The following ran in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Few things are more important to Missouri's democracy than keeping its Sunshine Law robust and ensuring government transparency. However, a lawsuit filed by a conservative nonprofit with ties to Gov. Eric Greitens, accusing Missouri Auditor Nicole Galloway and Sen. Rob Schaaf of violating the open-records law, smacks of political shenanigans. It does nothing to uphold the intent or spirit of the law.
Filing frivolous lawsuits against state officeholders for political payback is reprehensible. Schaaf and Galloway have been at loggerheads with Greitens for months, and he has publicly berated them. To get even, Greitens' team would abuse a good law intended to help citizens gain access to government records. Such ploys cost taxpayers money, clog the courts and do nothing to assure government transparency.
The nonprofit Missouri Alliance for Freedom, founded in 2013, filed the lawsuits in Cole County Circuit Court. Kristen Blanchard Ansley, former acting executive director of the Missouri Republican Party, is the alliance's president. The secretary is James Thomas III, an attorney tied to various campaign committees used over the years by Jeff Roe, who ran Ted Cruz's campaign for president and is infamous as a ruthless Republican political operative.
The alliance is represented by the Kansas City-based Graves Garret law firm, run by Todd Graves, a close Greitens ally and chairman of the Missouri GOP. Roe helped steer Graves' brother, U.S. Rep. Sam Graves, R-Tarkio, to Congress, and then served as his chief of staff.
Greitens' feud with Galloway, a Democrat, goes back to at least March, when she asked the Missouri Department of Revenue to turn over information on the administration's management of income tax refunds. Six weeks later, when she had not received the information, Galloway angered the governor by issuing a subpoena for the records.
Schaaf, a Republican from St. Joseph who is term-limited, has been an outspoken critic of Greitens. He complained about Greitens' lack of progress on ethics reform, criticized his use of dark money campaign donations and questioned the governor's ties to Centene Corp., a managed care company headquartered in Clayton.
The Missouri Alliance for Freedom is suing Schaaf because the senator denied its request for records of his communications with staff and outsiders. Schaaf is correct that the open records law does not apply to individual legislators and their staffs.
We disagree with the law and think lawmakers should have to open their records so citizens know who has influence over them and their votes. However, the law stands as is.
The suit against Galloway seeks emails related to an audit underway of the state revenue department. Galloway said she is following the law.
The Sunshine Law is designed to promote government transparency, not political harassment. Greitens and his team have more than ample other tools to carry out their tawdry vendettas.