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Ethics Complaint Filed Against Robin Carnahan

June 17, 2009

Carnahan has repeatedly attempted to conceal Juan Carlos Antolinez’s business

JEFFERSON CITY—The Missouri Republican Party today filed complaints with the Missouri Ethics Commission and the U.S. Senate Ethics Committee over Robin Carnahan’s attempt to conceal information on her state and federal financial disclosure forms. At issue is Carnahan’s failure to disclose a business owned by her spouse, Juan Carlos Antolinez.

“All the evidence points to the fact that Antolinez International Trade is registered to Robin Carnahan’s spouse, Juan Carlos Antolinez, yet she has refused to disclose its existence on any of her personal financial disclosure reports,” said Lloyd Smith, Executive Director of the Missouri Republican Party. “This begs the questions: What is this business? Who are the clients? And why is Carnahan trying to hide it?”

Antolinez International Trade is believed to be a sole proprietorship, and Secretary of State Carnahan’s own website says the following about such an arrangement: “If a sole proprietorship is doing business under a name other than the owner’s true name, a fictitious name filing must be made with the Secretary of State, and renewed every five years.” In 2006, Juan Carlos Antolinez filed the required documentation with Carnahan establishing a fictitious name, and Carnahan and Antolinez later married. But the business has remained absent from all of Carnahan’s subsequent personal financial declarations—including the Missouri Ethics Commission document which specifically requires a list of sole proprietorships owned by the filer and immediate family members.

“Carnahan wants to make laws that affect all Missourians, yet she seems to think that she is above a law meant to ensure transparency in government,” said Smith. “This is not one simple mistake—it is a pattern of behavior over the past several years showing that Carnahan has repeatedly failed to disclose Juan Carlos Antolinez’s business. The question is: why?”

From the complaint filed with the Missouri Ethics Commission: “Incomplete disclosure deprives the public of important information needed to evaluate the financial interests of Ms. Carnahan and her family and the potential for conflicts [of interest].”

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