JEFFERSON CITY - Attorney General Chris Koster is battling Medicaid thieves. Missouri Treasurer Clint Zweifel is a proud dad saving for his children's college education.

Those positive images came through in recent television spots. But the two Democratic officeholders' campaigns didn't have to pay for them.

Koster and Zweifel starred in state-sponsored public service announcements and ads. Television stations aired them for free or at reduced rates covered by government contracts.

Spokesmen for the officials said the ads promoted important causes and cost taxpayers little in one case and nothing in the other. Previous officeholders, from both political parties, have run similar spots.

But some political opponents criticized them as thinly disguised pitches for the incumbents' upcoming re-election bids.

"They come as close to a political campaign ad as you can probably come, and it pushes the envelope on what is usually thought of as a PSA," said Lloyd Smith, executive director of the Missouri Republican Party.

Zweifel's ad is a homey spot featuring his family - wife Janice and daughters Selma, 14, and Ellie, 12. (The kitchen they're filmed in isn't theirs. The producer found it.)

The ad showcases the Missouri Saving for Tuition, or MOST, program, which Zweifel's office supervises. The spot ran statewide from December 12 through Dec. 31, to remind parents they could get a tax deduction if they contributed before year's end.

Zweifel's predecessor, Republican Sarah Steelman, made similar TV pitches. The MOST board approves the marketing plan. No state tax money is spent.

UPromise Investments, the company that manages the college savings program, foots the bill under the terms of its contract. For last month's spot, airtime cost $232,909 and production cost $116,046.

The treasurer's spokesman, Jon Galloway, said the ads have increased awareness of the popular savings plan; the number of accounts now exceeds 130,700, reflecting an 8 percent jump since 2009.

By making such a personal appeal, Zweifel "brings credibility to the financial product" being marketed, Galloway said.

Over the last three years, Zweifel's MOST ads have cost a total of $673,575 in airtime and $205,517 in production costs. That's less than the ads cost under Steelman from 2006 through 2008 ($874,974 for airtime and $256,414 for production.)

While Zweifel spent less than Steelman, Koster gets the prize for low-budget production.

His office said his ad, a simple talking-head approach, cost $774. It was filmed at the studio of the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

The 30-second PSA urges Missourians with tips on Medicaid fraud to call his office's hotline. It is airing primarily in Republican-heavy southwest Missouri but also pops up in St. Louis and around the state when broadcasters have unbooked time.

The attorney general's office paid the Missouri Broadcasters Association $10,000 but is guaranteed four times that much air time, said Nanci Gonder, spokeswoman for Koster. She said only $2,500 came from state general revenue; the rest was federal money.

Smith, the GOP official, said that if you removed the hotline number from Koster's PSA, "you could basically run it as a TV ad for his election campaign."

Gonder said the ads pay off for the state.

A similar PSA that ran in southwest Missouri in January 2011 brought in 12 calls reporting Medicaid fraud, she said. That compares to between one and four calls from that area in January of 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009.

As Koster points out in the ad, whistleblowers can receive 10 percent of the money the state collects as a result of their tip.

None has been paid yet, Gonder said, but several of last year's tipsters are likely to be compensated soon. Koster pushed for such rewards when he was a state senator.