JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – At least three billboards have popped up along the highways with their sights trained on Republican Sen. Rob Schaaf.
“Did you know? Rob Schaaf lived with a lobbyist,” a sign on I-29 reads, citing a Missouri Times report from April 20, 2017. For the record, at least four other state lawmakers were also renting sleeping spaces from lobbyists in 2017.
“Overdoses remove addicts from the gene pool,” another sign near Jefferson City reads, paraphrasing from an article in Salon.
“I’m with the dreamers,” a third one reads, shown with a photo of Emmanuel Jesus Rangel-Hernandez, who was charged with murder in North Carolina as he fought deportation under DACA. Schaaf said that tying him to that case is pretty outrageous.
“Stick a fork in the coward who paid for the billboards,” Sen. Schaaf tweeted in response on Thursday.
Stick a fork in the coward who paid for the billboards! #moleg
— Rob Schaaf (@robschaaf) April 20, 2018
But Schaaf raises a good question: who paid for the billboards?
All of the ads show text at the bottom which reads “paid for by the Darlington Road Corporation,” but a search of the Missouri Secretary of State’s website, the Missouri Ethics Commission, and even a search of the Federal Election Commission turns up no committee under that name.
The Darlington Road Corporation does, however, exist in the registry filed on the Nevada Secretary of State’s website. The “domestic non-profit corporation” was filed for on March 22 of this year by Robert P. Spretnak. Spretnak is listed as the only officer, treasurer, secretary, and director, and the filing info shows no stock records for the company nor any capital. A Google search shows that Spretnak is an attorney in Las Vegas.
“I’m not running for anything,” Schaaf said when asked why he might be targeted. The Senator from Buchanan is term-limited at the end of this year.
“The message is not what is ON the billboards. The message IS the billboards,” Schaaf said, reiterating a tweet. “They are dark money fighting for survival, corruption desperately trying to stay in power.”
The message is not what is ON the billboards. The message IS the billboards. They are dark money fighting for survival, corruption desperately trying to stay in power. #moleg
— Rob Schaaf (@robschaaf) April 20, 2018
Schaaf says the Darlington Road Corporation a shell company for dark money groups who are seeking silence lawmakers who stand in their way.
“They’re trying to hide who Darlington Road Corporation is,” Schaaf said.
He says he believes it’s a targeted attack at him for standing against Gov. Eric Greitens and dark money, and it might be an attempt to send a message to all legislators.
“They can’t hurt me,” Schaaf said. “I would like whoever put up these billboards to put up more with my name and picture on them. I would like them to put up several hundred across the state because I think it’s sending a great message.”
“Whoever put these billboards up, if they think that they will change my ways, they don’t know me very well.”
Benjamin Peters was a reporter for The Missouri Times and Missouri Times Magazine and also produced the #MoLeg Podcast. He joined The Missouri Times in 2016 after working as a sports editor and TV news producer in mid-Missouri. Benjamin is a graduate of Missouri State University in Springfield.
