Koster

=
rhoades hit

 koster no 3rd term AG runs for gov 2016
public integrity AZ AG
2016 missouri ag schaegffer

http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/politics/elections/ad-campaign-targets-schaefer-as-battle-over-hawley-leave-issue/
==
koster hithttp://www.arsquared.org/states/mo/morising/

running for gov 2016
ex gop
peabody

Take Back St. Louis, ?
==

TEAM RED!

<div>

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            <h1 id="ctl12_ctl00_ctl00_detailContainer_mainShortTextFieldLiteral_0" class="sfitemTitle"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

AG Koster announces U.S. Supreme Court order staying EPA’s Clean Power Plan

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    Feb 9, 2016, 17:58 PM</font></div>
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     <center><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><strong>--Koster argued that EPA exceeded its

authority in setting new standards and that the cost of compliance puts

Missouri’s economic strength at risk--</center> Jefferson City, Mo. – Attorney General Chris Koster today said the United States Supreme Court has granted an application for <a href="https://ago.mo.gov/docs/default-source/press-releases/2016/15a773westvirginiaepaorder.pdf?sfvrsn=2" target="_blank">stay</a>

of the Clean Power Plan. The stay application was filed by Missouri and

20 other states that are suing the EPA for exceeding its authority in

issuing new regulations, collectively known as the “Clean Power Plan,”

that set strict limits on carbon emissions for each state. The stay will

remain in effect pending disposition of the lawsuit, including through

any appeal to the United States Supreme Court.

This ruling

follows previous successful efforts by Koster to stop or stay new EPA

regulations. Previously, Koster sued to stop the EPA’s new definition of

“Waters of the United States.” The United States Court of Appeals

granted a stay of the regulation.  And last June, at the request of

Koster and 19 other states, the United States Supreme Court overturned a

new EPA rule involving mercury emission standards.

“This is the

third time in the past year this office has stopped the EPA from

overreaching into Missouri’s affairs,” said Koster. “In staying the

rule, the Supreme Court ensured the rule’s legality will be tested

before Missouri ratepayers could be forced to bear the burden of

compliance.”

Despite this progress, Koster noted that Missouri’s

energy producers estimate that complying with EPA’s deadlines would cost

the state more than $6 billion. He argued that Missouri is better off

maintaining the competitive advantage it enjoys through low-energy costs

while continuing to develop low- and zero-emission sources of energy on

a more reasonable timeline. “Renewable energy is a vital piece of our

state’s energy portfolio,” Koster said. “It is essential, however, that

we achieve this goal in an economically responsible way that makes sense

for Missouri.”

“I will continue to fight against federal overreach and to keep Missouri strong,” Koster concluded.

    </div>
      </div>

</div>

</div>===
https://www.propublica.org/article/to-address-race-gap-missouri-ag-pushes-debt-collection-fixes


Update, Dec. 8, 2015: This story has been updated to include a <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/to-address-race-gap-missouri-ag-pushes-debt-collection-fixes#dba-response">response</a> from DBA International, the debt buyers’ trade group.

Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster today proposed a series of

changes to state court rules to curb what he called “abusive“ collection

lawsuits that saddle debtors with illegitimate debts.

    
    </font><div class="callout-ad ad" id="google-callout">
        
    </div><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The changes address many of the issues raised in an investigation by ProPublica in October that found such lawsuits were <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/debt-collection-lawsuits-squeeze-black-neighborhoods">far more prevalent in mostly black neighborhoods than mostly white ones</a>. With court judgments in hand, collectors can seize up to a quarter of debtors’ take-home pay. </font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

<h2 class="pp-int-hed">The Color of Debt: How Collection Suits Squeeze Black Neighborhoods</h2>

Our first-of-its-kind analysis shows that the suits are far more common in black communities than white ones. <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/debt-collection-lawsuits-squeeze-black-neighborhoods">Read the story</a>.

</div>

Koster’s recommendations are not limited to black defendants. But in

laying out his reforms, he cited ProPublica’s reporting and said

restricting abusive practices would be especially beneficial to minority

communities.

