Missouri governor drags the charity he founded into his ethical muck

There’s no doubt that without Eric Greitens, The Mission Continues charitable organization would not exist. He founded it in 2007 and, for seven years, traveled the country relentlessly raising money for it. By the time he stepped down from its leadership in 2014 to prepare for his gubernatorial campaign, the nonprofit had a budget of $10.9 million and had provided thousands of veterans with fellowships to serve their communities.

The Mission Continues is a terrific organization built from a terrific idea. That’s why it’s so sad to find that Greitens may have exploited it for personal and political gain. Not only did he cheat on his wife, he may have cheated on his charity at the same time.

Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley is now investigating how Greitens’ gubernatorial campaign came to possess the nonprofit’s donor list. Donations to IRS charities are tax deductible, which means taxpayers absorb the tax burden that the nonprofit would otherwise pay. In return, charities are barred from political activity because taxpayer money cannot be used for partisan promotion.

In October 2016, The Associated Press reported that Greitens’ campaign had received more than $2 million from individuals or entities that also had contributed to The Mission Continues. Greitens denied that the campaign had been working off the nonprofit’s list. Such lists are commonly bought and sold by charities for thousands of dollars.

Greitens admitted to the Missouri Ethics Commission last year that the campaign had obtained the list on March 1, 2015, as an in-kind contribution by former campaign manager Danny Laub. The ethics commission slapped the Greitens campaign on the wrist with a $1,000 fine but required only $100 to be paid.

Last week, the Post-Dispatch’s Jack Suntrup reported that the campaign actually had received the list two months earlier. An employee of Greitens’ company, the Greitens Group, emailed it to Laub and another campaign staffer.

“We did not give, rent, sell that list to any campaign or anyone connected to the campaign,” said Laura L’Esperance, a spokeswoman for The Mission Continues.

Greitens also used an email address belonging to the nonprofit to invite potential supporters to meet-and-greet sessions in January 2015, The Associated Press reported. Greitens has acknowledged asking people he met during his years with the nonprofit to support his campaign for governor. Such donors were “investing in leadership,” he has said.

Those donors have good reason to be disappointed now, especially after Greitens admitted to having an extramarital affair in 2015 as he was organizing his gubernatorial bid.

Greitens may well have felt entitled to the donor list from the nonprofit he helped build. But that’s not how the law works.

The sad irony is that by ignoring the rules in service to his ambition, Greitens has dragged an excellent organization into his legal and ethical swamp.

NM