Late last week, political flyers appeared in mailboxes across Howell County—the vast majority of which comprises Missouri’s 154th House District—targeting sitting Rep. Lisa Durnell and calling into question her voting record.
The timing of the mailers coincides with the Aug. 4 primary election, now less than two weeks away. However, the origin of the literature has raised questions among local voters regarding who is funding the campaign and why.
Durnell is challenged in the Republican primary by former 155th District Rep. Travis Smith, a West Plains native and Pottersville resident who previously represented Douglas and Ozark counties in the General Assembly.
Under state and federal campaign finance disclosure laws, political advertisements are required to include disclaimers stating who paid for the messaging. The mailers targeting Durnell state they were paid for by "We the People Priorities," a registered political action committee (PAC).
Missouri Ethics Commission (MEC) filings list Marc Ellinger as the committee's treasurer. Ellinger is a partner at the Jefferson City law firm Ellinger Bell, specializing in election, gaming, tax and appellate law.
MEC records show Ellinger serves as treasurer for seven other active PACs, including Missouri Promise PAC.
Missouri Promise PAC filed its statement of committee organization with the MEC on May 4. Since then, according to its July 15 financial disclosure filing, it has received $3.4 million: $1.4 million from Secure Missouri in Jefferson City, alongside $16,000 and $1.9 million from Missouri Promise Inc. in two payments dated May 7 and 27, respectively.
While Missouri Promise PAC handles millions for statewide tax initiatives, MEC filings show that We the People Priorities PAC received a $300,000 contribution on June 17 from St. Louis mega-donor Rex Sinquefield — the sole major monetary contribution reported by the committee during that quarter.
Missouri Promise Inc. has drawn scrutiny from statewide news outlets in recent weeks. A June 24 report by ProPublica reporter Jeremy Kohler, picked up by NPR stations statewide, highlighted that Missouri Promise Inc. was incorporated in Delaware, a state whose privacy laws allow non-profit corporations to withhold the identities and locations of their financial contributors.
When asked by ProPublica about the identities of donors behind Missouri Promise Inc. and Secure Missouri, Ellinger stated he could not address what disclosures the nonprofits themselves may eventually make in future Internal Revenue Service tax filings.
Because the original sources of the underlying capital remain non-disclosable under federal nonprofit law, the Quill’s investigation turned to the target selection of the committee itself.
A Google search for the phrases “We the People PAC” and “We the People Priorities PAC” led to the discovery — via a Jefferson City News Tribune commentary by Bob Priddy and posts in Camden County Facebook groups — that Durnell is not alone. The same PAC has financed similar attack mailers against two candidates in the contested 6th District Missouri Senate primary: current 59th House District Rep. Rudy Veit, who is term-limited in the House, and Camden County Presiding Commissioner Todd “Ike” Skelton.
So what do a rural House candidate in Howell County and two Senate candidates in central Missouri have in common? The answer points to a contentious policy debate on the August ballot.
Watch for Part 2 of this series in Wednesday’s edition of the Quill.
