A company that shares an address with lieutenant governor candidate Dave Wasinger’s home last week loaned $300,000 to a recently formed PAC for attacks on his two best-funded Republican primary opponents.

DACA Partners III LP on Thursday loaned the money to Missouri First Conservative PAC with terms stating it is to be repaid in 47 days with 4% annual interest. Depending on how interest is calculated on the loan, it will add about $1,550 to the repayment.

Missouri First Conservative PAC was formed May 29 and had no activity until receiving the loan.

The loan was reported in a Friday filing with the Missouri Ethics Commission. The filing does not state what kind of opposition message was being delivered in the mailing purchased for $139,656, only that the cost was divided to oppose state Sens. Holly Rehder of Scott City and Lincoln Hough of Springfield in equal amounts.

A second report, filed Tuesday, shows another $139,656 being spent on direct mail with a message supporting Wasinger. The PAC had $20,638 remaining.

Online searches found no revenue-producing business operation associated with DACA Partners III LP, created in May 2023 by attorney Jamie Mendez, according to records online at the Secretary of State’s office. 

The mailing address of the general partners on the creation filing is Wasinger’s address as shown on his personal property tax records, online at the St. Louis County Assessor, and his candidate committee filing with the ethics commission.

The assessor’s office lists the owner of the home occupied by Wasinger as an entity called DACAS Properties LLC. There is no such business entity registered with the secretary of state.

Wasinger did not return calls seeking comment on the PAC transaction. Calls to his campaign manager, Kathryn Wagner, and the treasurer of Missouri First Conservative PAC, former St. Louis County Councilman Tim Fitch, were not returned.

The telephone number for Missouri First Conservative PAC is Wagner’s phone.

With Wasinger personally providing 94% of the $2.8 million his campaign has raised, Hough alleged the latest PAC spending is intentionally deceptive and intended to hide the source of the funding and the creator of the message.

“Why not put another 300 grand in and run your negative mail?” Hough said in an interview with The Independent. “Why not? Because you think we’re all too stupid to see that it’s actually your money doing it.”

Rehder did not return a call seeking comment.

The latest full campaign finance reports, which were due Monday, show Wasinger has loaned his own campaign $2.6 million so far, including $1 million since July 1. He has spent all but $265,000 of his campaign fund.

Wasinger was also the primary funder of his failed 2018 campaign for the Republican nomination for state auditor.

Hough, a long-time lawmaker from Springfield, has exceeded Wasinger’s fundraising through his campaign committee and Lincoln PAC, a joint fundraising committee. Hough’s campaign has raised $642,000 since the start of 2023 and the PAC has collected $2.5 million. 

Except for candidates who can self-fund, like Wasinger, major candidates for statewide office have official campaign committees and joint fundraising PACs. Donations to the candidate committees are limited to $2,825, while the PACs can accept any amount.

Candidates can solicit funds for the PAC but are supposed to have no say in how it is used.

Rehder, of Scott City, has raised $555,000 through her campaign fund and another $369,000 through Southern Drawl PAC, her joint fundraising committee.

Of the three other candidates in the Republican primary — Paul Berry III of St. Louis County, Tim Baker of Franklin County and Matthew Porter of St. Louis County — only Porter has raised more than $100,000, and he suspended his campaign last month.

Wasinger has been missing from local Republican events that candidates use to introduce themselves around the state, Hough said.

“Some of us run campaigns,” Hough said. “I’ve been endorsed by law enforcement, first responders, business groups, as well as virtually every agricultural organization in this state. We’ve traveled tens of thousands of miles and met with thousands of voters. That’s what a campaign looks like.”

Hough is one of the few candidates who has a PAC that is easily identifiable with his candidacy. Some PACs report the candidate they support to the ethics commission but many do not.

“I will own what this stuff puts out,” Hough said. “Now, I don’t get to tell them what to do but my name is still on it, because I want to show everyone the ownership of me running my own race.”

The final campaign finance reports before the primary were due Monday at the Missouri Ethics Commission and last week at the Federal Election Commission.

Here’s a roundup of what they show:

Statewide races

Republican candidates in statewide primaries for the five constitutional offices have raised about $54 million, through candidate committees and PACs, including $22 million in the race for governor, through July 17.

They have spent almost all of that, more than $53 million, including $23.5 million in the governor’s primary, since the beginning of 2023.

In contrast, Democrats in statewide primaries have raised only  $4.8 million, and spending totals $4 million. Almost all of that has been raised and spent in the primary for governor, where businessman Mike Hamra has used $1.9 million in personal funds, raising $1 million more in donations to his campaign fund and Together Missouri PAC.

