JEFFERSON CITY - In an intriguing political battle over the public’s right to know about campaign contributions, leading Democrat lawmakers are fighting with the Missouri Democrat Party and its de facto leader Jay Nixon over a Missouri Supreme Court decision to strike down unlimited campaign contributions and whether contributions exceeding the newly reinstated limits should be returned.

While Democrat Party spokesman Jack Cardetti was telling the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on July 21 that the campaign finance law “was wrong from day one,” the Columbia Daily Tribune was reporting on July 22 that Sen. Chuck Graham “sees more harm than good from the Missouri Supreme Court’s decision” while the newspaper reported on July 21 that attorney general candidate Jeff Harris “wasn’t sure about” whether he supported returning campaign contributions. Graham also admitted that the high court’s decision means candidates will resume funneling money through various committees like the case of the four Democrat committees that laundered contributions from Ameren to Jay Nixon while Nixon was investigating the utility.

The political division is even more disturbing since Democrat State Sen. Tim Green proposed the amendment that allowed for unlimited contributions despite fierce opposition from Nixon, who later failed Missourians by not appealing a lower court ruling striking down a portion of the campaign finance reform law. Nixon also has remained silent on whether he will ask the Supreme Court to reconsider its decision or how he will respond to the court’s request for briefs on whether the court decision should require contributions over the current limits to be returned.

“Many Missourians are curious about the battle between the Jay Nixon-controlled Democrat Party that opposes campaign finance reform preferring shell games and money laundering and support for reforms among rank and file Democrats because it reveals a political party that is at odds over whether to support transparency in our campaign finance system,” said Paul Sloca, communications director for the Missouri Republican Party. “It is clear that Nixon supports a return to the old campaign finance system that allowed Ameren to contribute more than $19,000 in backdoor campaign contributions to him while he was investigating the utility even though he has accepted unlimited contributions under the new law.”