Another big nothing burger Judge rules Hawley-led agency broke record laws on purpose COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri judge ruled that a state agency previously led by Republican Josh Hawley broke public record laws on purpose to help his U.S. Senate campaign. Cole County Presiding Judge Jon Beetem on Monday fined the Attorney General’s Office $12,000 and attorney fees, the maximum penalty for violating what’s known as the Sunshine Law. Open record laws are aimed at making sure the public can access documents related to how taxpayer dollars are spent and how government is being run. At issue are Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee records requests from 2017 and 2018, when Republican Hawley was serving as state attorney general and campaigning for former Democratic U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill’s seat.
these should be crimes punishable with jail time when this blatantly intentional and the judge ruled this was intentional acts by the gubmnt to commit the crime and conceal the record Beetem ruled that the deception was intentional, pointing to the fact that Attorney General’s Office staffers would switch to private email accounts to message political consultants.
