Kansas City, Mo. (July 26, 2019) – Today, an investigative report from ProPublica revealed that at least one former staffer of the American Conservative Union used the organization’s donor list to scam donors into giving to nearly $10 million to a PAC and then kept the money for himself and his associates. The Executive Director of the American Conservative Union at the time was Robert Gregg Keller. He declined to explain whether he was involved in or benefited personally from this scam.

Around the same time this scam began in 2012, Keller was also involved in a dark money shell game involved in the 2012 US Senate race in Missouri. He was later fined by the Federal Election Commission for his involvement in willfully concealing donor identities in violation of federal law. 

“In his time at the American Conservative Union, it appears that Mr. Keller was involving himself in dark money schemes, outright scams, and willful violations of campaign finance laws. He is the very embodiment of the corrupt political operative, yet has been elevated into the highest ranks of the Governor’s campaign effort,” said Missouri Democratic Party Executive Director Lauren Gepford. “We’re calling upon Parson and the Missouri GOP to remove Keller from his position as chairman of the Missouri Republican 2020 election effort.”

Earlier this year, Parson praised Keller’s selection as campaign director for Missouri Republicans in 2020:

“Gregg Keller is one of the leading campaign operatives in the country and he’ll work closely with me and Kay to help elect Republicans everywhere from our 2020 statewide ticket to growing and maintaining our majorities in the state House and Senate,” Governor Parson said.

Gepford added that, “Parson should explain, in spite of this history, why Keller was chosen to lead his campaign effort in 2020 and whether Parson will have this kind of activity surrounding his own election effort.”

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