Missouri Attorney General, and gubernatorial candidate, Chris Koster is bragging about his campaign’s policy for not taking money from individuals, lawyers, or lobbyists that have business before his office.
Guess he’s hoping everyone in Missouri forgets about October’s New York Times piece “slamming Koster for a pattern of easing up on political donors who were under investigation by his office,” according to St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Despite Koster announcing he would not accept gifts or contributions from those under investigation, a whopping four months passed until Koster’s campaign finally instituted a “formal policy” regarding the donations.
State auditors have since condemned Koster’s ambiguous donation policy, saying it is “unrealistic to expect a campaign to police the issue because only the Attorney General’s office knows what it is investigating.”
In a recent attempt to overshadow past failures, the campaign is now promoting their new gift ban on the back of fundraising invitations. Koster’s campaign believes that effort is sufficient enough to cover questions regarding conflicts of interest, but the Attorney General’s track record shows he might not be the best one to judge what’s appropriate.