Out-of-state political consultants helped direct Josh Hawley’s Missouri AG office

Josh Hawley pledged to Missouri voters in 2016 that he was not the kind of career politician who would use “one office to get to another.”

But within weeks of Hawley’s swearing in as the state’s top law enforcement official, the high-powered political team that would go on to run his U.S. Senate campaign had stepped in to help direct the office of the Missouri attorney general — and raise his national profile. 

Hawley’s out-of-state political consultants gave direct guidance and tasks to his taxpayer-funded staff, and followed up to ensure the tasks were completed, according to emails, text messages and other records obtained by The Kansas City Star.

“The idea that Hawley would turn over his attorney general’s office to D.C. campaign consultants strikes me as very problematic,” said Brendan Fischer, director of the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center’s federal reform program. “The attorney general’s office has an enormous amount of responsibility for protecting the health and welfare of citizens of the state.”

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