JEFFERSON CITY — A Cole County judge on Wednesday ordered the Missouri attorney general's office to pay $242,000 in legal fees in connection to Sunshine Law violations under current U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley.
The decision by Circuit Judge Jon Beetem follows his November 2022 ruling that Hawley's attorney general's office withheld documents from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee during his campaign for the U.S. Senate in 2018 in violation of the state's open records laws.
Beetem, in his decision last year, fined the attorney general's office $12,000 and ordered the state to pay attorneys' fees and costs.
"A big win for transparency, election fairness, and the rule of law," Mark Pedroli, who represented the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in a lawsuit originally filed in 2019, said on Twitter.
Pedroli said Missouri taxpayers shouldn't be stuck with the "record verdict," and that instead Hawley should apologize and donate proceeds from his recent book, "Manhood: The Masculine Virtues America Needs," to cover the bill.
Kyle Plotkin, spokesman for Hawley, said Democrats kept the lawsuit alive unnecessarily after documents were produced and that "they should return whatever money they get to the people of Missouri and apologize."
The DSCC sued over how attorney general's office handled requests filed in September 2017 and March 2018.
Voters elected Hawley to the U.S. Senate in November 2018, and the Democrats filed their lawsuit in March 2019, after Hawley was sworn in.
In September 2017, the DSCC asked for records of correspondence with the OnMessage Inc. political consulting firm.
At the time, the then-records custodian, Daniel Hartman, "had correspondence on his personal email account between AGO employees and individuals from OnMessage Inc. concerning public business," according to Beetem's ruling.
Beetem said Hartman possessed the records and knew "his responsibilities" as custodian of record, but responded to the Democrats in October 2017 that the office "retained no" responsive documents.
Beetem also said the office retained documents responsive to the Democrats' second request in March 2018. Hartman asked a state worker to locate responsive records, and the staff member found 42 records, the majority of which "were responsive" to the DSCC request.
Beetem said the Kansas City Star obtained records between the attorney general's office and OnMessage Inc.; the outlet reported in October 2018 that political consultants helped to lead Hawley's office.
"By failing to produce the requested records, Mr. Hartman and the AGO prevented an opposing party committee from accessing documents potentially damaging to then-Attorney General Hawley's political campaign," Beetem wrote.
After the Star report, the left-leaning American Democracy Legal Fund said in a complaint to Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft that Hawley evidence strongly suggested Hawley "used public funds as Attorney General to support his candidacy for U.S. Senate."
Ashcroft, a Republican, opened an investigation after the complaint was filed, and announced in February 2019 that his office would not move forward with the complaint.
Records were produced during Ashcroft's investigation and during the DSCC litigation.
"It's a shame that Democrat Party bosses kept a lawsuit going even after the witch hunt was dismissed by investigators and after all documents were voluntarily made public," said Plotkin, spokesman for Hawley's campaign.
"The only purpose seems to have been to bilk Missouri taxpayers out of thousands and thousands of dollars," Plotkin said after being asked if the Hawley campaign would pay the $242,000 legal bill.
Money to pay the fees typically comes from the state's Legal Expense Fund, which is financed by the state's general tax dollars.
Hawley's campaign team at the time of the requests included senior strategist Timmy Teepell, a partner in OnMessage Inc.
Teepell is serving in the same role for Attorney General Andrew Bailey, who is running for a full, four-year term in 2024.
A Bailey spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
In addition to Ashcroft's review, State Auditor Nicole Galloway, a Democrat who was state auditor at the time Hawley left the attorney general's office, released scathing audits of Hawley's short tenure as attorney general before he became senator.
Galloway, who left office in January, issued audits showing Hawley may have misused state resources to benefit his successful 2018 campaign against incumbent Claire McCaskill.
Hawley is up for reelection next year.
Democrats seeking to replace him include St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell and Lucas Kunce, who has the backing of labor unions.
"If Josh Hawley doesn't think he's better than the rest of us, he'll pay this himself. Missourians shouldn't be held responsible for the corruption of our politicians," Kunce said.
