Progress MO Report Pressures Kehoe to Fill Ethics Commission Vacancies
Progress MO Executive Director Claire Cook-Callen is featured in a Kansas City Star article, “After scathing report, Missouri governor fills vacancies on ethics watchdog,” commenting on Governor Mike Kehoe’s recent appointments to the Missouri Ethics Commission (MEC).
The MEC, responsible for enforcing state campaign finance and ethics laws, had been unable to conduct investigations or hold meetings due to a lack of quorum. This inability, which resulted in dozens of complaints being dismissed without investigation over the past two years, was a deliberate effort by political actors and state leaders to undermine the very body that oversees their ethical conduct and that of their allies.
“After nearly a year of letting the MEC sit idle, Gov. Kehoe has finally made two appointments, just enough to get the Commission moving again, but only under mounting pressure,” Cook-Callen said. “These bare-minimum moves may satisfy a requirement, but rebuilding public trust requires more than last-minute actions.”
Although Kehoe’s appointments provided a quorum for the MEC, he did not fill all of its seats. The appointees will serve as acting commissioners until confirmed by the Missouri state senate.
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