Video: 2013 Missouri Lincoln Days with John Barrasso (R-WY)

The Missouri Republican Party held their state-wide 2013 Lincoln Days gathering in St. Louis this weekend. The Friday night dinner saw speeches from party Chairman Ed Martin, Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, State Rep. Tim Jones, State Senator Tom Dempsey, 2012 GOP gubernatorial candidate Dave Spence, GOP candidate for Missouri's 8th Congressional District, Jason Smith, Auditor Tom Schweich, Rep. Ann Wagner, Senator Roy Blunt, and keynote speaker Senator John Barrasso (R-WY).

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Missouri AG Candidate Ed Martin Plans Reform After Audit Reveals AG Koster's Cronyism

Last week Missouri Auditor Tom Schweich (R) released an audit of Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster's (D) office. Schweich found:

The Attorney General's office (AGO) retained the right to reject proposals for contingency fee contracts even though state law does not include any provision for doing so once the Office of Administration (OA) has taken over the bid process. The Attorney General also accepted campaign contributions from law firms that submitted proposals. The AGO should not retain the power to reject responses or solicit new responses for contingency fee contracts after it requests the OA to handle the procurement process.

Schwich's full audit report is available online.

Ed Martin is a Republican candidate for Missouri Attorney General. On Monday, 7/2/12, he held a conference call to announce the steps that he plans to take to reform the AG's office if elected to replace Koster. Martin emphasized the need for transparency and accountability.

The video above is a recording of that conference call.

Monday afternoon, Ed Martin sent a press release with additional details:

Martin’s plan will expand the Missouri Accountability Portal to include the following information:

• All costs legal or otherwise with backup documentation

• All fees to outside lawyers with backup documentation

• All campaign contributions to the Attorney General’s campaign or related committees while in office.

The plan will also establish a moratorium on contingency fee awards. 

Read the whole press release. Martin has more about Koster at ObamasLawyer.com.

Related articles

• Schweich audit questions Koster campaign contributions (missouri-news.org)
• UPDATE: Missouri auditor questions attorney general's office contracts (columbiamissourian.com)
• Texas Gov. Perry to rally Martin supporters (missouri-news.org)
• Auditor says Missouri's Jobs Program Lacking (stlouis.cbslocal.com)