JEFFERSON CITY • Gov. Eric Greitens stormed into power the same day Attorney General Josh Hawley took his seat in a suite of offices across from the Capitol. A year passed before Greitens’ administration began to collapse. Greitens made few friends in the capital city. In April, he took aim at Hawley.
Hawley had said at a news conference that Greitens likely committed felony computer tampering before taking office. Greitens fired back with a statement saying that Hawley was “better at press conferences than the law.†A little more than a month later, Greitens resigned, retreating to his Warren County lake house.
People are also reading…
The episode was striking — two young, conservative outsiders trading barbs.
But Greitens is not the only person to question Hawley’s motivations and effectiveness.
Adversaries portray Hawley, 38, as a young man in a hurry — someone more interested in headlines than results.
Hawley points to accomplishments that range from helping to in Springfield, Mo., to seeking to link service members with pro bono legal help.
Now that Hawley is running for U.S. Senate against Democrat Claire McCaskill, his two years as attorney general — the only public office he’s ever held — provide the only work sample voters have to judge his effectiveness as an elected leader.
Accomplishments
When he took office in early 2017, Hawley oversaw a chaotic office-wide restructuring that was followed by high turnover, the Post-Dispatch reported Sunday.
Despite that turnover, Mary Compton, Hawley’s spokeswoman, cited several accomplishments, including: settling a lawsuit with the Bridgeton Landfill that Hawley’s predecessor filed; collecting a record amount of Medicaid fraud restitution; and earning more than 100 convictions at the trial court level.
Hawley also settled a decadelong legal battle between blind Missourians and the state over the Blind Pension Fund.
After on the state’s sexual assault kit testing backlog, Hawley launched an audit of the problem. He documented 5,424 untested kits, though many police agencies did not respond to questions. His office also landed a federal grant to help ease the backlog.
Hawley said his consumer protection section for Missourians; it was not immediately clear how that figure compares to past administrations. He praised his prosecutors for their criminal convictions and successful judgments on appeal.
“They often do it at less pay than they could get in the private sector,†Hawley said in an interview. “And they’re doing a good job.â€
Hawley’s new Federalism Unit took 14 actions to torpedo federal laws and regulations, including the Affordable Care Act, the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau and several environmental protections. Some former employees complain the emphasis diverted attention away from more pressing (and less glamorous) state business.
The attorney general has made other moves that garnered both praise and criticism.
On Aug. 31, Hawley filed a lawsuit seeking to enjoin Branson Duck Boats and Ripley Entertainment from operating the vehicles in Missouri. In July, 17 people died when a duck boat sank in Table Rock Lake in Branson during a storm.
The company owners questioned the accuracy of his allegations and insinuated the lawsuit was filed to burnish Hawley’s credentials.
“The Attorney General’s suggestion that BDV and Ripley flouted safety concerns in the name of profits is nothing more than baseless hyperbole, aimed at leveraging and stoking passions in the aftermath of this tragedy in an effort to polish the Attorney General’s prosecutorial credentials,†the companies’ attorneys wrote in court documents.
“People will fight me, accuse me of things all the time,†Hawley said. “I would just say to the Branson duck boat folks — Duck Boat Vehicles and Ripley Entertainment — they better check their rhetoric and take responsibility for their actions, because they’ve got a long road ahead of them.
“I don’t want them operating duck boats anywhere in Missouri,†he added.
Hawley also has announced several investigations during his tenure, including one into possible Catholic clergy sex abuse, two related to tech companies Google and Facebook and another related to pharmaceutical companies under allegations of opioid pill pushing. He also announced an investigation into Equifax after a data breach last year.
“I’m most proud of standing up to the big and powerful on behalf of the people of Missouri — no matter what, no matter who,†Hawley said. “We’ve done that, whether it’s big pharma, big tech or organized crime — human traffickers, Medicaid fraudsters.â€
Hawley last summer. The Google and Facebook investigations are ongoing. His Catholic clergy probe involves potentially hundreds of thousands of documents.
Joseph Bindbeutel, who served three of Hawley’s predecessors, said he was struck by how many times Hawley has publicized his probes.
