WRIGHT -- OR WRONG? Video catches CoMo-area statehouse candidate in campaign finance gaffe

Hedge fund manager's $10,000 donation called candidate John Wright's "$10,000 problem"

COLUMBIA, 7/17/12 (Op Ed) -- In an eye-catching case of rhetoric vs. reality, a video making the rounds on Facebook and Youtube is taking Columbia area statehouse candidate John Wright to task for pushing campaign contribution limits two months after he received a whopping $10,000 donation from Marcato Capital hedge fund principal Richard "Mick" McGuire.

Wright is running against Nancy Copenhaver in the August 7th Democratic primary to represent Missouri's 47th district, which includes large parts of Boone and Randolph counties. The winner of that race will face Republican candidate Mitch Richards in November.

 

"John, what kind of ethics or campaign finance reform would you support in the next legislative session?" a questioner asks Wright at a July 12 League of Women Voters forum.

"I think we need to reinstate campaign contribution limits," Wright responds. "We are now one of only a small handful of states in the entire country that have no limits on what a single individual or company can give to a candidate's campaign. What that has done is it has allowed a very small handful of individuals to make very large contributions."

 

Video:  John Wright's $10,000 problem

 

The video comes at a time when Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney's ties to hedge and equity fund Bain Capital have become the talk du jour on the national campaign circuit. It quotes an earlier Heart Beat report about Wright's partnership with McGuire, a fellow Hickman High graduate, to operate a public-private Montessori school inside Columbia's Grant Elementary. The video also includes a disclaimer: "Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee."

 

Campaign finance reports indicate Copenhaver has received two $600 donations and loaned or donated over $7,000 of her own money to her campaign. Wright loaned his campaign $2,000 in April. He logged the $10,0000 McGuire donation May 7.

John Wright's $10,000 problem
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvrgH6g08bo