‘Obvious colluding.’ Ashcroft’s campaign for Missouri governor faces ethics complaint

Missouri Republican Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft’s campaign for governor faces an ethics complaint alleging that it illegally coordinated with a political action committee on a letter attacking his opponents, an assertion that Ashcroft’s campaign rejects.

The complaint, filed last week by attorney and lobbyist Jane Dueker, alleges that Committee for Liberty, the PAC supporting Ashcroft, spent $5,244.84 on the March letter — the same amount spent by Ashcroft’s campaign. That figure should have been reported as an in-kind contribution to Ashcroft’s campaign, the complaint argues.

It wasn’t, Dueker’s complaint alleges because the contribution exceeded the $2,825 limit on contributions that Ashcroft’s campaign committee, Ashcroft for Missouri, can receive during an election cycle.

“This violation is so plain that this Commission need do little or no investigating,” the complaint with the Missouri Ethics Commission said. It went on to say that “every dime” the PAC spent on the letter was “an in-kind contribution to Ashcroft for Missouri.”

“Ashcroft for Missouri has filed false campaign finance reports and the Commission should take appropriate action,” it said.

Jason Cabel Roe, a spokesperson for Ashcroft’s campaign, pushed back in a statement to The Star, calling the complaint a “frivolous use of lawfare” and framing the complaint as a political attack.

“She is trying to make a practice allowed by Missouri law sound illegal while being perfectly legal,” he said. “There’s nothing in our fundraising letters that isn’t on our website or social media.”

Ashcroft’s campaign is now using the complaint to fund raise for his campaign. Ashcroft for Missouri sent out a fundraising email on Wednesday attacking Dueker as a “liberal Democrat lobbyist” who supports Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe, one of his Republican opponents for governor.

“Are you surprised? I’m not, this is what Democrats do now - use the law to attack their political opponents,” the email said. “This complaint is frivolous and misleading, for practices expressly allowed by Missouri law.”

Whether the Missouri Ethics Commission will investigate the complaint remains unclear. The commission’s work is largely confidential. Liz Ziegler, the commission’s executive director, said in an email that state law prohibited her from commenting on complaints before the commission reached a conclusion.

The complaint comes as Ashcroft leads in public polling in the Republican race for governor, which also includes Kehoe and Sen. Bill Eigel from Weldon Spring. The major Democratic candidates for governor include Missouri House Minority Leader Crystal Quade and businessman Mike Hamra.

The March letter at issue states that it was paid for by both Ashcroft’s candidate committee and the PAC supporting his campaign. It touts Ashcroft’s lead in the polls but states that he is lagging behind Kehoe in fundraising.

The letter goes on to attack Kehoe’s voting record when he previously served in the state Senate, saying “Who needs a Democrat in the Governor’s mansion when you have Mike Kehoe?”

It briefly attacks Eigel, calling him a “political gadfly.” The letter, which is signed by Ashcroft, also touts the secretary of state’s record, calling him “the Conservative Choice for Missouri.”

Voters in 2016 reimposed campaign contribution limits after Missouri spent a decade as one of a very small number of states without limits. In 2020, voters also approved lower limits for state legislative candidates.

However, those limits have not taken money out of politics and have instead funneled money into political action committees that can accept unlimited donations. While PACs can’t be controlled by a candidate, the committees are allowed to support or oppose ballot measures and candidates.

Peverill Squire, a political science professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia, said in an email to The Star that the coordination alleged in Dueker’s complaint “is now a regular occurrence in American elections.”

“The laws in question, however, are almost never enforced, in large part because it is time consuming to document violations and difficult to prove coordination in a legal forum,” he said. “There is, however, little doubt that this fundraising letter also functioned as a campaign pitch for Ashcroft and everyone who received it would likely have interpreted it in that fashion.”

Squire went on to say that he’s confident there will be more allegations of campaign finance violations as the primary election approaches.

“I suspect most voters will not pay much attention to them for good reason: They will only be resolved long after the election is over,” he said.

Dueker, in a statement to The Star, pushed back on Ashcroft’s campaign’s defense of the letter, saying that the secretary of state’s supporters were framing the complaint as a “technicality.”

“The obvious colluding the Ashcroft Campaign Committee has engaged in with the Committee for Liberty PAC has converted a supposed independent PAC into a second and illegal Ashcroft campaign committee without campaign finance limits,” she said. “This is a clear violation of the Missouri Constitution and statutes.”

But, for Roe, Ashcroft’s campaign spokesperson, the complaint was a mere political attack.

“She seems to think attacking the leading candidate for governor with a phony ethics complaint will hurt Secretary Ashcroft but it really shows how desperate the Kehoe campaign is,” he said.