“Those investigations are going to take years to complete,†Bindbeutel said, referring specifically to the tech probes. “When you yell them (investigation announcements) from the mountaintops, it makes one wonder, ‘Is this about yelling from the mountaintops, or is this about doing a straight up, legitimate, thorough investigation of an issue?’â€
Greitens’ ghosts
Hawley has not updated the public in months on his investigation into Greitens’ former charity, .
He was also investigating to see whether Greitens or his staff illegally used taxpayer resources for campaign purposes, but it is unclear where that probe stands.
Hawley said at an August press gaggle that the probes were ongoing. He has unsurprisingly avoided mention of Greitens on the campaign trail.
“Greitens’ resignation handed Hawley a great gift,†said Terry Smith, political science professor at Columbia College. “I’m sure Claire was really sad when he left office. It was going to be a real albatross.â€
Meanwhile, two private attorneys have continued to probe the Greitens administration. Elad Gross, a former assistant attorney general under Democrat Chris Koster, sued Greitens’ nonprofit, A New Missouri, in June after the dark money group declined to turn over financial information to Gross.
Gross is sparring with Gov. Mike Parson’s office over a $3,618 bill for documents. He sued Parson’s administration last week. He also mailed Hawley’s office a packet explaining why he thinks Hawley can investigate A New Missouri, but the office still contends it cannot.
Mark Pedroli, a ºüÀêÊÓƵ County attorney, sued the Greitens administration in December over Greitens’ use of the text-message destroying smartphone app Confide, which he says violated state records retention laws.
While Pedroli continues to gather evidence that he says shows Greitens and his staff broke the law, Hawley’s office said in March it found no evidence of wrongdoing.
In another case, Hawley used the merchandising practices law to sue the ºüÀêÊÓƵ Housing Authority and McCormack Baron Management, which both manage the Clinton-Peabody Housing Complex south of downtown ºüÀêÊÓƵ.
Hawley alleged in his August lawsuit that the housing authority and McCormack Baron fraudulently marketed complexes as habitable, when, in fact, the units were not. He wants the two entities to return rent payments to tenants.
Problems at the complex, built in 1942, became widely known after mice invaded the complex last fall. While mice infested an estimated 165 of 358 units last December, the ºüÀêÊÓƵ Health Department said in August that an estimated six units showed evidence of mice after an inspection that month.
The housing authority and McCormack Baron have called the lawsuit unhelpful. Cheryl Lovell, director of the authority, said her staff has worked “tirelessly†to solve the problems on a shoestring budget. She said Hawley did not meet with the housing authority before filing a lawsuit.
The housing authority and McCormack Baron also say that Clinton-Peabody has not been able to access federal funds that would allow for interior renovations.
Hawley says the criticisms sound like “excuses.â€
“We are going to hold them accountable no matter how much they kick and scream and make excuses,†he said. “These are people’s homes were talking about.â€
To Hawley’s critics, the headline-grabbing announcement was just that: a headline-grabbing announcement. The two sides are not even scheduled to appear in court for an initial review until Nov. 13, after the election.
“I think it’s more political than anything,†said Sen. Jamilah Nasheed, D-ºüÀêÊÓƵ. “He’s trying to keep his name out there.â€
Greitens, a former Navy Seal, founded The Mission Continues in 2007. His alleged use of a fundraising list from the charity is under investigation.
From ºüÀêÊÓƵ to Jefferson City to Washington D.C., join our journalists as they take you behind the scenes on the campaign trail and share s…
Hawley vs. McCaskill: Coverage of the 2018 Senate race
Post-Dispatch coverage of the 2018 race for Missouri's U.S. Senate seat.
If Missouri voters elect Attorney General Josh Hawley to the U.S. Senate, the state's governor will be charged with filling the vacant attorne…
Polls in advance of Election Day show a tight contest between McCaskill and Hawley. The race could determine which party controls the Senate i…
Less than two years into his first term as an elected official, Hawley, a Stanford- and Yale-educated attorney, is trying to ride a wave launc…
This very much feels like her last campaign, win or lose, and if you listen hard and often enough, it’s difficult to come to any other conclusion.
