Greitens-linked nonprofit tries to stop ethics commission requests

A nonprofit tied to former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens wants to stop the state’s ethics commission from getting some records.

An attorney for A New Missouri filed the request in Cole County Court late Thursday to quash a subpoena sent by the Missouri Ethics Commission. The commission demanded records from Carrollton Bank, the institution that handled money for the nonprofit.

Rep. Jay Barnes (R-Jefferson City) filed a complaint with the Missouri Ethics Commission against A New Missouri in July, claiming it violated campaign finance laws. Investigators targeted Carrollton Bank in May for records related to any coordination between the bank and A New Missouri’s founders, who also worked as campaign advisers to Greitens’ 2016 bid.

Greitens resigned the same day a Cole County judge ordered those records be turned over to the special House of Representatives committee investigating him.

The request filed by Catherine Hanaway, attorney for A New Missouri, said the records are protected by Missouri’s Right to Financial Privacy Act. The law protects bank customers from subpoenas when they believe “the financial records sought are not relevant to the legitimate law enforcement inquiry stated by the government authority.”

The MEC’s request, dated July 26, said the agency wanted the records “to determine compliance with the campaign finance reporting provision” of state law.

Hanaway also argued that A New Missouri was not a “campaign committee” as defined by state law, and not subject to the finance reporting rules. She did not respond to an ABC 17 News email seeking comment on the motion.

In his complaint to the MEC, Barnes referenced a commission decision that stated nonprofit organizations are considered campaign committees if they make or spend more than $500 in order to influence or try to influence an election or ballot measure. Recent ethics filings show A New Missouri spent $1.65 million in contributions to Freedom to Work, a committee set up to support Proposition A. That measure, which two-thirds of voters rejected on Tuesday, would have upheld the right-to-work bill Greitens signed in Feb. 2017.

“Missourians deserve a full accounting of A New Missouri, Inc., which I have come to believe was a criminal enterprise from its inception – designed to illegally skirt donation limits and conceal the identities of major donors to Eric Greitens and ballot initiatives relating to right-to-work that were supported by the former governor,” Barnes said in a statement on June 25.

The House investigative committee ended its work shortly after Greitens’ resignation. Barnes did not respond to a request seeking comment on Friday.