JEFFERSON CITY • The former chairman of a Missouri House committee that was investigating ex-Gov. Eric Greitens said Monday the governor broke the law when his office hired two taxpayer-paid impeachment attorneys.
Rep. Jay Barnes, R-Jefferson City, made the charge in a three-page letter delivered Monday to Sarah Steelman, commissioner of the state's Office of Administration.Â
He also argues that Greitens should be on the hook for about $153,000 attorneys Ross Garber and Ed Greim charged the state through the end of May.
"Instead of placing the burden on Missouri taxpayers, those legal fees should be borne exclusively by Eric Greitens himself," Barnes wrote.
Barnes argues that agreements the state signed with Garber and Greim are not valid because state law forbids officials from making contracting decisions that result in a personal benefit to the official.
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Barnes also said Greitens violated which states that administration employees cannot "participate in a proceeding or decision in which the state employee's impartiality might be reasonably questioned due to the state employee's personal or financial relationship with a participant in the proceeding."
"In addition to violating the criminal conflict of interest provisions" of , Barnes wrote, "the Garber-Greim purported contracts also violate Greitens' first official act as governor."
Barnes argues that Steelman should not approve the $153,000 Garber and Greim billed the state. A spokeswoman for the Office of Administration said Monday that the bills were still under review.
Garber, a Washington, D.C.-based attorney who has represented troubled governors in Alabama, Connecticut and South Carolina, said Tuesday it was "common practice" for administrations to seek outside legal help.
"This is a sound practice because it recognizes the significant public interests at stake in these matters," Garber said.
He said he represented the interests of the governor's office, not Greitens himself. Without him, "advocacy would be left to lawyers representing solely the interests of the current occupant of the office."
Greim, who works for the GOP-connected, Kansas City-based Graves Garrett law firm, said the "underlying mistake" in Barnes' analysis is that he assumes "the office of the governor is simply an empty chair that different occupants fill from time to time."
He said that over time, "precedents develop that change the powers, rights and duties of that office. If the constitutional balance is not kept true, then it will be too easy — and if you look at it the other way, too hard — to remove officeholders."
Greim also said that it was his and Garber's job to advocate preferred versions of impeachment procedures and standards for impeachment, not the facts of the case.
"Personal counsel argued the facts," Greim said. "That was not our job."
He also said the Office of Administration is "under a clear legal duty to pay us" and said he believed they ultimately would.
Auditor Nicole Galloway, a Democrat, and Attorney General Josh Hawley, a Republican, both raised concerns last month about the hiring of the Garber and Greim.
Hawley wrote in a letter to Galloway that while state agencies can hire outside legal counsel, they must first seek permission through the attorney general's office — something the Greitens administration had not done, Hawley said.
It was unclear Tuesday what Gov. Mike Parson, who oversees the Office of Administration, would do regarding the legal bills. His spokeswoman, Kelli Jones, said Parson had yet to take a stance.