-state donations, though he has had success within the state as well. This development could easily swing the race into a three-versus-one race.

“I’m simply astounded that Eric Greitens would stand with Michael Goguen, a non-Missourian and California resident, and refuse to return funds from such a contaminated source,” Kinder added. “That kind of money has no business in Missouri. Why is Mr. Greitens, whose entire campaign is based on attacking corruption and dishonesty in politics, holding his largest donor to a lesser standard than he holds everyone else?

“Is the one-million dollars that Eric Greitens received from Goguen more important than the virtues he claims to fight for?”