MDP Calls on Spence to Come Clean and Amend Personal Financial Disclosure

Jefferson City, Mo. -- Today, the Missouri Democratic Party called on Dave Spence to immediately amend his personal financial disclosure form (PFD) after he failed to disclose key interests and assets as required by Missouri law.  

Indeed, just days after admitting he was dishonest about his bank’s $40 million bailout, Spence signed and submitted a PFD under penalties of perjury that failed to list his most controversial assets and completely omitted several entities he owns – including his stock in Reliance Bancshares and his ownership of Big Sky Properties II, which was penalized for failing to pay its St. Louis County property taxes on time in 2008 and 2009.Attached is a copy of Spence’s PFD, which includes virtually no information about his stocks and investments, and omits several business holdings.

“It’s deeply troubling that Dave Spence would go to such great lengths to hide his vast financial assets from the public,” said Caitlin Legacki, spokeswoman for the Missouri Democratic Party. “Unfortunately, this isn’t surprising coming from a candidate who has been dishonest about everything from his academic record to his bank’s refusal to repay its $40 million bailout.  Dave Spence should immediately come clean with the public and disclose his financial assets as required by law, including the stock he owns in this troubled bank.  It’s simply hard to trust anything Dave Spence says or does at this point.” The purpose of the PFD, according to the Missouri Ethics Commission, is to "provide the public information about a public official’s or employee or candidate’s financial interests" and "has been used to disclose any potential conflicts of interest by a public official/employee." [Missouri Ethics Commission, PFD FAQs, 3/7/12]

• $1.5 Million in Reliance Bancshares Stock.  In September 2010, Reliance Bancshares reported that David R. Spence had acquired 500,000 shares of the company’s stock, on top of his existing 88,824 shares.   The transaction totaled $1.5 million and made Spence one of the largest shareholders in the bank with 2.6 percent of the bank’s voting shares.  On April 10, Spence said of his investment in the bank: “Out of a hundred percent of my investment I’m down to about forty percent.”    [Spence at Boone County Pachyderms, 4/10/12; Reliance SEC Form 4, 9/21/10; Reliance FR Y-6, 12/31/10]
• Big Sky Properties. As of December 2010, Spence was the “principal” and owned 100 percent of Big Sky Properties, which owns the property where Alpha Packaging operates. He also operates Big Sky Properties II.  As reported by the Kansas City Star, “Big Sky Properties [II] paid more than $23,000 in penalties and interest for late St. Louis County property taxes in 2008 and 2009.”  On February 6, 2012, Big Sky Properties made a $25,000 contribution to Dave Spence’s campaign. [Missouri Ethics Commission; Reliance Bancshares FR Y-6, 12/31/10; St. Louis County Property Records; Kansas City Star, 4/10/12]
• The Rutledge Group. As of the Rutledge Group Inc.’s annual report filed with the Missouri Secretary of State’s office in June 2011, Spence is the president and is on the board of directors of the Rutledge Group Inc.  According to Plastics News, the Rutledge Group was involved in “consulting, brokerage of injection blow molding equipment, design and turnkey operations for international joint ventures.”  [Missouri Secretary of State, Annual Registration Report, Filed 6/14/11; Plastics News, 11/13/95]