ST. CHARLES, Mo. – Mike Carter, a Republican candidate for the 23rd Senate District, failed to create a campaign committee in a timely manner – skirting campaign finance disclosure laws, a complaint filed with the Missouri Ethics Commission on Friday alleges.
The complaint, filed by Kansas City attorney Edward Greim, says Carter spent money to support his campaign since he declared in February, but didn’t create a campaign committee until June 30. A committee must be filed by the 20th day after it’s required.
A candidate must file a committee if they expect to receive contributions or make expenditures of more than $500. Greim writes that he believes robocalls, sponsored Facebook posts and and other expenditures would have totaled more than $500 by June 10.
Greim also writes that while some of Carter’s campaign materials said they were paid for by “vote4carter.com,” his campaign committee when he ran for municipal judge, that committee did not file any expenditures in its April quarterly filing report.
“As the Michael E. Carter Committee was established with the MEC no sooner than June 30, 2016, I have good faith basis to believe that Carter failed to comply with campaign finance disclosure requirements under R.S.Mo. Chapter 130 by failing to timely form a committee and/or by failing to file a committee within 20 days of its formation,” Greim wrote in the complaint.
Carter has said he’s running a self-funded campaign, and that claim appears in much of his advertising.
When reached by phone, Carter said he hadn’t yet seen the complaint. But he said he had thoroughly researched campaign finance laws before making a $100,000 in-kind contribution to his campaign from his law firm earlier this month.
He also said he’s “not worried” about the complaint and that it’s a typical part of a campaign.
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