By Bill Raack, St. Louis Public Radio
St. Louis, MO – Republican Party officials in Missouri are complaining about a potential conflict of interest in the Robin Carnahan campaign.
Jeff Mazur, the husband of Carnahan campaign manager Mindy Mazur, will become head of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 72, based in Jefferson City, in October.
Lloyd Smith, executive director of the state GOP, said that AFSCME has spent a lot of money attacking Carnahan's opponent, Roy Blunt.
"And now the two people that are running, one running the Carnahan campaign, the other one running the union activities that's doing the attacking, are married, living under the same roof and you know, it's a little for most Missourians to believe there won't be a little talk going on," Smith said Thursday.
But AFSCME Council 72 political director John Noonan said that Jeff Mazur will have no input into political campaign expenditures made by the national organization once he comes on board next month.
"There is a legal and communications firewall set up between the two," Noonan said.
A spokesman for Carnahan called the insinuations of a conflict a "desperate smear tactic."