Area party committee funnels $6,000 to Blunt

A Dexter, Mo.-based political action committee that gave Gov. Matt Blunt's re-election campaign the legal maximum in September 2005 used the Stoddard County Republican Central Committee to give another $6,000 in June.

Bootheel Leadership, formed in May 2005, has reported raising $33,901 since its inception. Contributors include individuals from Stoddard County as well as companies and lobbying groups with extensive interests in the actions of state government.

The checks from Bootheel and the contributions to Blunt were the only transactions of the Stoddard County GOP committee all year, said Etheleen Montgomery, treasurer of the committee.

"Somebody had given me the check and wanted it run through the central committee," Montgomery said Thursday. "They wanted it to go to the governor but wanted it run through the central committee. I don't even ask any questions anymore. I just say, 'OK, whatever you say.'"

State GOP leaders have championed reforms to eliminate the use of local party committees as a conduit for large donations.

A law signed by Blunt will prohibit local party committees from giving large sums after Jan. 1. At the same time, the caps will be eliminated for donations from other sources.

During legislative debate on the bill, Senate President Pro Tem Michael Gibbons, R-Kirkwood, called the practice of funneling large donations through political party committees a "lawful form of money laundering."

After a ceremonial signing of the bill in Cape Girardeau on June 7, Blunt said he would continue to use the practice until it became illegal.

"We are going to comply with the existing law through Dec. 31, and comply with the law after Jan. 1," Blunt said at the time.

According to state law, laundering political contributions is banned because contributions are not to be made or accepted "in such a manner as to conceal the identity of the actual source of the contribution."

The use of local party committees to move money to candidates received statewide attention in May when Attorney General Jay Nixon, Blunt's likely Democratic opponent in 2008, decided to return $19,100 to three local party committees. The money returned matched the amount AmerenUE donated to the committees while under investigation by Nixon's office for potential criminal charges relating to the Dec. 14 reservoir collapse at Proffitt Mountain.

The first contribution from Bootheel Leadership to Blunt came in September 2005, when the committee gave $1,200, the legal contribution limit at that time. Because of inflation, the limit has since increased to $1,275.

Political party committees, however, are allowed to give much more -- up to 10 times as much until the new law takes effect.

Blunt's campaign reported receiving $6,300 from the Stoddard County Republican Central Committee in three checks of $200, $2,500 and $3,600 on June 30, the last day of the most recent disclosure period.

The Stoddard GOP committee, however, filed a "limited activity" report, which is a statement that it neither received nor spent more than $500 during the three-month period ending June 30.

In its disclosure report, Bootheel Leadership said it gave the Stoddard Republicans $3,500 on June 3 and $2,500 on June 20. In its report, under the column for stating the purpose of an expense, Bootheel Leadership's treasurer, Jason Comfort of Dexter, entered "Governor Blunt."

Bootheel Leadership is a political action committee to support conservative candidates in Southeast Missouri and beyond, Comfort said Friday. He did not ask the Stoddard County GOP committee to use the money for any particular candidate, he said.

"I never even had any contact with anybody from the Stoddard County committee," he said. When he dropped off the checks, he said, there was no one at the office of the party chairman.

The entry of "Governor Blunt" as the purpose of the donation, Comfort said, was an entry he made when he was filing his report 13 days late because "I knew where the money had gone to and I wanted to be as honest as possible."

No report for Bootheel Leadership has ever been filed on time, according to records on the Missouri Ethics Commission Internet site.

The instructions to send the money to Blunt, Montgomery said Friday, came from county GOP chairman Wayne Jean.

In an interview Friday, Jean said that when the checks from Bootheel Leadership came to his work office, it did not include any directions for its use. "I am not so sure I even talked to Jason," Jean said. "I am the one who told Etheleen to send it to the governor."

The county committee "wanted to send it to a conservative candidate. We feel the governor is a conservative candidate."

Blunt's campaign spokeswoman, Becca Cooper, said there was nothing improper in the campaign accepting the money. "The donation is legal and completely appropriate," she said.

Bootheel Leaderships donors include the political arms of the automobile dealers, lobbyist John Bardgett, Anheuser-Busch and several health-care interests, including the nursing home lobby.

The $6,300 from the Stoddard GOP is the only money Blunt reported receiving during the past three months from a local party committee. Nixon reported receiving $41,678 from local committees during the same period, all from committees with extensive donor lists.

Blunt, however, has far more from such committees overall. Since Jan. 1, 2005, local Republican committees have contributed more than $258,000 to Blunt, while local Democratic committees have combined to give Nixon just over $173,000.

Blunt has raised just over $3 million for his re-election bid, while Nixon has raised a little more than $1 million for the 2008 race.

To explain why she didn't file a report detailing the transactions with Bootheel Leadership's money, Montgomery said she was in a hurry to file before leaving town for a two-week vacation.

The deadline for filing the reports is July 15. The first check from Bootheel Leadership was entered into the ledger on June 23, she said, and the second on June 26.

The Missouri Ethics Commission, responsible for filing and monitoring disclosure reports, looks closely at committees that file limited activity reports if it learns that a full report should have been filed, said Joe Carroll, director of the campaign finance division.

"It depends on the reason they give and how much money is involved, particularly when they file with limited activity and actually a substantial amount of money is involved," Carroll said.

Montgomery mailed her report of limited activity June 26, four days before the June 30 end of the three-month period covered by the report.

The checks to Blunt's campaign were written June 29, Montgomery said.

rkeller@semissourian.com

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