Missouri Independent: “‘Exploiting a loophole’: PACs tied to Missouri lobbyist draw new criticism”

“One day earlier this month, a company called Phoenix Home Care cut $120,000 worth of checks to six different Missouri political action committees. 

A few months earlier, a pair of companies suing the state to block a crackdown on unregulated slot machines combined to drop $350,000 into the same six PACs. 

The pattern — [veteran lobbyist Steve] Tilley’s lobbying clients spreading donations among the constellation of PACs he has long been connected to — has begun raising serious concerns among campaign finance watchdogs. 

Corporations are banned from giving directly to candidates in Missouri. And contribution limits cap how much a candidate can take from an individual or PAC.

Setting up multiple PACs opens the opportunity to skirt those regulations. 

‘This appears to be a way of cleverly exploiting a loophole in campaign finance law,’ said Benjamin Singer, CEO of Show Me Integrity, a nonpartisan coalition focused on ethics in state government.”

Read the full story on its original platform here.