“I believe these reforms would also serve as an important step toward

eliminating the disparate impact of debt-collection litigation on

minorities who become targets of such litigation,” Koster said in a

press release.

Koster’s proposed the rule changes in <a href="https://www.propublica.org/documents/item/2638118-Missouri-Attorney-General-Letter-to-Commission.html">a letter</a> to the Missouri Supreme Court’s Commission on Racial and Ethnic Fairness. The commission was <a href="https://www.courts.mo.gov/page.jsp?id=93102">formed two months ago</a>

to investigate multiple parts of the justice system, including the

civil courts. The commission will recommend reforms to the seven-member

state supreme court which has the authority to change state court rules.===

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            <h1 id="ctl12_ctl00_ctl00_detailContainer_mainShortTextFieldLiteral_0" class="sfitemTitle"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

AG Koster says Missouri will join lawsuit challenging the EPA’s new carbon-emission regulations

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    Oct 9, 2015, 09:37 AM</font></div>
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     <center><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><strong>- Koster argues that EPA has exceeded its

authority in setting new standards and that the cost of compliance puts

Missouri’s economic strength at risk - </center> Jefferson City, Mo. – Attorney

General Chris Koster today said Missouri will join more than 20 other

states in suing the EPA for exceeding its authority in issuing new

regulations, collectively known as the “Clean Power Plan,” that set

strict limits on carbon emissions for each state.

In a speech at

the Missouri Electric Coop’s annual meeting in Branson this morning,

Koster explained that he supports Missouri’s ongoing efforts to produce

energy more cleanly and efficiently, but that EPA’s plan sets a

compliance schedule that is economically risky and robs Missouri of its

competitive advantage in low consumer and industrial electrical rates.

“Cleaner

energy production is an important goal,” Koster said, “and one

Missouri’s energy producers are already working toward.” Koster observed

that over the past decade Missouri utilities have added more than 2,200

megawatts of generating capacity from wind power and other renewable

resources.   Despite this progress, Koster noted that Missouri’s

energy producers estimate that complying with EPA’s deadlines would cost

the state more than $ 6 billion. He argued that Missouri is better off

maintaining the competitive advantage it enjoys through low-energy costs

while continuing to develop low- and zero-emission sources of energy on

a more reasonable timeline. “Renewable energy is a vital piece of our

state’s energy portfolio,” Koster said. “It is essential, however, that

we achieve this goal in an economically responsible way that makes sense

for Missouri.”

Koster also emphasized that Missouri’s recent

history with EPA justifies skepticism when EPA creates sweeping

regulatory schemes imposing new obligations on Missouri residents and

businesses. During Koster’s tenure as Attorney General, Missouri

successfully challenged new EPA regulations regarding mercury emissions

and water rules, arguing in each case that EPA unlawfully encroached on

Missouri’s sovereign authority to regulate its air and water.

“I will continue to fight against federal overreach and to keep Missouri strong,” Koster concluded.

Koster

said that he intends to join with other states in challenging the new

regulations when they are formally published. EPA has not publicly

announced a firm publication date.

The full text of Koster’s speech is available <a href="https://ago.mo.gov/docs/default-source/press-releases/2015/electriccoopmeeting2015-10-09.pdf?sfvrsn=2">here</a>.

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</div>=
ggl asks: why is missouri attorney general chris koster facing an inquiry

<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/30/us/politics/missouris-attorney-general-faces-scrutiny.html?r=0">http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/30/us/politics/missouris-attorney-general-faces-scrutiny.html?r=0</a>

5 hr

BS WT

<a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jul/21/missouri-attorney-general-to-investigate-planned-p/">http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jul/21/missouri-attorney-general-to-investigate-planned-p/</a>

