JEFFERSON CITY — An election watchdog agency that’s been toothless for months may be inching closer to regaining some of its bite.
The Missouri Ethics Commission has been unable to render any decisions since November because the six-member board does not have enough members to meet.
That has resulted in more than 20 complaints being tossed out this year with no action taken.
The latest dismissal was a complaint filed against University of Missouri football coach Eli Drinkwitz, who came under fire last year for signaling his support for unsuccessful Columbia mayoral candidate Blair Murphy during a university-sanctioned radio show.
A complaint filed with the MEC in February alleging that Drinkwitz violated university rules was dropped by the ethics panel last week because of the lack of members.
“Because there were not four commissioners able to consider the investigation within the statutory timeframe, the commission could take no action on this complaint,” wrote Stacey Heislen, executive director of the MEC.
A spokesperson for Gov. Mike Kehoe said Monday that the administration has begun interviews with potential candidates to sit on the commission, which metes out fines and punishment for campaign finance and ethics violations.
Kehoe spokesperson Gabby Picard said the process for filling the positions is underway after he inherited the problem from former Gov. Mike Parson in January.
Parson, a Republican like Kehoe, also had trouble keeping membership of the board fully stocked, resulting in more than a dozen cases being dismissed in his final year in office.
Both administrations have said the appointment process has been stymied by stringent requirements for members, which include a prohibition on running for office, making contributions for or against a candidate or issue, working as a lobbyist or being an officer of a political party.
There also are geographical considerations. Commission members are nominated by political parties in the state’s congressional districts.
And, unlike other state boards, members of the ethics commission cannot continue to serve after their terms expire. Directors are limited to one six-year term.
Kehoe earlier called on Republican and Democratic party officials to submit eligible nominees to fill the current vacancies.
“Our office has received those nominations from both parties, and interviews with candidates to fill the vacancies are currently underway,” Picard said in an email Monday.
It is not clear, however, when the appointments will be announced.
“I don’t have an exact timeline at this point,” Picard said.
That means there may be more cases that are jettisoned in the coming weeks.
State law requires an investigation of a complaint to be completed within 90 business days. The findings are then presented to the commission to determine whether there are reasonable grounds of a violation or whether it should be dismissed.
The process is slightly different for campaign-finance complaints 60 days from an election. Those must be investigated within 15 days.
Other complaints that have been dismissed this year include those lodged against four state lawmakers.
Among them are Rep. Jeff Vernetti, a Lake of the Ozarks-area Republican who is connected to a state probe into the spending of a federal tourism grant worth $2.8 million.
Also tossed was a complaint against freshman Sen. Joe Nicola, a Kansas City-area Republican, who is alleged to have used his church in Independence as a political action committee, potentially hiding the identity of his donors in violation of state law.