Super PACs aligned with the Senate Republican leader and minority leader have spent a combined $43 million so far in the Missouri Senate race,…
The results of the midterm elections are likely to have a major impact on a broad array of other health issues that touch every single American.Â
Top Missouri Republicans are calling for a federal probe into anonymous direct mail pieces seeking to influence voters.
Trump appeared at a rollicking campaign rally in Columbia, home of the state's largest university, in an airline hangar draped in American flags.Â
“Hate will continue to grow if we do not speak up, and speak out,†Biden said, to shouts of “tell it Joe.â€
"That was a big red flag to me," one attorney who still works in the office, and who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliati…
Hawley, during a campaign stop on Wednesday, dismissed suggestions in a Kansas City Star report that consultants paid by his state campaign fu…
Trump will have 11 campaign rallies in eight states over the last week of the campaign, and two will be in Missouri.
While Greitens' tenure has faded as a campaign issue in recent months, McCaskill's campaign manager David Kirby said Tuesday he wanted to "ref…
Republican strategists believe anything they can do to tie McCaskill to images of activists interrupting the hearing, confronting Republican s…
Invitations show that the event is expected to take place at Hangar 350 at the Columbia Regional Airport, and that it is open to the public to…
McCaskill did not relent in her criticism of President Donald Trump, who she said knowingly spreads false information to gain political points…
Issues from immigration to health care aside, so much of what is driving debate and voter passions this fall circulates around this question: …
In this episode of Inside the Post-Dispatch, state government reporter Kurt Erickson breaks down some of the top issues on the ballot in Novem…
A day after a Cole County judge tossed out a key piece of the law, McCaskill said Hawley, the state's attorney general, should “stop making it…
Missouri’s megamillions U.S. Senate race is attracting financial support from the big names of Hollywood and Silicon Valley for Sen. Claire Mc…
The initiative would bump the minimum rate to $8.60 an hour starting Jan. 1, and increase it every year by 85 cents until reaching $12 in 2023.
Now that Hawley is running for U.S. Senate against Democrat Claire McCaskill, his two years as attorney general — the only public office he’s …
Critics say Hawley’s administration bled staffers and dedicated limited resources to firing salvos toward the federal government. They say he …
In the ad, two black women discuss the bitter confirmation process of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who was alleged to have sexu…
The candidates clashed on questions about the growing deficit, gun restrictions and the Affordable Care Act among other issues.
It’s a tried-and-true Democratic message: That Republicans are coming after your Social Security and Medicare.
Missouri’s nationally watched U.S. Senate race between Claire McCaskill and Josh Hawley will close as the perfect storm of 2018.
Project Veritas, a conservative group that produces "sting" videos intended to embarrass liberal organizations and media outfits, took the videos.
The Clean Missouri initiative, known as Amendment 1, would limit lobbyists from giving public officials anything valued at more than $5 in an …
Hawley began October with more than $3.5 million in the bank to McCaskill’s slightly less than $3.2 million.
That independent spending, separate from what Hawley and McCaskill are spending on their own campaigns, has already surpassed $41 million, mor…
The poll by Reuters, Ipsos and the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics shows Republican Attorney General Josh Hawley supported by 45 …
In Missouri, Montana, Indiana, North Dakota and West Virginia, the success or failure of nuanced arguments about Trump could determine control…
Within a half hour of the vote, Hawley sent out a fundraising email praising Kavanaugh and asking for donations. Â
Commercial banks have so far donated a total of $2.5 million to U.S. Senate Democrats in the 2018 election cycle, the largest sum since 2008, …
Hawley was one of five Republican candidates for the U.S. Senate invited to the event hosted by financier and GOP donor John Childs, Politico …
But in the state’s U.S. Senate race, neither candidate has emphasized combating climate change.
Obama twice lost Missouri, the last time in 2012 by almost 10 points to Mitt Romney. President Trump won the state by almost 19 points in 2016…
In the ad, a widely circulated Sen. Pat Roberts quote describes McCaskill as a senator he seeks to get bipartisan things done. The Republican …
Hawley, as the state’s lawyer, has added Missouri to a Texas lawsuit that would end the federal Affordable Care Act, which requires insurers t…
McCaskill lauded the “good news†of an outside group partially funded by undisclosed donors aiming to register 100,000 black voters in Missouri.