House Minority Leader Crystal Quade of Springfield has raised $1.1 million for her campaign and $140,000 for Crystal PAC.

The top five Republican fundraisers for the primary are:

• Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe, $13.8 million raised between his campaign and American Dream PAC, in his race for governor. 
• Will Scharf, $9 million raised between his campaign committee and Defend Missouri PAC as he runs for attorney general.
• State Treasurer Vivek Malek, $5.7 million between his campaign fund and American Promise PAC as he seeks a full term in a six-way primary.
• State Sen. Bill Eigel, $5.3 million raised between his campaign and BILL PAC as he runs for governor.
• Attorney General Andrew Bailey, $4.1 million raised as he tries to hold the post he was appointed to in early 2023.

Federal races

The most recent filings in federal races show challengers are outraising incumbents in two races and personal wealth fueling a candidacy for Congress in another.

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Lucas Kunce reported raising $731,000 in the first 17 days of the month, compared to $184,422 for incumbent U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, a Republican. Kunce has outraised Hawley by almost $3 million since the start of 2023 but Hawley retains an advantage in accumulated cash, $5.7 million to $4.2 million for Kunce.

Wesley Bell, the St. Louis County prosecutor challenging U.S. Rep. Cori Bush in the 1st District Democratic primary, reported $611,000 in the period and $4.7 million total for the campaign, while Bush raised about $236,000 for the period and $3 million for the campaign. Bush had about $354,000 left and Bell about $1.7 million.

The race has also attracted millions in outside spending for and against both candidates.

In the open 3rd District, former state Sen. Bob Onder, a Lake St. Louis Republican, made a $200,000 loan to his campaign, bringing his total commitment to the race to $700,000. He has raised an additional $455,000. His main rival, former Sen. Kurt Schaefer of Columbia, has raised $272,000.

The 3rd District is another race where massive outside spending is exceeding the funds candidates are raising and spending.

A Missouri man was freed from prison Tuesday after his murder conviction was overturned after 34 years behind bars, despite the state attorney general’s efforts to keep him there.

“I never gave up because my family never gave up,” Christopher Dunn said from the steps of the downtown St. Louis courthouse. “It’s easy to give up in prison when you lose hope. But when the system throws you away, you have to ask yourself if you wanted to just settle for it or fight for it.”

Dunn, 52, reunited with his wife, Kira Dunn, as he was officially released from the St. Louis city jail Tuesday night. As his release drew imminent, he was driven by van from the state prison in Licking, Missouri, to St. Louis, about 140 miles away.

A St. Louis circuit judge overturned Dunn’s murder conviction on July 22 and ordered his immediate release. But Dunn remained imprisoned amid a chaotic process that began when Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey appealed to try and keep Dunn locked up.

When asked about the delay since the judge’s ruling, Dunn said, “It was testing. To hear the decision by the judge and then be prepared to leave on Wednesday, only to be brought back to prison. It was torture.”

Dunn’s release marks the second time in recent weeks that a person was freed from prison despite Bailey’s appeals to keep them in custody after a murder conviction was overturned.

Sandra Hemme was freed July 19 from a western Missouri prison after serving 43 years for a murder that a judge deemed there was evidence of her “actual innocence.” Bailey’s office also opposed Hemme’s release while an appellate court reviewed the case. She walked out of the prison only after a judge threatened Bailey with contempt if she wasn’t freed.

Political scientists and some attorneys have said Bailey was taking the tough stance to shore up votes in advance of a contested Republican primary. He faces a challenge from Will Scharf, an attorney for former President Donald Trump, in the Aug. 6 primary.

At one point last week, Dunn was minutes away from getting out of prison after the circuit judge, Jason Sengheiser, threatened a warden with contempt if he wasn’t released. But then the Missouri Supreme Court agreed to consider the case, temporarily halting his freedom.

Then on Tuesday, the state’s highest court issued a ruling stating that the St. Louis circuit attorney needed to confirm it had no plans to retry Dunn before he could be freed. Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore immediately filed a memorandum stating he would not seek a new trial, setting in motion the process toward Dunn’s freedom.

A statement from the Midwest Innocence Project said Dunn “is coming home.”

“We are thrilled that Chris will finally be reunited with his family after 34 years behind bars for a crime he did not commit,” the statement read. “We look forward to supporting Chris as he rebuilds his life.”

Earlier Tuesday, leaders of the Missouri NAACP and other organizations said that politics and racism were behind Bailey’s effort to keep Dunn behind bars. State NAACP President Nimrod Chapel Jr. said at a news conference that Bailey “superseded his jurisdiction and authority” in appealing Sengheiser’s ruling.

