On last day, pen of governor busy

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — 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, Greiten 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 clears 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.

Greitens has similarly insisted that he has done nothing worthy of being forced out of office.

The 44-year-old Greitens is a former Navy SEAL officer who won election in 2016 as a political outsider pledging to take on “career politicians” and crack down on perceived corruption in Jefferson City.

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.