Anti-Corruption Gubernatorial Candidate Found Dead After Scheduling Interview About GOP Head
Missouri’s auditor, who fatally shot himself in an apparent suicide, had vowed to take down the state’s most powerful politicians and donors, including his fellow Republicans, when he launched an anti-corruption campaign for governor last month. . .
Announcing his candidacy last month, Schweich had vowed to bring a never-before-seen “level of intensity, tenacity, transparency, and rigor” in a quest to root out “rampant corruption in Jefferson City” . . .
He took specific aim at the state’s top political donor, retired investment mogul Rex Sinquefield, who largely bankrolled the campaign of his GOP gubernatorial rival Catherine Hanaway, a former state House speaker and federal prosecutor.
Schweich said the $900,000 Hanaway accepted from her “billionaire patron” made her “bought and paid for” by Sinquefield, who employs an “army of mercenaries” to exert his influence over elected officials.
“Nothing is too dishonest for them, and apparently nothing is too petty for them, either,” Schweich said last month. “It’s corrupt, and there’s a lot more corruption going on in that camp that we’ll be talking about in the days to come.” (Read more from “Gubernatorial Candidate Found Dead” HERE)
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Gubernatorial Candidate’s Death an “Apparent Suicide,” Leaves Behind Wife, Children
Missouri Auditor Tom Schweich, who had recently launched a Republican campaign for governor, fatally shot himself Thursday in what police described as an “apparent suicide,” minutes after inviting reporters to his suburban St. Louis home for an interview.
Schweich’s death stunned many of Missouri’s top elected officials, who described him as a “brilliant” and “devoted” public servant with an “unblemished record” in office. Just 13 minutes before police got an emergency call from his home, Schweich had a phone conversation with The Associated Press about his plans to go public that afternoon with allegations that the head of the Missouri Republican Party had made anti-Semitic comments about him.
The state GOP chairman denied doing so in an interview later Thursday. (Read more from this story HERE)
