As Missouri attorney general, Josh Hawley may have seemed mostly interested in wine shopping and gym workouts — but his political team worked overtime to propel him to higher office. A Cole County judge found last November that the AG's "knowing and purposeful" violations of Missouri's Sunshine Law were designed to benefit Hawley's political ambitions, which meant keeping taxpayers in the dark.
Yeterday, we learned the true cost of those violations. It's not only the $12,000 fine assessed by Judge Jon Beetem last fall (the max fine allowed under Missouri law). It's also another $242,385.38 in attorneys' fees for the fearless lawyers who brought the case against Hawley & Co. Ouch!
"Instead of sticking taxpayers with a record verdict, Senator Hawley should step up and 1) apologize to the people of Missouri and 2) donate proceeds from Manhood to cover this bill," attorney Mark Pedroli wrote on Twitter yesterday.
His suggestion makes good sense, but Josh Hawley doesn't give a hoot about Missouri. He doesn't even live here! He's more than happy to stick us with the bill. He's too busy running around the Capitol (see what we did there) and promoting his boring-ass book to think about Missouri.
Let us remind you how bad this one was: Shortly after receiving a Sunshine Law request from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in March 2018, Hawley's office located the records in question.
But instead of turning them over, the office stalled. It didn't turn anything over until August 2019, nearly a year and a half later — and only then as discovery in a lawsuit filed by the DSCC.
Not coincidentally, that's after Hawley won his Senate race and was on to new forms of skulduggery.
He won, and we lost. And once again, we're paying the price.
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