Greitens' office posted document with unauthorized signature

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Gov. Eric Greitens' administration posted a document bearing an unauthorized signature of another elected official to Greitens' website shortly after he took office, according to records obtained Friday by The Associated Press.

At issue is an executive order issued by the Republican governor Jan. 10, 2017, his second day in office, directing state agencies to halt all rulemaking and review ways to reduce state regulations.

Records provided to the AP in response to an open-records request show the version posted to the governor's website in January 2017 differed from the official version filed with Republican Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft.

Although Ashcroft never approved the version on the governor's website, his signature nonetheless appeared on the document.

Greitens spokesman Parker Briden said Friday a "draft version" of the executive order "was accidentally uploaded to the new website." But Briden said he doesn't know why or how Ashcroft's signature was placed on it.

The records provided by Ashcroft's office include multiple copies of the official executive order, one of which Ashcroft signed personally as "John R. Ashcroft" and another of which was signed "Jay Aschroft" by an autopen machine frequently used by the office.

The records also include a version of the executive order printed from Greitens' official website by a secretary of state's employee Jan. 10 or 11 containing numerous wording differences from the original and bears a "Jay Ashcroft" signature appearing similar to the one from the autopen machine.

Ashcroft spokeswoman Maura Browning said when the secretary of state's office discovered the differences it set up a meeting with Greitens and they came up with a solution to ensure it wouldn't happen again.

Briden said the governor's office first discovered the discrepancy but confirmed Ashcroft and Greitens met personally to address the issue.