<div class="meta" style="padding-top: 10px;"> By Summer Ballentine -

    Associated Press</b> - 
              
                
                Tuesday, July 21, 2015
              
                        </span></font></div><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri’s Democratic Attorney General <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/chris-koster/">Chris Koster</a> launched an investigation Tuesday into the state’s only clinic that offers abortions, following an outcry over a <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/planned-parenthood/">Planned Parenthood</a> executive discussing in a secretly recorded video the disposition of parts from aborted fetuses.</span></font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/chris-koster/">Mr. Koster</a> declined to give specifics on what his investigation, one of three announced since last week, would entail.</font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><br /></font><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Officials in several other states, principally Republicans, have ordered investigations of <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/planned-parenthood/">Planned Parenthood</a> facilities in their own states to determine if organs from aborted fetuses were being sold.</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">“Regardless of whether one is pro-life or pro-choice, the questions raised by these videos require careful review,” <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/chris-koster/">Mr. Koster</a>,

who also is running for governor, said in a statement. “My office will

investigate whether the practices described have occurred within our

state and whether Missouri law has been violated.”The recording by anti-abortion activists released last week shows Dr. Deborah Nucatola, <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/planned-parenthood/">Planned Parenthood</a>’s

senior director of medical services, discussing procedures for

providing fetal body parts to researchers. The commercial sale of fetal

tissue is illegal, but <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/planned-parenthood/">Planned Parenthood</a> has said it legally helps women who want to make not-for-profit donations of their fetus’ organs for scientific research.<a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/planned-parenthood/">Planned Parenthood</a>

of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri issued a statement

saying the center does not participate in the program and that calls for

an investigation are about “political grandstanding.”Republican Senate President Pro Tem Tom Dempsey said Tuesday that his chamber will also conduct an investigation, analyzing <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/planned-parenthood/">Planned Parenthood</a>’s

business model, methods of disposing aborted fetuses and whether the

organization has broken any laws. That comes after Republican House

members last week made a similar announcement.Despite the two

other reviews, the issue “rises to the level that the Senate would like

to look into” itself, Senate Republican spokeswoman Lauren Hieger said.A spokeswoman for <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/chris-koster/">Mr. Koster</a> declined to comment further, citing the pending investigation.<a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/chris-koster/">Mr. Koster</a>

is rare as a Democrat taking such action. In addition to the

investigations ordered by the Republican governors of Georgia and

Indiana and Ohio’s attorney general, three Republican-led congressional

committees have also announced probes.<a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/planned-parenthood/">Planned Parenthood</a> told Congress on Monday that the recording is fraudulent and part of a pattern of harassment.As a Republican in the Missouri Senate — before switching parties and running for attorney general as a Democrat in 2008 — <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/chris-koster/">Mr. Koster</a>

had voted in favor of some legislation imposing additional restrictions

on abortion clinics. One of the issues he cited in switching parties,

though, was a rift with the GOP over a Republican push to criminalize

embryonic stem cell research.<a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/chris-koster/">Mr. Koster</a>

is the only Democrat planning to run for governor in 2016. Democratic

Gov. Jay Nixon is barred from seeking re-election because of term

limits.===
12/13


<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">While

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon, Secretary of State Jason Kander and even some

Republicans talk about restoring limits on campaign donations, the man

considered the likely Democratic nominee for governor in 2016 is

collecting large donations at a frenetic clip.

Just this year,

Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster has raised more than $1.2 million

from 68 donations larger than $5,000 apiece, according to the <a href="http://www.mec.mo.gov/">Missouri Ethics Commission</a>’s records. In fact, most of his large donations have been more than $10,000 each.

The

large donations make up most of the $1.4 million he has reported

raising so far this year, according to  his last major campaign-finance

report filed in mid-October. His year-end tally will likely be larger

when his next campaign-finance report is due Jan. 15. <div class="wysiwyg-asset-image-wrapper inset"> <div class="wysiwyg-asset-image"> <a href="http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/kwmu/files/styles/x_large/public/201103/koster300Tallportrait.gif" class="popup"> <img class="pi_assets-image" data-interchange-default="http://news.stlpublicradio.org/sites/kwmu/files/styles/default/public/201103/koster300Tallportrait.gif" data-interchange-small="http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/kwmu/files/styles/small/public/201103/koster300Tallportrait.gif" data-interchange-medium="http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/kwmu/files/styles/medium/public/201103/koster300Tallportrait.gif" data-interchange-large="http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/kwmu/files/styles/large/public/201103/koster300Tallportrait.gif" /> </a> <div class="image-meta"> <div class="caption">Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster collects lots of large donations for 2016 bid for governor</div> <div class="credit">Credit (Official Portrait, Missouri Attorney General's office)</div> </div> </div> </div> Just

since Thanskgiving, Koster has collected $105,000 in large donations,

making him by far Missouri's biggest beneficiary of donor largess during

the holiday season.

