Gov. Mike Parson speaks at his last Governor’s Ham Breakfast at the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia (Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent).
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson is the guest of honor Tuesday night at a fundraiser for a pair of PACs at the home of a longtime Jefferson City lobbyist.
The event is being advertised as a “celebration of public service” for the Republican governor and First Lady Teresa Parson. It’s hosted by Steve Tilley, a longtime lobbyist and adviser for Parson.
Some of the invitations asked for donations to Uniting Missouri PAC, the political action committee created to bolster Parson’s political career.
For the last two years, Uniting Missouri has mostly existed to bankroll Parson’s trips to the Super Bowl. But in the weeks leading up to the GOP primary, it spent several hundred thousand dollars supporting the candidacies of Mike Kehoe for governor and Andrew Bailey for attorney general.
Parson is leaving the governor’s office in January because of term limits, and he has repeatedly said he has no intention of ever running for office again.
‘Exploiting a loophole’: PACs tied to Missouri lobbyist draw new criticism
Other invitations to Tuesday night’s gathering seek to raise money for Missouri Prospers PAC, which was formed last week by Tilley’s son-in-law.
Missouri Prospers is one of a constellation of political action committees connected to Tilley, a former Missouri House speaker who became a lobbyist after resigning from office in 2012.
For years, Tilley’s lobbying clients have spread donations among six PACs associated with him and his firm. The PACs then donate that money to candidates.
It’s a practice that’s drawn criticism from those who see it as a way to skirt limits on how much a candidate can accept from an individual or PAC, as well as a ban on direct corporate contribution to candidates.
And in the past it’s drawn scrutiny from federal law enforcement. The FBI began looking into utility contracts in Independence after four Tilley-connected PACs donated to the city’s mayor just days before a key vote.
Each of the PACs had received money from a company connected to one of the contacts.
No charges have ever been filed in any matter involving Tilley, and he has long denied any wrongdoing.
Parson and Tilley have been friends for years, going back more than a decade to when they served together in the Missouri House.
When Tilley resigned from office to become a lobbyist, he still had more than $1 million in his campaign committee. He invested a big portion of it in a Perryville bank, and later used the money to donate to candidates, such as Parson, who would then hire Tilley as a campaign consultant.
Lawmakers felt Tilley had found a loophole in Missouri’s campaign finance laws, ultimately taking aim at his practices by passing legislation in 2016 requiring elected officials to dissolve their campaign committees when they register with the Missouri Ethics Commission as lobbyists.
Since then, Tilley has been a prolific fundraiser for Parson and Uniting Missouri. At one point during the 2020 election cycle, a quarter of the governor’s campaign funds could be connected to Tilley.
And Parson’s years in office have been lucrative for Tilley.
Before Parson took over as governor in June 2018, following the resignation of former Gov. Eric Greitens, Tilley had 25 lobbying clients. A year into Parson’s first term, that number had ballooned to more than 70.