Missouri governor leaves after signing ‘revenge porn law’
JEFFERSON CITY, Missouri — Just hours before he left office Friday, Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens signed scores of new laws, including a measure that makes it a crime to try to threaten a person using a private sexual image — the same allegation that led to his downfall.
In the flurry of last-minute activity, the governor approved 77 new laws, granted several pardons and commutations and won at least a temporary reprieve in a court battle over campaign records. He posted a long Facebook message touting his accomplishments — without any mention of why he was quitting — and quietly left Capitol about an hour before his 5 p.m. resignation took effect.
His departure cleared the way for fellow Republican Lt. Gov. Mike Parson to take over.
The “revenge porn” law creates a felony that will apply to cases when someone threatens the nonconsensual dissemination of a private sexual image by coercing another person to refrain from an action.
The governor has been accused of taking a nonconsensual photo of a partially nude woman with whom he had an affair in 2015 and warning her he would distribute it if she ever spoke of their encounter.
He has acknowledged having the affair but denied criminal wrongdoing and refused to directly answer questions about whether he took the photo.
Greitens cannot be charged under the new law because it was not in effect at the time. But a special prosecutor is still weighing whether to refile an invasion-of-privacy charge against Greitens under a different law.
In a statement announcing the bill signings, he touted bills such as a corporate income tax cut and changes to the state foster care system. Later, he announced he had pardoned five people and commuted the sentences of four others, including several whom he said had been wrongfully convicted of murder.
Greitens has similarly insisted that he has done nothing worthy of being forced out of office.
“The ability to make wrong things right, for Missourians who have not gotten fair treatment from our criminal justice system, is one of the most solemn and precious abilities of a governor,” Greitens said in a statement announcing the clemency actions.
His resignation is part of a deal with a St. Louis prosecutor to drop a felony charge alleging misuse of a charity donor list to raise money for his 2016 gubernatorial campaign. His voluntary departure also avoids the potentially dubious distinction of becoming the first Missouri governor to be impeached by the House.
Though he’s leaving, Greitens isn’t entirely clear of legal problems.
The Missouri Ethics Commission continues to investigate a complaint that Greitens’ campaign filed false documents about the charity donor list.
The FBI also has received information about Greitens from the chairman of a House investigatory panel and a private attorney representing the ex-husband of the woman with whom he had an affair.