Koster makes no apologies.  "We are pleased

and grateful for the fund-raising success we've had this year. It shows

the depth of support for a fiscally conservative, socially moderate

candidate in our state," said his political spokeswoman Rachel Levine.

Koster

also has made no secret of his position on campaign donation limits. As

a Republican state senator, before switching parties, he voted to

eliminate them.

Koster hasn’t made any public statements about Nixon's<a href="http://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/nixon-calls-legislature-pass-ethics-reform-0"> latest push to resurrect campaign donation limits</a>.

The old limits -- abolished by the General Assembly and Republican Gov.

Matt Blunt in 2008 -- restricted statewide candidates to individual

donations of no more than $1,350.

A bill pre-filed by state Sen.

Will Kraus, R-Lee’s Summit, would set the contribution limit for

statewide candidates at $10,000 apiece. Kraus joined Nixon, a Democrat,

at the governor’s news conference last week to announce his latest

effort to restore some limits. Kander, also a Democrat,  backs donation

limits but opposes other provisions in Kraus’ bill.

Critics of

limits on campaign donations say that limits reduce transparency by

prompting donors to find less visible avenues for directing their money

to their favored candidates or causes.

For example: When limits

were in place, wealthy financier Rex Sinquefield once set up dozens of

political action committees, each with a different name, from which to

dole out contributions to candidates he supported. Koster was among

them.

Sinquefield,  the state’s largest political donor, has said

that the public, politicians and the press can now track his political

contributions more easily without contribution limits. (Check out the

St. Louis Beacon's  <a href="http://powerplayers.stlbeacon.org/donors/rex-sinquefield-i/">Power Players: Missouri's 17 largest political donors from 2008 to 2013</a>.)

Nixon

says the lack of limits has been "corrosive" on political campaigns,

and gives undue influence and power to a few wealthy donors, at the

expense of the general public.

Koster’s large donors hail from a

broad spectrum, including unions, fellow lawyers, utility companies and

the health-care industry. So far in 2013, his largest donor is Michael

Ketchmark, a Kansas lawyer, who gave Koster $75,000 on May 1.

Since

Thanksgiving, Koster's biggest donation is $50,000 from St. Louis-based

Supporters of Health Research and Treatments,  which includes advocates

for embryonic stem-cell research. Over the years, Koster has received

generous donations from advocates of stem cell research. In fact, he has

cited his support for such research as among the reasons he left the

Republican Party in 2007.

Koster, by the way, has been raising

money for other Democrats as well. He appears to have become Missouri's

most popular headliner for fundraisers this year for Democrats running

for the state House and state Senate. Koster has pledged to raise at

least $400,000 for legislative candidates through 2016.

Holiday giving includes campaign donations

Koster

isn’t the only politician to benefit from campaign contributions during

the holiday season, although he is by far the largest beneficiary.

Nixon,

who has yet to say if he will run for any other office,  has collected

almost $32,000 from two large donations in December: $16,875 from

Ketchmark and $15,000 from Peabody Investments Corp., an arm of Peabody

Energy.

State Auditor Tom Schweich, a Republican, has collected

$30,000 in large donations in December as he ramps up for his

re-election bid in 2014.

This month, St. Louis County Councilman

Steve Stenger, D-Affton, has received more than $30,000 in donations of

at least $5,001 apiece as he prepares to challenge County Executive

Charlie Dooley, a fellow Democrat, in next summer's primary.

Big money is also funding issues campaigns that could be front and center in 2014.

