JEFFERSON CITY — Freedom Principle MO has filed two ethics complaints against Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey's campaign committees alleging improper disclosure statements and other violations.
The official complaints were filed against Liberty and Justice PAC and Bailey for Missouri by Byron Keelin, the president of Freedom Principle MO.
Keelin said Bailey for Missouri took campaign contributions from unregistered corporations and Liberty and Justice improperly disclosed its "paid for" statements on its campaign details.
"The Freedom Principle MO continues to monitor campaigns to ensure they are not violating campaign finance laws," Keelin said in a statement provided to The St. Louis Record.
The two donations were on Oct. 25, 2023, by JMH Law Firm, which donated $250, and Dec. 11, 2023, by Agape Construction, which donated $2,000.
"In the fourth fundraising quarter of 2023, Bailey for Missouri, which is the candidate committee for Andrew Bailey's campaign for Attorney General, accepted two contributions from corporate entities, which is prohibited under Missouri Constitution Article VIII Section 23," the official complaint form states.
The complaint notes that the Missouri Ethics Commission (MEC) does allow LLCs to make direct contributions to candidates if they are registered with the MEC. However, the law firm has not registered and was not registered at the time of the complaint, and the construction company was established as a close corporation, the complaint says.
"These are the small details that keep getting overlooked by his campaign and his management of the Attorney General’s office when it comes to court cases," Keelin said of the complaint. "It’s the type of pattern that concerns us. He is more interested in headlines but continually lacks execution in the details."
In the official complaint against Liberty and Justice, Freedom Principle alleges that Missouri statutes require that "paid for" disclosure statements on campaign materials produced by a formed committee include the name of the committee paying for the advertisement, as well as the name of the person serving the treasurer of that committee.
"Liberty and Justice PAC, an independent expenditure committee supporting the candidacy of Andrew Bailey for Attorney General, has run political advertisements on his behalf featuring only the name of the committee in the 'paid for' disclaimer and not the name of the treasurer," the ethics complaint states.
The complaint notes that the MEC records have Tom Burcham listed as treasurer of Liberty and Justice PAC.
Bailey has served as Missouri's attorney general since January 2023 when he was appointed by Gov. Mike Parson after Eric Schmitt was elected to serve in the U.S. Senate. He is now running for a few four-year term.
Griffon News reported that Bailey also had two small citations previously expunged from more than two decades ago.
One of the expungements involved Bailey being 18 and staying after hours in a park after he had been fishing. He had to pay a $15 fine. The second involved Bailey paying a $25 fine for violating another conservation law while he was in college.
Bailey's campaign has been open about the citations.