The unpredictable four-way fight for Missouri’s Republican gubernatorial nomination is on Tuesday, and Team Blue is making a last-minute move to influence the outcome. On Friday, the Democratic Governors Association launched an ad, which the National Journal says is running for at least $671,000, hitting retired Navy SEAL Eric Greitens, who has led in several polls of the primary. The commercial shows a woman on the screen as the narrator asks, “What does this victim of human trafficking have to do with your vote for governor? Well, a man accused of abusing her for 13 years gave Eric Greitens $1 million.” The spot goes on to say that Greitens not only refused to return the donation from his “single largest contributor,” he even said he was “honored” by it.
The spot is referring to Silicon Valley venture capitalist Michael Goguen, who made that $1 million donation to Greitens. As we noted back in March, Goguen is being sued by a woman named Amber Laurel Baptiste, who has accused him of breaching an agreement to pay her $40 million as recompense, she says, for making her his sex slave over a 13-year period. Baptiste claims that Goguen had promised to rescue her from the human traffickers who had brought her to the U.S. (the two met at a strip club) but alleges the opposite happened. The two initially reached a $40 million settlement, but Goguen only paid a quarter of the amount; Baptiste then took him to court for the rest.
A story like that is naturally going to overshadow any race, especially given the size of Goguen’s contribution. Naturally, the donation came up at a GOP debate a few months ago, and Greitens’ primary foes insisted he send the money to a worthy charity. However, Greitens refused, saying that “unlike career politicians, I'm not going to convict someone in the court of public opinion.” On Friday, Greitens denounced national Democrats for the ad and reaffirmed his belief that since Goguen is, in effect, innocent until proven guilty, he still would not part ways with the money.
But Goguen was back in the news even before the DGA launched its new offensive. At a recent primary debate, wealthy businessman John Brunner told Greitens that he “refuse[s] to be lectured by a guy who took $1 million from the owner of a teenage sex slave.” Goguen then proceeded to sue Brunner for his remark and other social media posts, arguing that Brunner “knowingly and maliciously spread demonstrable lies.”
Despite this ugly story hanging over Greitens, the DGA’s move is a good indicator that it fears that he’ll be Democratic Attorney General Chris Koster’s toughest foe in November. Greitens has heavily emphasized his military career and argued that he’s a political outsider in his ads, and he recently launched yet another spot with that same message. While there have been no recent general election polls, Team Blue may believe that Greitens’ background and connections would make him the strongest GOP candidate.