Following the line other Republicans, Hawley accused Democrats of “deliberate maneuvers†to delay and obstruct Kavanaugh’s nomination, and sai…
Their disagreement — expressed by Hawley on Twitter and by McCaskill in an interview with the Post-Dispatch’s editorial board — was a microcos…
Political committees aligned with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and former President Barack Obama are aiming digital messages to blac…
There’s “no county more important in this entire state than the one we are sitting in right now,†Republican Senate candidate Josh Hawley told…
Trump made the future of Kavanaugh and the federal judiciary a centerpiece of his rally in Springfield, which was designed to support the stat…
McCaskill, said her call was based primarily on what she said was Kavanaugh’s position that seemed to favor the survival of “dark money†in politics.
The process “is exactly the kind of thing that voters in my state, at least, say is wrong with Washington, D.C. and needs to change,†he said.
McCaskill is the second-biggest recipient of insurance company money across the board in this election cycle so far, according to the nonparti…
Trump will be stumping for Republican Senate candidate Josh Hawley, Missouri's attorney general.
The 10 votes below are markers in determining the validity of her claims of independence — and of Hawley’s assertions that she is usually a re…
In a forum sponsored by the Missouri Press Association at a ºüÀêÊÓƵ County hotel, the two contenders along with an independent candidate and…
McCaskill reported an adjusted gross income of $266,096 in 2017. Hawley, who filed jointly with his wife reported an adjusted gross income of …
With less than two months to go in the 2018 race for a pivotal U.S. Senate seat, the two major party candidates refuse to say whether they wil…
Like a handful of other Senate Democrats up for re-election in states President Donald Trump easily won in 2016, McCaskill is facing a Kavanau…
Likely voters come down in a 47-47 percent tie when asked just about Hawley and McCaskill in the NBC News-Marist poll.Â
Rather than join calls for Trump’s impeachment, McCaskill said special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into obstruction of justice and potentia…
Data compiled by the group from Federal Election Commission reports indicate that about $23 million has been spent so far, slightly over half …
Hawley says he has not decided whether he will vote to raise the minimum wage in November.
The ad, however, leaves out context. Advocates, law enforcement and survivors of sexual violence have for years sounded the alarm on sexual as…
The insidious nature of dark money is everywhere these days in Missouri politics.
In a speech to pastors and church members in ºüÀêÊÓƵ, the Republican nominee said he favored getting rid of the Johnson Amendment, which bar…
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is launching a television commercial highlighting McCaskill's “no†vote on President Trump’s tax reform plan.
McCaskill met with President Donald Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court, but offered no hint on whether she supports or opposes his confirmation.
“The negotiation over tariffs should not be an excuse for you to kill American jobs and consolidate Deacero’s nail manufacturing to Mexico,†H…
“I think it’s going to be tricky for both of them, but from day to day I change my mind on who’s going to have the tougher time,†said Jeremy …
If some politicians didn’t mistake “knowing what the average person goes through†with “I’m one of you,†they wouldn’t fall into the perpetual…
In response to Post-Dispatch questions last week, McCaskill made her positions on six high-profile questions taht will be on the November ball…
"What I see clearly is that where we get things done is in the middle, when we work together, when people compromise. And we don’t have, frank…
From his early days as a law clerk to his life in private practice, the Republican has focused on legal cases where religion and the law inter…
The pick was not a surprise after the group passed over McCaskill in her two previous elections, but McCaskill had hoped the organization woul…
“The media say a lot of things that people disagree with, but I don’t think they’re the enemy of the people, no,†Hawley told a Post-Dispatch …
The two U.S. Senate candidates tweeted post-primary insults back and forth in fights over McCaskill’s wealth, Hawley’s Yale law degree and the…
The Senate race is at least partially a referendum on Trump.
Hawley and McCaskill challenged each other to a series of one-on-one debates.
President Donald Trump waded back into Missouri’s pivotal U.S. Senate race Tuesday, speaking at the national convention of the Veterans of For…
Even before Hawley won the Republican nomination, ads pit him as the likely winner to face off against McCaskill in November.
So, who is the most authentic Missourian this week?
