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Galloway urges lawmakers to pursue influence of dark money and special interests

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The day before Gov. Eric Greitens is expected to step down, Missouri’s state auditor sent a letter the General Assembly urging them to continue seeking the truth and to root out the influence of dark money in the government.

Greitens abruptly announced his plan to resign effective 5 p.m. Friday, June 1, on Tuesday. The announcement came after he struck a deal with the St. Louis Circuit Attorney to drop the felony computer tampering charge and hours after a judge ordered two organization to turn over subpoenaed documents.

“On May 29, a judge ordered compliance with a subpoena from the Missouri House of representatives to reveal the details of the Governor’s dark money operation. Mere hours after the deadline to turn over this information, the Governor of the State of Missouri plans to resign, possibly depriving Missourians of the right to know how dark money and special interests are secretly influencing their government. This is too important to the future of our state and to the integrity of public service to be swept under the rug,” State Auditor Nicole Galloway writes.

She urged the legislature to continue the work they started with the House Special Investigative Committee on Oversight — seeking truth for Missourians.

“Missourians deserve a full accounting of the truth and full disclosure of the extent of dark money’s influence on state government,” state Galloway. “The General Assembly should take action to address this corrupting influence and continue, as it did with the Special Committee, to wisely exercise its oversight.”

To combat dark money and special interest, Galloway offered the legislature a few solutions: passage of a bill to require political nonprofits to disclose contributions and ensuring the Missouri Ethics Commission has the power to enforce an advisory opinion.

In 2012, legislation was introduced to require disclosure of contributions to 501(c)(4) political nonprofits. Galloway called the legislation “great” and said it “should be a priority for the General Assembly.”

She also urged the General Assembly to ensure that the Missouri Ethics Commission has the full authority under law to enforce Advisory Opinion No. 2018.05.CF.004 by codifying that not-for-profit corporations that receive donations for the purpose of influencing or attempting to influence the actions of voters be required to file disclosures with the Commission.

A full copy of the letter sent today is here