“What’s happening now is another form of lynching,” said another speaker, Zaki Baruti of the Universal African People’s Organization.

Bailey’s office, in an earlier statement, said the effort to keep Dunn in prison was warranted.

“Throughout the appeals process, multiple courts have affirmed Christopher Dunn’s murder conviction,” the statement read. “We will always fight for the rule of law and to obtain justice for victims.”

Dunn was convicted of first-degree murder in the 1990 shooting of 15-year-old Ricco Rogers. St. Louis Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore filed a motion in February seeking to vacate the guilty verdict. A hearing was in May.

Sengheiser wrote in his ruling that Gore “made a clear and convincing showing of ‘actual innocence’ that undermines the basis for Dunn’s convictions because in light of new evidence, no juror, acting reasonably, would have voted to find Dunn guilty of these crimes beyond a reasonable doubt.”

The Missouri Attorney General’s Office opposed the effort to vacate Dunn’s conviction. Lawyers for the state said at the May hearing that initial testimony from two boys at the scene who identified Dunn as the shooter was correct, even though they later recanted as adults.

Rogers was shot May 18, 1990, when a gunman opened fire while he was with a group of other teenage boys outside a home. DeMorris Stepp, 14, and Michael Davis Jr., 12, both initially identified Dunn as the shooter.

In a recorded interview played at the hearing, Davis said he lied because he thought Dunn was affiliated with a rival gang.

Stepp’s story has changed a few times over the years, Gore said at the hearing. Most recently he has said he did not see Dunn as the shooter. Gore said another judge previously found Stepp to be a “completely unreliable witness” and urged Sengheiser to discount him altogether.

Dunn has said he was at his mother’s home at the time of the shooting. Childhood friend Nicole Bailey testified that she spoke with him by phone that night and he was on a phone at his mother’s house.

Tristin Estep, the assistant attorney general, said that alibi could not be trusted and that Dunn’s story has shifted multiple times over the years. Dunn did not testify at the hearing.

A Missouri law adopted in 2021 lets prosecutors request hearings when they see evidence of a wrongful conviction. While Bailey’s office is not required to oppose such efforts, he also opposed another effort in St. Louis that resulted in Lamar Johnson being freed last year after serving 28 years for a murder case in which a judge ruled he was wrongfully convicted.

The 2021 law has resulted in the release of two men who each spent decades in prison. In addition to Johnson, Kevin Strickland was freed in 2021 after more than 40 years for three killings in Kansas City after a judge ruled he was wrongfully convicted in 1979.

Another hearing is approaching for Marcellus Williams, who narrowly escaped lethal injection and is now facing another execution date.

St. Louis County’s prosecutor believes DNA evidence shows that Williams didn’t commit the crime that landed him on death row. DNA of someone else — but not Williams — was found on the knife used in the 1998 killing, experts said.

A hearing on Williams’ innocence claim begins Aug. 21. His execution is scheduled for Sept. 24.

Bailey’s office is opposing the challenge to Williams’ conviction, too.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The family of a Black Missouri man who prosecutors say was killed by guards in a Missouri prison sued Tuesday for surveillance video of the moments leading up to his death.

Four prison guards were charged last month with murder, and a fifth with accessory to involuntary manslaughter, in 38-year-old Othel Moore Jr.’s December 2023 death. All five former guards have pleaded not guilty.

Moore’s mother and sister said they submitted a request in January through Missouri’s public records laws for prison surveillance video from the day of his death.

In a lawsuit their attorney said was filed Tuesday, the family said it still has not received the footage.

The Department of Corrections “knowingly and purposefully withheld the requested video in violation of the Sunshine Law,” attorneys for Moore’s family wrote in the lawsuit. They said the agency is claiming “without evidence, that releasing the videos would somehow harm security.”

Corrections spokesperson Karen Pojmann on Tuesday said she cannot comment on pending litigation, “but I can assure you that the department cooperated fully with the outside law enforcement investigation into this case.”

Prosecutors allege Moore was searched and stripped down to his boxer shorts inside his cell during a prison contraband sweep.

He was then handcuffed behind his back and led outside, according to a probable cause statement from deputies. Moore showed no aggression during the process and was complying with orders, investigators wrote.

While standing handcuffed just outside his cell door, Moore was pepper-sprayed, then put in a spit hood, leg wrap and restraint chair, according to a prosecutor. Guards told investigators that Moore was not following orders to be quiet and spit at them, although witnesses said Moore was spitting pepper spray out of his mouth.

Moore was eventually taken to a hospital wing and was pronounced dead. Cole County Prosecuting Attorney Locke Thompson said the medical examiner ruled Moore’s cause of death was from positional asphyxiation, and his death was listed as a homicide.