Catherine Hanaway said on Monday that she's going to ask the Cole County Circuit Court to dismiss St. Louis lawyer Elad Gross' weekend lawsuit over operations and records of A New Missouri.
The organization is a not-for-profit founded last year to support then-Gov. Eric Greitens and his initiatives, which operates under federal regulations that allow it to conceal the identities of its donors.
Gross' investigation into A New Missouri was not included in state Rep. Jay Barnes' Monday letter accusing the group of being illegal from its beginnings.
Gross, a former assistant attorney general during Chris Koster's tenure, filed the 10-page lawsuit Friday night in Cole County Circuit Court, seeking a number of records and questioning the group's compliance with state laws prohibiting non-profits from using "deception, fraud, false pretense, false promise, misrepresentation, unfair practice or the concealment, suppression, or omission of any material fact in connection with the solicitation of any funds for any charitable purpose "
However, Hanaway said the lawsuit is "ridiculous."
She added, "Mr. Gross is clearly a Democrat operative trying to prolong the Greitens saga for political purposes."
Gross' lawsuit said, under Missouri's laws affecting operations of not-for-profit organizations, A New Missouri is required to reveal the information because its official papers filed with state officials describe it as being "organized for the purpose of conducting activities allowed pursuant to the (law), including but not limited to, the advancement of social welfare by promoting ideas, policies and/or legislation to create more jobs, higher pay, safer streets, better schools, and more, for all Missourians."
Hanaway rejected that notion.
"The law Mr. Gross is trying to sue under was intended to protect widows and orphans supported by charities," she explained, "not political hacks looking for the next shot to take."
Gross' lawsuit was assigned to Cole County Circuit Judge Jon Beetem.