Her re-election chances this fall could depend heavily on how she votes on the nomination, how she explains that vote, and how her Republican …
The fundraising was more than twice the amount raised in that time by Hawley — with 85 percent of McCaskill's money coming in donations of les…
Hawley’s ad tries to connect the fight over Trump’s choice to Missouri’s pivotal status in U.S. Senate races this year.Â
But Hawley himself was in Beverly Hills over the weekend, meeting with the Republican National Committee about campaign finance issues, the sa…
“I certainly expressed concerns for the ag community on this looming trade war,†McCaskill said, “and what a devastating impact that could hav…
Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., whom Hawley is trying to unseat, "is the face of Washington's failure," Hawley said then.
“Sen. Claire McCaskill (D., Mo.) said her campaign was ‘hitting the road’ in an RV to tour the state,†reads the first sentence, “but public f…
The mix of issues this time around also is familiar: health care, tax cuts, immigration, the economy, the Supreme Court, trade.
Democrats argue that the governor’s decision doesn’t wipe away their claim that Hawley is part of a corrupt and distant Republican leadership …
The poll by Missouri Scout, a nonpartisan political news service, found McCaskill leading Hawley with 48 percent of the vote, to his 44 percent.
A new Morning Consult poll also shows McCaskill with the worst job-approval ratings of any incumbent Democrat running in states won by Preside…
Hawley’s campaign pointed out he is raising money at a faster pace than Democratic challenger Jason Kander did in 2016.
As the prospect of Democrats taking control of the U.S. House of Representatives in November elections looks increasingly possible, Greitens’ …
The Mason-Dixon poll has McCaskill at 45 percent, Hawley 44, with 11 percent undecided.
With seven months to go in the campaign, McCaskill has now raised roughly $17 million for her re-election campaign.
Missouri Democrats and Republicans have essentially switched sides on the “one of us†debate.
Republicans jumped on the news, trying to frame it as McCaskill raising money with an ex-president who never won Missouri, while taking money …
Hawley will have to work pretty hard to out-country McCaskill. Every time she runs for office, she turns into Country Claire, harkening back t…
Surrogate targets Hillary Clinton and Gov. Eric Greitens are in the spotlight of the latest negative blasts.
Trump, in Missouri to raise money for Hawley, called McCaskill "bad for Missouri, and bad for the country." But he barely spoke about Hawley. …
"Washington, D.C., disrespects us. It disregards us. The political class doesn’t even pretend to listen to us. The liberal elites who call the…
In the latest indication of the volatility of the race, McCaskill's 2 percentage point lead (42-40) over Hawley in the new poll by Gravis Mark…
The poll result put her in a more precarious position than all but two Democratic incumbents in the Senate.
On major votes, ranging from taxes to health care to abortion rights, McCaskill is often tethered to her party’s line, although she says that’…
One of Hawley’s top supporters, former U.S. Sen. John Danforth of Missouri, hinted Tuesday that he believes those rumors might stem from incum…
“You know what I’m talking about, the 1960s, 1970s, it became commonplace in our culture among our cultural elites, Hollywood, and the media, …
Hawley raised less than $1 million in the fourth quarter of 2017.
McCaskill, D-Mo., had about 107,000 donors, of which about 90,000 had not given before, McCaskill’s campaign reported.
McCaskill had robust fundraising in 2017, pulling in roughly a million dollars a month. Even though she tries to disown them, outside spending…
President Donald Trump traveled to Missouri to whip up support for the Republican tax plan — and in the process put himself squarely into the …
“You cannot be all things to all people,†McCaskill added. “That is the one piece of advice I’d give Josh Hawley. Take a stand.â€
McCaskill portrayed voters as not necessarily attuned with all the back and forth of Washington, D.C., but still worried about their futures, …
McCaskill, a Democrat, has criticized Republican tax ideas she says will coddle the rich at the expense of the middle class. But she has said …
McCaskill's fundraising set a Missouri record for the July to September period.Â
Trump thumped Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016 in Missouri, and the sheen of Washington, D.C., remains toxic for the state’s politicians.
In the video, he talks in general terms about issues on which he believes the status quo has failed, including jobs, taxes and health care costs.Â