<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.”