JEFFERSON CITY – Claire McCaskill’s sudden interest in fee offices blatantly ignores the fact that she received at least $175,000 from Democratic fee agents and actual fee offices over a three-year period that culminated with her failed 2004 gubernatorial bid. It’s also no coincidence that since becoming auditor in 1999 McCaskill has neglected to conduct a mutually exclusive audit of fee office operations during the Democrat administrations of Mel Carnahan and Bob Holden.

“Claire McCaskill knowingly accepted at least $175,000 in contributions from folks who surely considered their support for her gubernatorial candidacy as a down payment for their continued operation of license offices had she become governor,” said Paul Sloca, communications director for the Missouri Republican Party. “With this kind of money pouring into her campaign and with Democrats perpetuating a corrupt fee office system, Claire McCaskill had no motivation to bite the hands of the fee agents who were feeding her. Now that those hands have been cut off and the hush money has dried up, a bitter Claire McCaskill is using her office for a political witch hunt paid for by taxpayers.”

Campaign finance records reviewed by the Missouri Republican Party show that from 2001 to the conclusion of the 2004 campaign, McCaskill’s state committee accepted at least $175,000 from actual license offices like the Lee’s Summit License Bureau, fee office umbrella companies like Reiter Enterprises, individual fee agents like Molly Maxwell, the mother of former Lt. Gov. Joe Maxwell, and relatives of known fee agents including state lobbyist Marvin Proffer, the husband of then fee agent Donna Proffer.

A cursory review of license office-related contributions to McCaskill reveals that her state committee accepted between 200-230 separate contributions from actual license offices, individual fee agents and known relatives of fee agents from 2001-2004. Not surprisingly, the overwhelming majority of the license office-related contributions poured into her campaign war chest following her 2004 primary victory over Bob Holden.

In addition to the $175,000 taken in by McCaskill’s campaign committee, the Missouri Democrat Party accepted $21,000 from license office sources following her primary victory. That included a $15,000 contribution from the West County License office to the Missouri Democrat Party on October 25, 2004.

“While Gov. Matt Blunt’s fee office reforms include longer hours, business plans and changes that have resulted in millions of savings for taxpayers, Claire McCaskill has been busy trying to rewrite her own sordid fee office history and the sordid fee office history of the Missouri Democrat Party,” Sloca said. “McCaskill will need a lot more than an audit to do that.”