The House Minority Leader is blasting Missouri Governor Eric Greitens (R), after a House committee investigating the governor released a report Wednesday which concluded that Greitens used a charity’s donor list knowing that he wasn’t authorized to use it for his campaign.
A lawyer for Greitens for Missouri, however, refers to it as a “minor campaign finance issue” and notes the committee chairman did not issue subpoenas in the Mission Continues charity issue.
Missouri House Minority Leader Gail McCann Beatty speaks to Capitol reporters on April 11, 2018 in Jefferson City (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)
As for House Minority Leader Gail McCann Beatty, D-Kansas City, she says that it’s time for the governor to resign.
“I think this report gives us clear evidence that basically the governor has stolen from his veterans charity,” Beatty says.
However, the legal counsel for Greitens for Missouri, former U.S. Attorney and former House Speaker Catherine Hanaway, has issued a statement saying that the report issued Wednesday by the House Special Investigative Committee on Oversight “does a tremendous disservice” to the U.S. and Missouri Constitutions.
Hanaway says Committee Chairman Jay Barnes, R-Jefferson City, did not issue any subpoenas to the campaign relating to Mission Continues issues, adding that “if a witness made an allegation, it was accepted as true and republished.”
Meantime, the Missouri Capitol basement in Jefferson City was full of television cameras and news crews on Wednesday afternoon, as House members from both parties emerged from caucus meetings.
State Rep. Mike Stephens, R-Bolivar, was surrounded by about 20 reporters and cameras, as he walked down a hallway.
Representative Stephens, who’s in his first term, spoke to Missourinet as well. We asked him about feedback he’s been receiving from constituents in his southwest Missouri district.
“There are reports around the state of kind of general support for the governor, personally I think in my district probably a little less so,” says Stephens.
Stephens says most of his constituents are “disturbed” by what they’ve been hearing.
Another development involves House Minority Leader Beatty, who says the bipartisan Missouri House committee investigating Governor Greitens needs additional time.
“Based on my conversations with our (Democratic) members, we absolutely need a special (legislative) session. They still need more time to complete their investigation,” says Beatty.
It would take a three-fourths majority of both chambers to call themselves into a special session.
“As I understand it, there are currently 92 members, all Republicans at this point that have signed on,” Beatty tells Missourinet. “Democrats will at some point sign on as well, probably in the near future.”
Republicans control the Missouri House 115-47, and it will take 123 signatures to get to three-fourths.
Leader Beatty believes there will be enough Democratic signatures to get to the required 123 mark in the House.
The House Special Investigative Committee on Oversight released its second report on Wednesday, which focused on Greitens’ use of the Mission Continues charity donor list.
It was 22 pages.
The committee issued its first report in April. That 24-page report involved the case in St. Louis, where Greitens is charged with felony invasion of privacy.
Both reports were signed by all seven members of the committee, which has five Republicans and two Democrats.
Greitens has denied wrongdoing in both cases.
Copyright © 2018 · Missourinet
