Missouri Gov. Nixon makes $400,000 profit on inaugural

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Gov. Jay Nixon made a more than $400,000 profit on his inaugural festivities and is keeping the extra cash for his campaign committee.

Nixon raised $610,639 for his Jan. 12 inaugural and spent just $200,979, according to accounting figures provided by his campaign to The Associated Press.

Missouri has no law specifying how governors must pay for their inaugurals or what they can do with the leftover money.

Unlike recent predecessors, who set up separate inaugural committees, Nixon used his gubernatorial campaign committee to solicit contributions and pay for his inaugural expenses.

The surplus money bolstered Nixon's campaign account to $509,537 as of the end of March. The Democratic governor plans to keep the extra money for future campaign expenses.

"I think those inaugural donors gave because they wanted to be part of the day and wanted to support his plan," said Nixon consultant Ken Morley, who managed his 2008 campaign. "I don't think there was any expectation that surplus funds would be refunded."

Nixon's campaign committee solicited inaugural contributions from several hundred individuals and corporations, Morley said. It also sent nearly 17,000 inaugural invitations to campaign donors and volunteers. Although the invitations didn't ask for money, some people sent contributions anyway, Morley said.

Nixon's campaign provided the AP with a list of 158 inaugural contributors, ranging from a pair of St. Louis area residents who gave $5 each to the Missouri office of AT&T, which donated $50,000.

The money went to a variety of purposes: magnetic signs for vehicles in the inaugural parade; portable toilets for the outdoor inauguration; and a banquet hall, refreshments and entertainment for what was billed as a potluck luncheon at the Capitol Plaza Hotel.

"We kept the costs down, even though there was this huge unexpected outpouring of support," Morley said. "It was important to keep the festivities modest in this tough economy."

Nixon's inaugural celebration was cheaper than those of Missouri's most recent governors. Democrat Bob Holden threw a $1 million bash in 2001 that took more than six months to pay off. Most of that money came from private contributions to Holden's special inaugural committee. But $125,000 came from the state, the last time Missouri helped finance a gubernatorial inaugural.

Republican Matt Blunt spent $249,466 on his inaugural in 2005. He financed it with contributions to a separate inaugural committee and gave the leftover $11,366 to a tsunami relief effort spearheaded by the Mehlville School District.

Missouri Republican Party Executive Director Lloyd Smith suggested Nixon should follow Blunt's model and either refund the extra inaugural money or give it to charity.

"To do anything less than that is, from our perspective, not being totally honest with your contributors," Smith said. He added: "The money was raised under the pretense of one thing, and now it's being kept or potentially used in the future for something else."

Several of Nixon's inaugural donors, including AT&T, said they had no plans to seek a refund and no problem with the money remaining in his campaign account.

"There wasn't any particular billing saying it would or would not be used for political purposes," said Jon Dolan, a former Republican state senator who is executive director of the Missouri Health Care Association. The nursing home industry group gave $10,000 to Nixon's inaugural and sent several members to an inaugural eve dinner that Nixon hosted for select supporters.

"I'm glad to know he has some extra," Dolan added. "It might mean I don't have to give for a while."

Under Missouri law, elected officials can use their campaign committees to pay for expenses related to their official duties. Blunt, for example, used campaign money to charter private planes for gubernatorial travel.

Nixon, likewise, can legally use his campaign committee to pay for his inaugural festivities, said Joe Carroll, the campaign finance director at the Missouri Ethics Commission.

Following Holden's expensive inaugural, some legislators sought to require the creation of separate inaugural committees that would have to file finance reports with the Ethics Commission. But nothing ultimately passed.

Blunt and Holden both voluntarily disclosed the donations and expenses from their private inaugural committees.

Morley said one reason Nixon used his campaign committee for the inaugural was so that the public could trace the money. But Nixon's finance report filed April 15 with the Missouri Ethics Commission does not specify which contributions were intended for the inaugural versus his general campaign. And only some of the inaugural expenses are labeled as such.

President Barack Obama used a special inaugural committee for his $50 million inaugural celebration. It's also common for governors in other states to use separate inaugural committees.

In Kansas, for example, the governor-elect must set up a separate fundraising committee, and contributions are limited to $2,000. Once the bills are paid, leftover funds are used first to defray the expenses that the Adjutant General's Department or other agencies incurred for the official ceremony. Then the money goes into a fund to support the upkeep and preservation of Cedar Crest, the governor's residence.