From the Koster campaign:
MEMO
Date: Wednesday, August 3, 2016
To: Interested Parties
From: Andrew Whalen, Campaign Manager, Koster for Missouri
Subject: State of the Race
WHERE WE ARE
As a tough, local prosecutor in Cass County, Chris quickly learned that solving problems always meant putting people ahead of partisanship. During his two successful terms as Attorney General he put those lessons into practice, winning back millions of dollars for Missouri by rooting out fraud in Medicaid and taking on federal regulators to protect Missouri farms and businesses. Now, he is ready to bring his resolve to tackle Missouri’s challenges as Governor.
And last night’s primary election results made clear that Attorney General Chris Koster will be elected Governor of the State of Missouri on November 8th.
Koster avoided having any serious primary opposition and cruised comfortably into the general election with, as of the most recent Missouri Ethics Commission finance reports, nearly $11 million in the bank.
Capitalizing on that cash on-hand advantage, Koster launched an aggressive six-figure, statewide television ad buy for the general election last night, hours after the primary polls closed.
In contrast, Eric Greitens barely survived the bruising GOP Primary, collecting only an unimpressive 34% of the vote. Worse, Eric Greitens begins the general election campaign nearly broke.
Compounding the bad news for Eric Greitens is his miserable agenda. While his radical record may have worked in the Republican primary, he is now well outside the mainstream of Missouri.
THE CHOICE
In Eric Greitens, Missouri Republicans have selected a massive hypocrite who is too focused on his own self-promotion and lacks the temperament to lead Missouri into the future.
While Greitens says he will clean up Jefferson City, the truth is that his campaign is funded by some of the shadiest and most ethically questionable individuals around. His largest individual donor is facing heinous allegations of sexual and physical abuse. He’s taken money from Wall Street insiders investigated for illegal actions, breaking one of his first campaign promises and his own ethics plan. And he flies around on the plane of a man charged with child abuse.
While he has funded his campaign committee with millions of dollars from these questionable, coastal donors, phony “outsider” Greitens has also been the beneficiary of millions more from secret Super PACs attacking his opponents. This leaves Missourians wondering just who owns Eric Greitens and who he is fighting for because it is certainly not Missouri families. As one columnist recently wrote, “He’s bought and paid for, but we don’t know who his master is.”
Eric Greitens isn’t an “outsider.” Always looking out for himself and with his flair for self promotion, Greitens purchased the websites to run for lieutenant governor, US Senate, and even US President over five years ago, having them ready for whichever race seemed easiest. It is clear that Greitens only cares about getting elected to an office – any office – not serving the people of Missouri.
Greitens is a nothing more than a con man, a modern day PT Barnum hoping he can sucker Missouri voters. The real Eric Greitens will be exposed in the weeks ahead.
Greitens supports the same extreme partisan agenda that gives away tax breaks to the wealthy and big corporations while cutting funding for Missouri public schools. He opposes life-saving stem cell research and will support an extreme Todd Akin-like social agenda.
While being wrong on ethics and wrong on policy, Greitens also lacks the temperament to lead Missouri. From threatening one of his primary opponents with physical violence to his incessant need to show off how big his guns are, Eric Greitens is a sideshow act, not a leader for Missouri’s future.
Simply put, Eric Greitens is too hypocritical, self-obsessed, and reckless
for Missouri’s families and future.
CONCLUSION
Over the next 96 days, Koster will present Missourians with a positive message and vision of economic growth for the state. His plans will create good-paying jobs in every corner of Missouri and lift workers’ wages. He will continue to advocate for our law enforcement officers and cracking down on criminals, while also working to reestablish trust between our police and minority communities. And Chris will continue standing up for the rural communities who have been ignored and taken for granted by the Republican legislature in Jefferson City.
Meanwhile, Eric Greitens will trot out the same tired, failed, and reckless policies that have failed Missourians year after year.
For the people of Missouri the choice is clear, and Chris Koster will be elected Missouri’s 56th Governor on November 8th.