Stand

Up Missouri, a campaign committee set up by consumer installment

lenders (not payday loan firms), collected $38,000 from one donor in

December: World Acceptance Corp., a small-loan consumer finance company.

Activists on both sides of the state's issue believe there may be a

serious push to get a proposal on the 2014 ballot to restrict the

interest rates charged by payday lenders.

Various

pro-transportation groups have collected close to $50,000 in large

donations so far in December for an expected effort for a ballot

proposal to set up a special sales tax to pay for highway, bridge and

road improvements around the state.

But the largest single

donation in December, so far, is a transfer of $175,000 from Civic

Progress – a group made up of executives from the region’s largest

companies – to its political-action committee.

Spokesman Tim

Beecher said the money wasn’t designated, as yet, for any particular

issue.  Civic Progress was simply getting the money in place in

preparation for 2014, when its members will make their decisions.

Beecher

emphasized that Civic Progress is nonpartisan and that any campaign

spending next year will be “strictly for issues. Not for candidates or

parties.” </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags: </div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://news.stlpublicradio.org/term/chris-koster">Chris Koster</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://news.stlpublicradio.org/term/tom-schweich">Tom Schweich</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://news.stlpublicradio.org/term/campaign-donation-limits">campaign donation limits</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://news.stlpublicradio.org/term/jay-nixon">Jay Nixon</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://news.stlpublicradio.org/term/steve-stenger">Steve Stenger</a></div></div></div>==
wiki

Chris Koster (born August 31, 1964) is an American politician from the U.S. state of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missouri" title="Missouri">Missouri</a> and is the current <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attorney_General_of_Missouri" title="Attorney General of Missouri" class="mw-redirect">Attorney General of Missouri</a>. Prior to his election as Attorney General, he had served in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missouri_Senate" title="Missouri Senate">Missouri Senate</a> since 2005 representing the 31st Senatorial District as a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party%28United_States%29" title="Republican Party (United States)">Republican</a> until August 1, 2007 when he switched to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party%28United_States%29" title="Democratic Party (United States)">Democratic Party</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Koster#cite_note-1">[1]</a>

<h2>Contents</h2>

</div></div><div id="toc" class="toc">

<ul><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Koster#Early_life_and_career">1 Early life and career</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Koster#Political_career">2 Political career</a>

<ul><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-3"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Koster#Missouri_Senate">2.1 Missouri Senate</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-4"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Koster#Attorney_General">2.2 Attorney General</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-5"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Koster#Missouri_Governor.27s_Race.2C_2016">2.3 Missouri Governor's Race, 2016</a></li></ul>

</li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-6"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Koster#Controversies">3 Controversies</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-7"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Koster#Electoral_history">4 Electoral history</a>

<ul><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-8"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Koster#As_Attorney_General">4.1 As Attorney General</a></li></ul>

</li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-9"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Koster#References">5 References</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-10"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Koster#Sources">6 Sources</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-11"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Koster#External_links">7 External links</a></li></ul>

</div>

<h2>Early life and career</h2>

Koster was born and raised in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St.Louis,Missouri" title="St. Louis, Missouri" class="mw-redirect">St. Louis</a>, where he attended <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Louis_University_High_School" title="Saint Louis University High School" class="mw-redirect">Saint Louis University High School</a>. He went on to study at the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Missouri" title="University of Missouri">University of Missouri</a> in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia,Missouri" title="Columbia, Missouri">Columbia</a> where he received his <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bachelor_of_Arts" title="Bachelor of Arts">Bachelor of Arts</a> degree in 1987. Four years later, he received his <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juris_doctor" title="Juris doctor" class="mw-redirect">juris doctor</a> degree from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Missouri-Columbia_School_of_Law" title="University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law" class="mw-redirect">University of Missouri School of Law</a> in 1991. Additionally, he earned his masters in business administration from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_University" title="Washington University" class="mw-redirect">Washington University</a> in St. Louis in 2002. Prior to becoming a county prosecuting attorney, Koster practiced law with the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas_City,Missouri" title="Kansas City, Missouri">Kansas City</a> law firm of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackwell_Sanders" title="Blackwell Sanders" class="mw-redirect">Blackwell Sanders</a>

from 1993 to 1994. He also served as an Assistant Attorney General for

the Office of the Missouri Attorney General from 1991-93.[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed">citation needed</a>]

