Senator Josh Hawley’s Public Records Law Violations Just Cost His Constituents $242,000

Late last year, Senator Josh Hawley — the fist-pumping supporter of Trump-approved insurrection — generated the last bit of his Missouri state government legacy.

Having been successfully sued for violating state public records laws while acting as the state attorney general, Hawley was ordered to pay $12,000 by Judge Jon Beetem. The total bill included two (2) “purposeful violation(s)” and one “knowing violation” of the law.

The order from Judge Beetem made it clear what happened: Hawley and his AGO (attorney general’s office) cohorts withheld documents sought by his political opponents. Part of this withholding involved Hawley’s use of private email address to conduct government business — something apparently used deliberately to prevent records requesters from obtaining copies of these communications.

The upshot of the $12,000 judgment:

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. What is more, Mr. Hartman—the individual at the enter of the AGO’s failure to turn over these records—is included on much of the correspondence in question, was involved with the Hawley campaign as early as January 2017, and ultimately became Senator Hawley’s state director. This context compels the conclusion that the decision to withhold documents responsive to DSCC’s Sunshine Law requests was made by public officials who had personal and professional stakes in the documents not being released and in the success of then-candidate Hawley’s campaign.

The $12,000 is just for Hawley’s personal involvement in these violations. The entire office is being subjected to a much heftier fee for its assistance in Hawley’s opportunistic opacity.

The Missouri attorney general’s office has been ordered to pay $242,000 in legal fees for violations of the state’s open records law that occurred when U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley held the office.

Circuit Judge Jon Beetem ruled in November 2022 that the attorney general’s office violated the open records law when documents were withheld from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee during the Republican Hawley’s successful Senate campaign in 2018.

Beetem ruled Wednesday that the office must pay $242,000 in legal fees, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch article’s headline makes it clear who’s actually paying for Hawley’s misconduct:

Missouri taxpayers to pay $242,000 to Democrats for records violations under Josh Hawley

That article also contains some memorable quotes (but not in a good way!) from Hawley’s operatives/defenders. This is the stupidest:

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.”

Ah, I see. It’s the records requesters who are wrong, not the former AG or his far-too-cooperative staff who [checks official record] broke the law multiple times to prevent their boy from being hit with any negative headlines while he made a (unfortunately successful) run for the US Senate.

Maybe residents will remember the tab Hawley stuck them with when they head to the voting booths next year. Or maybe he’ll just find some other dishonest way to distract them from his past misconduct and support of politically motivated violence.