Two lawmakers and a former assistant attorney general have filed an ethics complaint accusing state Sen. Chris Koster, a fellow Democrat, of illegally funneling money to his attorney general’s campaign.

The complaint was filed Tuesday by state Sen. Scott Rupp, R-St. Charles, state Sen. Maida Coleman, D-St. Louis, former assistant attorney general Marion Eisen.

The trio said they brought the complaint in response to an Associated Press article last week that described how Koster’s paid campaign staff shuttled money among various committees to get around the state’s campaign contribution limits.

Koster has defended his fundraising tactics as legal. He told Jo Mannies today that the money-raising process followed state campaign law and that he has regularly conferred with the state Ethics Commission to make sure.

The Post-Dispatch detailed earlier this month how Koster and a number of other statewide candidates are collecting contributions in excess of state donation limits, via a legal system of using two different types of campaign committees.  Donors can give unlimited amounts of money to the committees, some of whom can then donate ten times the contribution limit to individual candidates.

Koster noted today that those using the same system include one of his rivals, state Rep. Margaret Donnelly, D-Richmond Heights.

Donnelly replied in a telephone interview this afternoon that Koster “is trying to divert attention” from his illegal coordination activities to raise campaign money.

“There’s a fundamental difference,” she said, between candidates who simply receive money from the campaign  committees and Koster, who is accused of being involved in setting up at least one of the committees — the Economic Growth Council. The council has donated money to the legislative committees, which then gave to Koster.

She contended that Koster had to be coordinating the money-raising — which is not allowed under state law — because he raised so much of his money that way. The Post-Dispatch reported that he collected 80 percent of his campaign money through the committee setup.

The Missouri Ethics Commission does not comment on complaints. It has until Aug. 6 — the day after the primary election — to rule on the complaint.