State Attorney General’s Office puts new ethics policy in place

The Missouri Attorney General’s Office will no longer take gifts from lobbyists as part of a new ethics policy.

The policy comes just one day after Republican Josh Hawley took over the office, according to a three-page summary of the policy ABC 17 News obtained Wednesday. Hawley told ABC 17 News and Missourinet after his inauguration it would be one of his first orders of business.

“We’re running the office with total transparency, and we’re doing so to stay focused on getting the people’s business done,” Hawley said Wednesday.

Hawley himself will not accept campaign contributions “from any person who has a pending bid or application for a state contract on which the AGO has decision-making authority,” the summary said. The Attorney General also won’t take contributions from anyone under investigation by the office.

“Few campaign contributions are more unseemly than when the target of a government investigation contributes to the official conducting the investigation,” Hawley wrote in the summary. “These contributions give the appearance of outright bribery of law enforcement. Unfortunately, contributions of this sort have been made in the past in Missouri. That practice is unacceptable.”

The nearly 400 employees of the office will also be forbidden to talk about the office’s business with anyone lobbying on behalf of a client who has not completed the state’s lobbyist registration. Hawley said this was often a “loophole” lobbyists exploited in other states. They would not need to represent themselves or for whom they worked in pushing for policy changes. Hawley said the new rule will help prove to the public who the office is speaking with.

“They want to talk about something that may benefit their clients,” Hawley said. “They have a First Amendment right to do so, we’re not saying they can’t do so. But if they’re going to do that, that’s lobbying. And what we’re saying is if you’re going to try and lobby us, you need to register as a lobbyist.”

The communication ban for non-lobbyists wouldn’t apply to General Assembly members or statewide elected officials, since state law exempts them as “executive lobbyists.” People could also address the Attorney General’s Office rules in public hearings without being considered a lobbyist.

The rules are now part of the employee handbook, Hawley said. Anyone found to be in violation of the rules could be fired.

Chris Koster, Hawley’s predecessor, was the center of a New York Times investigation in 2014 that alleged his office lightened its investigations into certain companies after they contributed to his campaign. Koster denied the claims, but introduced new ethics rules for his office shortly after it was published.

Governor Eric Greitens signed an executive order Monday that banned his office’s employees from accepting lobbyists gifts. His employees also can’t lobby his office upon retirement.