In two separate political attack ads, Missouri gubernatorial Democratic candidate Chris Koster’s campaign alleges Republican candidate Eric Greitens paid himself with money intended for veterans.
“IRS documents prove Eric paid himself over $700,000 of the charity's money,” the narrator said in the Koster for Missouri ad “greed.”
41 Action News obtained 2007 – 2015 IRS records for Greitens’s nonprofit “The Mission Continues,” an organization that helps veterans.
The documents back up the claim that Greitens received more than $700,000 in compensation.
What the ad does not say is the amount is spread out over five years (2009 – 2014). Greitens declined payment for the first 2 years of the charity in 2007 and 2008, then stepped down as CEO in 2014.
2007 = $0
2008 = $0
2009 = $101,500
2010 =$50,000
2011 = $200,000
2012 = $175,000
2013 = $175,000
2014 = $24
An Associated Press review discovered Greitens’s pay was above the average ($133,000) for a nonprofit charity of The Mission Continues’s size and location, but the pay wasn’t “egregious” or a “huge red-flag,” according to nonprofit evaluator Charity Navigator.
Charity Navigator gives The Mission Continues solid scores in its evaluation of the nonprofit.
AP’s review also found that Greitens donated back roughly 5 percent of his $175,000 annual salary starting in 2011.
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Brian Abel can be reached at brian.abel@kshb.com.
