Democratic candidate seeks to ban 'dark money' in political campaigns

A Democratic candidate for Missouri attorney general wants Missouri lawmakers to ban “dark money” in political campaigns.

Elad Gross, a St. Louis lawyer who is running for the statewide office in the 2020 election, drafted the legislation to require any political advocacy group to disclose the names of its donors in campaign finance disclosure reports to the Missouri Ethics Commission.

State Rep. Peter Merideth, D-St. Louis, is sponsoring the measure.

But Gross told members of Southeast Missouri State University’s College Democrats on Tuesday at the University Center the legislation is “just sitting there.” As of Tuesday, it had not been scheduled for a hearing.

If the measure does not pass, Gross said he and other supporters may look to circulate an initiative petition to put the issue up to a statewide vote.

Meanwhile, Gross continues his legal fight to obtain financial records of a dark-money, not-for-profit group associated with former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens.

Gross has sued to obtain donor records of the group, A New Missouri.

A Cole County judge dismissed the case last year, but Gross is appealing. He said the case could end up before the Missouri Supreme Court.

Gross said A New Missouri “took in a ton of money, but you couldn’t see who the donors were.” Gross said the group spent money in support of a measure to enact a right-to-work law in Missouri that Greitens favored.

Gross said dark money “eliminates transparency in elections so we can’t see who is donating to whom, who is trying to buy elected officials.”

Gross said he asked Gov. Mike Parson for records from the governor’s office dealing with the period of time when Greitens was governor and after Parson assumed the post following Greitens’ resignation.

According to Gross, Parson’s office identified 13,659 records. Gross said he was told by Parson’s staff it would take six months to provide those records and he would have to pay costs of more than $3,600,

Gross has refused to pay such a cost.

The Democratic candidate said when Republican lawmakers were investigating Greitens, they referred to the “dark money” group as a “fake charity, criminal enterprise.”

But once Greitens resigned, the Legislature and prosecutors dropped their investigations.

“I thought that was wrong,” Gross said. “I started asking questions. Eventually it turned into a lawsuit, asking them for records.”

As part of litigation, Gross has subpoenaed Greitens and U.S. Sen. and former Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley to testify. Hawley has argued he should not have to testify.

Gross said donors to independent advocacy groups are required to disclose their “contributions.” But if they list those contributions as “donations” to not-for-proft groups they can keep their identities hidden.

“It is just so ridiculous,” he told the nearly dozen students in attendance in the University Center’s Program Lounge. “It blows my mind.”

Nationwide, more than 100 outside groups spent more than $50 million on “independent expenditure” ads during the closing months of the midterm elections last year. But only about 8 percent of them revealed information about the donors behind the ads, according to the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center.

A federal judge last year ruled donors who give for political purposes and independent expenditure campaigns should be disclosed, according to The Associated Press.

But the task of clarifying how to apply the court decision fell to the Federal Election Commission, which issued vague guidance that has allowed outside groups to skirt disclosure, a Campaign Legal Center attorney told The Associated Press.

But Gross said even if campaign donors in federal elections are disclosed going forward, that requirement would not apply to state elections unless those states pass laws of their own.

Allowing dark money to exist “breaks our democracy,” Gross said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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