On the first day of his campaign for governor of the great state of Missouri, Eric Greitens threatened to commit a crime.
It was the sort of foreshadowing that, in retrospect, the hard-charging ex-Navy SEAL might come to regret.
On Sept. 26, 2015, at Westport Plaza in Maryland Heights, the lifelong Democrat who turned himself into a Trumpian Republican almost overnight stood before an oversized American flag, pointed his finger into the camera, and targeted Missouri lobbyists and insiders as his chosen enemy.
“I will defeat you. I will expose your lies. I will root out your corruption,†Greitens said, rising to a crescendo.
“I will see you out of the people’s Capitol, even if in sight of the statue of Thomas Jefferson I have to throw you down the steps of the Capitol myself.â€
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It certainly seems as if Gov. attitude about lobbyists has "evolved."
— Roy Temple (@roytemple)
Perhaps the man who wanted to be president of the United States so badly that before he even announced his run for governor was merely speaking metaphorically.
But after on a felony charge of invasion of privacy for allegedly taking a semi-nude photo of his paramour in the basement of the Central West End home he shared with his family, and threatening to use that photo to keep their affair secret, Greitens has lost the benefit of the doubt.
The indictment stems from an incident just a few months before that announcement for governor, on March 21, 2015, when he began a sexual affair with his former hairdresser. The timing says a lot about the hubris of the Rhodes scholar who would rise to power on a promise to blow up corruption in the capital city.
The affair started just a month after of state Auditor Tom Schweich, then considered the front-runner for the GOP nomination for governor. Schweich’s death spurred a mad scramble of candidates — at least eight prominent Republicans were considering the race at one time — and it was ultimately the outsider, Greitens, who defeated three other candidates and then rode Trump’s coattails to office.
At the time he ran for governor, there were rumors of an affair. Reporters all over the state heard them. Some dug a bit. Most shrugged. None of the political operatives in either party who were chatting about the alleged affair made it an issue in the campaign. Nobody was talking about a crime. This wasn’t Gary Hart in 1987.
But at least one Missouri political operative, former chairman of the Missouri Democratic Party, Roy Temple, spoke with the ex-husband of Greitens’ former lover. Temple promised the man at the time he wouldn’t bring the story forward without permission. He kept his promise.
When on the night of his State of the State address last month, Greitens publicly blamed Temple, even while some of the governor’s allies were privately pointing to other conspirators, including rivals in the Republican Party, and, of course, the proverbial lobbyists and insiders.
On Thursday, hours before the governor was indicted, Temple posted a video of that Greitens speech in which he attacks lobbyists.
It was in reaction to the governor’s move of desperation the day before, when lobbyist Aaron Baker listed the law firm defending the governor in the criminal case, Dowd Bennett, as a new client.
“It certainly seems as if (Gov. Greitens) attitude about lobbyists has ‘evolved,’†Temple wrote on the social media platform Twitter.
Indeed, Greitens’ best hope to stay in office now is that a man he once considered the epitome of corruption — powerful GOP consultant Jeff Roe — can ward off impeachment proceedings in the Missouri House, currently being contemplated by legislative leaders.
Baker is a vice president of Roe’s Axiom Strategies firm. He also manages the public affairs company that issued a statement on behalf of the governor denying the charges.
Greitens, never really intent on cleaning up Jefferson City, is now depending on the biggest snake in the swamp — his words, not mine — to save him.
Months after Greitens ended his affair and began his frontal assault on lobbyists, he wrote a letter to supporters calling out Roe and his allies specifically.
. He said they were shameful and disgusting. “Liars, cowards, sociopaths,†he wrote. “They are often deeply broken and disturbed people, who — like criminals who prey on the innocent — take their pleasure and make their living by victimizing honest people.â€
Now Greitens is the alleged criminal who preyed on the innocent.
His reckoning awaits.
“There is only one man responsible for his actions in the basement of his family home,†says Temple. “Now he must face the consequences of those actions.â€