Deceit Claims Lodged Against Missouri Democrat in Key Senate Race

Missouri’s Democratic U.S. Senate nominee has orchestrated deceptive campaign finance and organizational practices, according to allegations filed anonymously before seven federal and state oversight bodies.

Missouri’s Secretary of State Jason Kander, the Senate nominee shown in an official photo at left, and his allies allegedly created a controversial tobacco-industry charitable initiative on the state ballot in November, for example.

The “Raise Your Hands 4 Kids” ballot referendum was concocted as a sweetheart deal for the tobacco companies, according to the 127-page memo, and also as an organizing tool in Republican-dominated Missouri for what pollsters say is surprisingly strong Senate race by Kander.

A Kander victory in the Missouri Senate race over incumbent Republican Roy Blunt (shown at right in an official photo) has the potential to help deliver Senate control to Democrats, who now trail Republicans 46-50 (counting independent Bernie Sanders of Vermont in support of the Democratic caucus.

Therefore, the many serious new allegations against Kander and his wife — motivational speaker, lawyer and investment counselor Diana Kagan Kander — have both state and national importance.

Inquiries failed to bring a response to the memo from Kander, his campaign, his wife, or the Secretary of State’s communications office campaign. The memo had been filed by anonymous “US investigative and Independent Journalists” with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), a half dozen other bodies, and at least three journalists.

Investigative reporter and author Wayne Madsen broke the story on the Wayne Madsen Report this week under the headline, No Candor in Kander campaign for Senate. The story included links to the 11-page cover letter sent with the full memo to government agencies. The full-127 page memo is here.

Today’s column provides an overview of the allegations, which allege misconduct also against Kander’s wife. She, like her husband, is a lawyer age 35 reared in Johnson County, Kansas. They each received a law degree from Georgetown University’s Law Center in 2005. After working for a year at a major Missouri-based law firm, according to the memo, her work now focuses on motivational speaking and investment counseling.