Out-of-state political consultants directed the Missouri Attorney General office - Polidicks

https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/election/article220870465.html Josh Hawley pledged to Missouri voters in 2016 that he was not the kind of career politician who would use “one office to get to another.” But within weeks of Hawley’s swearing in as the state’s top law enforcement official, the high-powered political team that would go on to run his U.S. Senate campaign had stepped in to help direct the office of the Missouri attorney general — and raise his national profile. Hawley’s out-of-state political consultants gave direct guidance and tasks to his taxpayer-funded staff, and followed up to ensure the tasks were completed, according to emails, text messages and other records obtained by The Kansas City Star. The campaign-led strategy sessions, which began in January 2017, raised legal and ethical concerns at the time among some of Hawley’s employees, who worried about mixing politics with public business. The situation also left them confused about the chain of command. The political consultants and Hawley’s attorney general staff used private email accounts to help organize at least some of these meetings, and to follow up afterward. Topics discussed by the attorney general’s staff in private emails included official business such as the budget, staffing decisions, and how to roll out major policy initiatives against sex trafficking and opioid abuse. “The idea that Hawley would turn over his attorney general’s office to D.C. campaign consultants strikes me as very problematic,” said Brendan Fischer, director of the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center’s federal reform program. “The attorney general’s office has an enormous amount of responsibility for protecting the health and welfare of citizens of the state.” The arrangement left some state-paid staffers confused about whether they answered to political consultants Teepell and Gitcho or to the attorney general’s chief of staff. Some of the agenda items discussed in later correspondence included Missouri’s lawsuit against opioid manufacturers, which Hawley announced in June 2017, and a state effort to target human traffickers, an initiative Hawley unveiled in April 2017. In response to a request for copies of any emails sent or received by Hawley pertaining to public business using a private email address, the attorney general’s office said none existed. Hawley also does not use his government email account. Had the attorney general or his staff used their official government email addresses to discuss the meetings and calls with Hawley’s campaign, their correspondence would automatically have been subject to public release through the state’s open records laws, also known as the Sunshine Laws. Even if they used private accounts, the attorney general’s office’s own record retention policy is clear that those emails would still be considered public record. When he was running for attorney general, Hawley slammed Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton for using a private server to send and receive emails as secretary of state. He's running for the Senate next week

And I'll be voting for Claire McCaskill!

Whats with the ladder men?

Josh Hawley pledged to Missouri voters in 2016 that he would not be a “ladder-climbing politician” who used one office to get to another.