Ethics violations could cost ex-state Sen. Robin Wright-Jones $271K

The expenses — and Wright-Jones’ refusal to testify about them — prompted the commission to find “probable cause” that she had broken a state law that bars candidates from converting campaign funds to personal use.

The commission fined Wright-Jones, D-St. Louis, $271,580 for a wide range of campaign finance violations, including using $14,169 of her treasury for personal items.

The action, which was made public Wednesday, caps nearly two years of questions about Wright-Jones’ finances. The questions were first reported in the Post-Dispatch in June 2011, in an article detailing her failure to account for $95,000 in her campaign treasury. Wright-Jones’ attorney, Bernard F. Edwards Jr. of St. Louis, said the former senator denied using campaign funds for personal use and would appeal the fines to the state Administrative Hearing Commission.

The Ethics Commission’s withering report, which runs 58 pages, lists expenses over about two years that run the gamut: from $30 at a wine bar in south St. Louis to 43 trips to Schnucks; from $362 for “Scottrade tickets” to nearly $1,800 at a clothing boutique in Creve Coeur.

The order says that if Wright-Jones pays $56,202 of the fine within 90 days and has no more campaign finance violations within two years, the rest of the fine will be waived.

Wright-Jones asserted her Fifth Amendment rights and refused to answer questions at a closed-door commission hearing Friday. She did not return a phone call Wednesday.

The commission said it inferred from her lack of testimony that if she had “answered truthfully regarding the purchases ... the answers would have been unfavorable and would have corroborated the evidence of personal use.”

The violations are Class A misdemeanors and could be prosecuted by local prosecutors separately from the action taken by the Ethics Commission, which has the power only to issue fines. The Cole County prosecuting attorney, who normally handles such cases, could not be reached Wednesday for comment.

Wright-Jones, a real estate broker and former teacher, served six years in the House and four years in the Senate before she was defeated in last August’s primary by Sen. Jamilah Nasheed, D-St. Louis.

Though Wright-Jones tried to put the problems to rest by paying $5,300 in late fees and amending her reports, the amended disclosures — which showed she spent several thousand dollars for “campaign clothing” and $111 for shoes — raised new questions, because state law prohibits converting campaign funds to personal use.

The ethics investigation — which produced voluminous detail about Wright-Jones’ late reports, larger-than-allowed cash withdrawals and unreported contributions and expenses — also turned up a new wrinkle: The commission said that Wright-Jones used $3,789 in campaign funds to reimburse herself for mileage expenses that the state already had covered, in connection with her Senate job.

Edwards, Wright-Jones’ attorney, noted that the state provides a flat amount of mileage money to cover the distance between a legislator’s home and the Capitol. That sum did not include mileage to political events after legislative sessions, he said.

Edwards also questioned the size of the fines. “I’m protesting the authority, without standards, to levy these types of fines when there’s no jury, there’s no finding of guilt,” Edwards said. “A convicted felon in the state of Missouri doesn’t receive fines like this.”

The Ethics Commission bases fines either on $1,000 per violation or up to twice the amount of the contributions or expenditures involved in the violation. Offenders are typically allowed to pay 10 percent of the total amount levied for technical reporting violations. The rest of the reporting-type fines are wiped out if there are no further violations in two years.

Though large, the fines against Wright-Jones aren’t the largest ever. In 2011, the commission fined former Rep. T.D. El-Amin more than $527,000. And in 2010, former Rep. Rodney Hubbard and his campaign treasurer were fined more than $350,000, in connection with Hubbard’s unsuccessful race against Wright-Jones in 2008. Both El-Amin and Hubbard are St. Louis Democrats.

The ethics commission order was signed by Chairman Dennis Rose. The commission backed the findings unanimously, except for the amount of money involved in one of the counts, where the vote was 5-1.

Among the report’s finding are allegations that Wright-Jones:

• Failed to accurately report contributions totaling $71,492. Even after amendments, the report was still missing $4,242.

• Failed to report expenditures totaling $148,833. After amendments, $1,543 was still unreported.

• Made 36 cash expenditures of more than $50 each, in violation of state law.

• Improperly reported consulting services.

Nasheed, who last year criticized the slow pace of the investigation, said Wednesday that the situation was “unfortunate. I hope she can come up with the money to pay it.”