Editorial: Greitens is wrong for Missouri in US Senate race

The Aug. 2 primary is a little more than one week away, and voters have an important decision to make in the race for U.S. Senate.

There are 21 Republicans on the ballot, 11 Democrats and two minor party candidates. Polling indicates the election for Democrats is between military veteran Lucas Kunce and Anheuser-Busch heir Trudy Busch Valentine. For the GOP, it's a three-person race among former Gov. Eric Greitens, state Attorney General Eric Schmitt and U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler. Congressman Billy Long, though still in the race, doesn't have a strong chance of winning. And the remaining candidates poll in the low single digits.

We don't often issue candidate endorsements as an editorial board, but we are clear in our opposition to one candidate in the GOP primary: Eric Greitens.

Greitens lacks the character and moral compass to serve our state. And frankly, we don't think he's been honest with voters about very much. His political career has been about one thing: getting himself elected, saying whatever it takes to win.

It wasn't long ago that the former Navy Seal was a left-leaning figure who supported Barack Obama. Now he's made a complete change of image, painting himself as a pro-Trump, conservative, family-values candidate. Sorry, we're not buying it. Greitens knows that if he wants to get elected in Missouri, which has moved decidedly more conservative, this is his political path.

But even if his change was sincere -- and it does happen for some individuals -- the Greitens years in politics have been marred by turmoil and scandal. There were questionable campaign finance decisions, and then an affair and accusations of taking a semi-nude photo of the woman without her consent -- the issue that ultimately led to his resignation as governor after less than a year and a half in office.

During this Senate campaign, additional revelations have come to light. Greitens' ex-wife, Sheena Greitens, filed an affidavit in the couple's custody battle that went public. Sheena, an accomplished professor now at the University of Texas and a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, stated in the legal proceedings that Eric acted abusively towards her and their children.

"In early June 2018, I became afraid for my safety and that of our children at our home, which was fairly isolated, due to Eric's unstable and coercive behavior," Sheena Greitens stated. "This behavior included physical violence toward our children, such as cuffing our then 3-year-old son across the face at the dinner table in front of me and yanking him around by his hair."

Then there was the campaign video Eric Greitens released a few weeks ago where he talked about "RINO hunting." RINO is an acronym for Republican In Name Only.

It's not unusual for politicians to produce campaign materials with guns, showing their support for the Second Amendment. And done responsibly, we have zero problem with this strategy. But what Greitens said and did in this online video was disturbing.

The disgraced former governor played it off saying his critics were overreacting and that any rational person would know he wasn't insinuating actual hunting of individuals. But why even go there?

Finally, videos in recent days have emerged from fellow Navy veterans calling into question Greitens' character. One is particularly revealing. It's from Ken Harbaugh, who co-founded veteran not-for-profit The Mission Continues with Greitens in 2007.

Harbaugh notes in the video that Greitens was once a very different person. He's now appalled by his colleague's behavior, particularly around the "RINO hunting" video, and calls on him to leave the race. One of his quotes: "Eric, I want you to know there are worse things in life than running for office honorably and losing."

He's right. Though Eric Greitens built a resume that was impressive earlier in his life, he lacks the moral standing to serve as Missouri's U.S. senator. He's certainly not the conservative choice.

As you head to the polls Aug. 2, we encourage you to review the other candidates and vote for an individual who will represent Missouri with courage and conviction. Someone who is honest. Someone with a track record that won't leave a black eye on our state. It's not Eric Greitens.