Hatfield: Donation-limit supporter makes no apologies for helping some skirt limits
<Call Jefferson City lawyer Chuck Hatfield a pragmatist.
He makes no apologies for using creative — but legal — ways to help raise campaign money for two of his close friends and fellow Democrats: state Sen. Chris Koster, who’s running for attorney general and was the best man at Hatfield’s wedding, and Attorney General Jay Nixon, Hatfield’s old boss who’s running for governor.
Hatfield is the treasurer for the Economic Growth Council, a group that’s bankrolled by a coalition of supporters of embryonic stem-cell research, gaming interests, trial lawyers and developers.
The latest campaign reports show that the council gave money to a number of Democratic legislative district committees, that in turn gave money to Koster and other favored candidates.
Hatfield acknowledged Wednesday that the council’s donors include some who had gotten money returned from candidates after the state Supreme Court reinstated the state’s campaign-donation limits. Using the council helps those donors get their money back into the campaign coffers of their favored contenders.
By the way, Hatfield was one of the lawyers who persuaded the high court to restore the limits.
He still supports the limits. But in defense of his current role, Hatfield offers up a line from a favorite baseball movie – ”Bull Durham” — where a character says he’d like to outlaw Astroturf, even as he acknowledges that the fake grass can be a help to some players.
Hatfield points to the fact that Republicans, individuals and groups, are finding ways to get around the donation limits. Democrats must do the same, Hatfield said.
“We ought to close these lawful loopholes,” Hatfield said, referring to legislative committees and other avenues for donors to direct more money to candidates than they can give directly.
In the meantime:
“I play by the rules that are in place,” Hatfield explained, “but I think we ought to change the rules.”
Jeff Harris attacked Koster for raising money in the exact way that Jay Nixon (and so many others) did.
“Attorney General Jay Nixon — who raised the most money in this fundraising quarter — took $635,851 in cash and in-kind contributions beyond the $1,375 limit from these party committees. That’s the most out of the three gubernatorial candidates.”
It will be interesting to see if Harris goes after Nixon.
I doubt it. Harris is purely playing politics. Harris is losing. Harris is grasping at straws. Harris represents everything that people hate about politics
That’s funny, Jack. Most folks would say it’s politicians who bend the rules are what they hate about politics. Koster’s going to need every penny he can raise if he hopes to trick enough Democrats into supporting a Republican like him.
Shecky,
Did Jay Nixon “bend the rules”?
Why does Harris not attack Nixon for raising money via these committees?
What people hate in politicians are liars and hipocrites. Harris is both.
hey jack,
you need to spend more time researching and less time blogging. Jeff Harris was not an intern for Attorney General Nixon, he was an assistant Attorney General under Jay Nixon. He was the guy that Nixon turned to when Governor Bob Holden was sued by Peter Kindner (your bosses’ buddy) and the Missouri Chamber of Commerce. He was successful in that defense, just as he will be in this election.
Let’s contrast that to your boy’s time in the AG office. Koster worked for a guy named Bill Webster. Now, I know you are not from the state or well versed in Missouri political history, so I will tell you a little about Bill Webster. Bill Webster violated Missouri’s Campaign Finance Laws while he was AG, and as a result, went to federal prison. So, when successful and ethical guys like Jeff Harris start to question people like Koster, they do so for good reason. See, there is this thing called mentoring. Jay Nixon mentored Jeff Harris, Bill Webster mentored Chris Koster. See the real problem here?
I think Jack Abramoff claimed to play by the rules too….how is he doing these days? Chris Koster is starting to engage in the same sort of money filtering schemes that Abramoff was allegedly known for. I guess Missouri gets a double dose of good stuff with this Koster guy: a fine mix of Webster and Abramoff. Sounds like he has what it takes to be Missouri’s next AG in a jumpsuit!