Lt. Gov. Kinder to pay Mo. more than $50,000

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder paid the state more than $50,000 from his personal funds Tuesday -- an amount he deemed more than sufficient to cover any "questionable reimbursements" he has received for travel expenses over the past several years.

The payment marked a change of plans from earlier this month, when Kinder pledged that his campaign would pay $35,050 to cover the cost of his St. Louis-area hotel stays that were the subject of a story by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Kinder, who is expected to challenge Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon in 2012, defend his frugality with taxpayer dollars while announcing that he was voluntarily paying the state $52,320.

"This extraordinary and, I believe, unprecedented action is being taken to resolve any and all outstanding questions raised over the last few weeks regarding my office's reimbursements," Kinder said in a written statement. "The amount of the check I wrote today greatly exceeds what anyone could credibly claim were questionable reimbursements."

The state Office Administration confirmed it had received Kinder's check Tuesday.

Kinder's campaign attorney, Jared Craighead, said the new, higher amount of money paid by Kinder is roughly equal to Kinder's total instate lodging reimbursements during his past six years as lieutenant governor. But Craighead said the payment is intended to cover any expense reimbursement -- be it for lodging, meals or travel -- that political opponents might find objectionable.

"If he had a meal that someone didn't like, then he's taken care of that by paying this back. If someone says we don't like the fact the state paid for that out-of-state trip for whatever purpose -- that it was more political than official -- we've taken care of it," Craighead said.

Craighead said his legal analysis concluded that Kinder could have used campaign funds to pay the state but that Kinder wanted use personal funds to avoid the potential for further criticism from Democrats.

Yet Kinder's payment failed to quell the complaints of the Missouri Democratic Party.

"Peter Kinder clearly doesn't get it," said state Democratic Party spokeswoman Caitlin Legacki. "This is about more than cutting a big check to sweep a political problem under the rug, it's about being open and accountable to the people of Missouri."

The Democratic Party said that an independent audit is needed to determine whether Kinder's reimbursements were questionable and, if so, exactly how much should be repaid the state. Republican state Auditor Tom Schweich, whose successful 2010 campaign received $220,000 from Kinder, said he has recused himself from the office's decisions involving audits of the lieutenant governor.

The Post-Dispatch reported earlier this month that Kinder charged taxpayers a total of $35,050 for at least 329 nights at hotels in St. Louis and St. Louis County since 2006, including 236 nights at the Chase Park Plaza, where he typically was billed at the discounted government rate of about $119 with tax included. The newspaper reported that some of those hotel stays occurred while Kinder attended sporting events, society galas and a tea party rally, and some of Kinder's expense reports listed no official reason for his stays.

Kinder has said all of his hotel stays were related to official events, even if he also attended personal or political functions after the end of his official working day.