Gov. in disputes before indictment

Missouri Republican had been rising star with apparent hopes for higher office

Missouri Republican Gov. Eric Greitens courted controversy and touched off political disputes even before acknowledging an extramarital affair that led to his indictment Thursday on a felony invasion of privacy charge.

Greitens had been a rising star in the national Republican Party and a welcome partner for state GOP lawmakers, whose favored policies had faced a Democratic governor’s veto pen until Greitens’ election in 2016.

Greitens acknowledged in January that he had an extramarital affair in 2015, but he denied the blackmail allegations.

The indictment stated that Greitens photographed a woman with whom he had an affair “in a state of full or partial nudity” without her knowledge or consent.

A look at some other notable hiccups during Greitens’ first campaign and first year in office: entities that had given the charity significant contributions. Democrats said it was the kind of insider politics that Greitens decried in his campaign, and the chairman of the state party filed an ethics complaint contending he should have disclosed the list as an in-kind contribution.

Greitens initially denied using the charity’s list for fundraising, then reported it as an in-kind contribution. He paid a $100 fine.

In his campaign, Greitens emphasized how he started The Mission Continues with combat pay from a tour in Iraq, and he initially worked for the charity without pay. But as donations rose, he started taking a salary, and it hit $175,000 in 2011 — above the median for nearly 240 medium-sized charities in the Midwest.

Greitens made fighting corruption and making ethics reforms a key part of his campaign for governor. Once elected, he broke with tradition by refusing to disclose the amount of the donations to his inaugural festivities. Democratic legislators said the move could allow him to hide any conflicts of interest.