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Nixon ends September with hefty sums from large donors

This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Oct. 1, 2011 - While outgoing Secretary of State Robin Carnahan snagged Friday's headlines, Gov. Jay Nixon was busy collecting campaign cash.

On Friday, the deadline for raising money during this quarter, the governor reported collecting at least $118,000 within the last two days from five donors, several of whom were law firms:

-- $50,000 from Langdon & Emison in Lexington, Mo.

--$25,000 from Simmons, Browder, Gianaris, Angelides & Barnerd, LLC in Alton, Ill.

--$25,000 from Emerson Electric Co. in St. Louis

-- $10,000 from Hanly, Conroy, Bierstein, Sheridan, Fisher & Hayes, a law firm in New York.

-- $8,000 from St. Louis lawyer Andrew O'Brien.

All five donations had to be reported within 48 hours to the Missouri Ethics Commission, because they were larger than $5,000.

During the entire month of September, Nixon collected $393,000 from such larger donors. The biggest was $100,000 from the Clayton law firm of Carey & Danis.

Those collections likely reflect only a portion of the governor's money-raising. Contributions of $5,000 or less don't have to be reported until Oct. 15.

Another Democrat, state Treasurer Clint Zweifel, also had a productive Friday. He reported raising $62,500 from the Missouri Drive Fund, a labor-aligned PAC, and $10,000 from the Teamsters local in Kansas City.

As for the Republicans, the state Republican Party reported Friday that it received $50,000 from two donors -- Hunter Engineering Co. (Stephen Brauer) and Enterprise Holdings (the Taylor family). The contributions were likely tied to Monday night's fundraising event at Brauer's Hunter Farms, which featured New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

The state GOP's state Senate arm, the Missouri Senate Campaign Committee, reported on the last day collecting $56,250 from various donors -- including $10,000 from former Gov. Matt Blunt.

Jo Mannies is a freelance journalist and former political reporter at St. Louis Public Radio.