CAMDEN COUNTY, Mo. — The Lake Area Conservative Club is pushing back against an ethics complaint filed in the final days before the Aug. 5 election, in which a local supporter of incumbent Presiding Commissioner Kris Franken alleges that the club broke campaign donation rules.
Kim Krostue filed the complaint on behalf of the Coalition for Better Government—he is listed as the group’s treasurer on the Missouri Ethics Commission website. But the group is keeping quiet about the specific violations it has in mind, only stating on the complaint form that the LACC gave more than the $500 it reported in donations to Greg Hasty—the candidate running against Franken on the Aug. 5 ballot. Hasty filed $500 in donations from the LACC on a 24-hour notice of late contributions, but Krostue and the coalition allege the club also paid for “event expenses and other incidental expenditures.” (For any donations over $500, the LACC would have to register as a political action committee.)
There’s no substance to that accusation, according to LACC President Nancy Steward. She acknowledges the $500 donation, saying it was to help Hasty replace stolen campaign signs. But she contends the club has made no other expenditures on behalf of Hasty or his campaign.
Steward noted the club does allow candidates to speak at its meetings, but that opportunity is extended to all candidates of any political party, and the candidates are asked to follow a specific protocol for their presentations.
She added, “Mr. Hasty is not a member of the Lake Area Conservative Club,” but referred to Hasty’s stated goals for Camden County as “from a real visionary.”
Krostue’s response: “Its clear LACC and Nancy do not understand the rules.”
Hasty has also reacted strongly to the allegations, saying, “My opponent and his pet PAC have contributed nothing meaningful to this campaign or indeed to the county. Theirs has been a negative campaign aimed at keeping the eyes of voters off my opponent and his failure in office.”
He concluded, “They spend their money on attack ads, not on making Camden County better.”
When pressed to reveal what specific expenditures were the basis for the complaint, Krostue replied, "Filing an ethics complaint is serious business. Let's let the ethics commission do its job of investigating the totality of LACC's conduct. Specific details about the allegations will be shared with the ethics commission. The fact that the complaint was accepted by the ethics commission is telling."
An MEC representative emphasized that, per Missouri statute, the commission may not even confirm the receipt of the complaint. Only the final results of the investigation will be made public. The MEC has 90 days to complete that investigation.
MEC policy states that the individual against whom the complaint is filed will receive a copy of the complaint within five days of the time it is received by the commission. The LACC says, as of this publication, it has received nothing from the MEC; Tuesday, Aug. 5 will be the fourth business day after the complaint was filed on Thursday, July 31.
Steward says she spoke with an MEC representative, explaining the club’s $500 donation and the opportunities it extends to candidates to speak at club meetings. That representative, she says, assured her the club had committed no wrongdoing.
Steward also notes she found out about the complaint through an article in the Lake Sun, published the same day the complaint was filed. She says she was not contacted for comment until after that article had been published.
According to MEC filings, the Coalition for Better Government has spent more than $3,200 this year promoting Franken (and opposing Hasty) in Lake Sun newspaper ads.
Steward chalked up the recent complaint to what she says is “negative dirty campaign advertising” by the CBG.
She emphasized her confidence in the club’s innocence: “The Lake Area Conservative Club has acted within the guidelines of the Missouri Ethics Commission and are confident if any investigation were to take place, the LACC would be exonerated.”
