Former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens hit with second campaign finance complaint by watchdog

A campaign finance watchdog group filed its second complaint against former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens on Wednesday, alleging he broke state laws by improperly spending money on his campaign for U.S. Senate.

The complaint, which alleges Greitens failed to disclose money that his gubernatorial campaign fund spent on behalf of his U.S. Senate campaign, was filed with the Missouri Ethics Commission by the Campaign Legal Center.

It stems from an earlier complaint the group filed with the Federal Elections Commission, alleging he improperly spent at least $100,000 on his U.S. Senate Campaign.

“It violated both state and federal law for Greitens to spend $100,000 in gubernatorial campaign funds on his U.S. Senate race without proper disclosure,” said Brendan Fischer, director of federal reform for Campaign Legal Center. “Missouri voters have a right to know where the money being spent to influence their votes is coming from.”

Dylan Johnson, campaign manager for Greitens, has denied the allegations, saying they are “ludicrous” and “have no basis in reality.”

“No Gubernatorial campaign funds were used for the Senate campaign,” Johnson said in October.

Greitens resigned from office in 2018 amid scandals involving allegations of sexual assault, blackmail and campaign finance violations. Still, after his resignation he kept his gubernatorial campaign fund active, re-filing paperwork with the Missouri Ethics Commission to remain an active candidate through 2024.

Under Missouri rules, keeping the account active allowed him to continue raising and spending money, so long as he was using it to promote a potential run at statewide office.

The Campaign Legal Fund alleges that instead of using the money to run for statewide office, Greitens was funding his Senate race. The group cites several expenditures, including $18,750 for a campaign website that was later used for his U.S. Senate campaign, payments to Johnson for “strategic planning” and $7,500 to a media firm that specializes in booking guests on Fox News less than two weeks before he announced his Senate campaign on the channel.

The Kansas City Star reported on several of Greitens’ expenditures after his first federal financial report, including the money Greitens’ gubernatorial campaign spent on consulting and the media firm.

The Campaign Legal Center alleges Greitens failed to disclose that those expenses were used toward his Senate campaign, which would be a violation of a law that says contributions made to other campaign committees must be reported to the ethics commission.

The Missouri Ethics Commission already fined Greitens $178,000 for campaign finance violations in 2020. He agreed to pay $38,000 and have the rest of the money forgiven so long as he did not commit any new campaign finance violations.

The allegations could potentially put that agreement in jeopardy, should the Missouri Ethics Commission rule in the Campaign Legal Center’s favor, which would result in Greitens having to pay another $140,000.

Greitens has raised more than $1 million since launching his U.S. Senate campaign in March, through a combination of his direct campaign account and a joint fundraising committee. As of October, he had $200,802 left in the campaign account and $143,428 in debts.