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Missouri GOP files complaint against McCaskill

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.)
(via Flickr/Senator McCaskill)
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.)

The Missouri Republican Party filed an ethics complaint Thursday against Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill.

The complaint, which was submitted to the US Senate Select Committee on Ethics, alleges McCaskill solicited for campaign donations while on federal property.

The allegation stems from an appearance on MSNBC’s Hardball this week, when McCaskill responded to a question about Super PACS targeting her campaign. Here's the video of that appearance:

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"On the other hand, I’m asking regular folks to be my Super PAC," McCaskill said. "I’m really proud that we raised a lot of money last quarter but 90 percent of it came in donations of less than $200 and on ClaireMcCaskill.com people can give 25 bucks and if we get a lot of those we’ll have our own Super PAC, and that’s the kind of PAC that should be super."

Missouri Republican Party executive director Lloyd Smith says the comments were a violation of Senate ethics rules and possibly federal law.

"You know the problem with that is that one she was standing on the grounds of federal property," Smith said. "She was in the Russell Senate Office Building, and it states clearly in the Senate manual that Senate members or staff may not receive or solicit contributions in any federal building."

McCaskill’s campaign said in a statement the Missouri GOP is wasting taxpayer money by filing the complaint in a bid for media attention. 

 

Maria is the newscast, business and education editor for St. Louis Public Radio.