Before his election to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missouri_Senate" title="Missouri Senate">Missouri Senate</a> in 2004, Koster served as Prosecuting Attorney of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cass_County,_Missouri" title="Cass County, Missouri">Cass County</a>

for ten years. He was first elected prosecutor in 1994 and was

subsequently reelected in 1998 and 2002 by wide margins. As prosecutor,

he supervised a staff of 20 individuals dedicated to enforcing

Missouri’s criminal laws in Cass County. Additionally, his office served

as the civil counsel for all non-criminal matters before the county

government. During his tenure, Koster supervised litigation in

approximately 20,000 cases. He led investigations into many of

Missouri’s most notorious criminal cases, including the investigation

against serial killer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Edward_Robinson_%28serial_killer%29" title="John Edward Robinson (serial killer)" class="mw-redirect">John E. Robinson</a>. He has developed extensive trial experience and has argued and won cases before the Missouri Supreme Court.

<h2>Political career</h2>

<h3>Missouri Senate</h3>

Koster was first elected to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missouri_Senate" title="Missouri Senate">Missouri Senate</a> in 2004 as a Republican. He represented Missouri's 31st Senatorial District which consists of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cass_County,Missouri" title="Cass County, Missouri">Cass</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnson_County,Missouri" title="Johnson County, Missouri">Johnson</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bates_County,Missouri" title="Bates County, Missouri">Bates</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernon_County,Missouri" title="Vernon County, Missouri">Vernon</a> counties. During his time in the Missouri General Assembly, Koster played key roles in the debates over <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embryonic_stem_cells" title="Embryonic stem cells" class="mw-redirect">stem cell research</a>, tort reform, and the elimination of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicaid" title="Medicaid">Medicaid</a> fraud. Additionally, in 2006 he successfully carried legislation in the Senate to dramatically over-haul Missouri’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eminent_domain" title="Eminent domain">eminent domain</a> laws. He served on the following committees in the Senate:

<ul><li>Economic Development, Tourism, and Local Government</li><li>Judiciary and Civil and Criminal Jurisprudence</li><li>Pensions, Veterans' Affairs and General Laws</li><li>Commerce, Energy and the Environment</li><li>Agriculture, Conservation, Parks and Natural Resources</li></ul>

Koster championed legislation for Truth in the Missouri Court System, and proposed a bill <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.senate.mo.gov/07info/bills/sb055.htm">(SB55)</a>

for the elimination of paternity fraud. On August 1, 2007, Koster made

Missouri political history when he announced that he was leaving the

Missouri Republican Party to become a Democrat. Citing his longstanding

differences with the Republican Party on issues like stem cell research,

workers’ rights, and the non-partisan court plan, Koster said that the

Missouri Republican Party had become too beholden to the extreme

right-wing to lead the state of Missouri forward.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Koster#cite_note-2">[2]</a> He commented, "Today, Republican moderates are all but extinct."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Koster#cite_note-3">[3]</a>

Before his change of parties, Koster was Chairman of the Republican

Caucus, the majority party's fourth-ranking position in the Missouri

State Senate.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Koster#cite_note-4">[4]</a>

<h3>Attorney General</h3>

On August 5, 2008, Koster narrowly defeated State Representative

Margaret Donnelly in the Democratic primary for the nomination for

Missouri Attorney General. Koster won despite accusations that his

campaign violated state law in raising money from multiple committees.

He also survived the disclosure that he played a supporting role in a

plagiarism episode that damaged Attorney General William Webster’s

campaign for governor in 1992. Fresh out of law school, Koster worked

for Webster, a Republican, as an assistant state attorney general.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Koster#cite_note-5">[5]</a>

His campaign was not easily won because he had to overcome the label of

"opportunist" as a result of switching parties during the '08 election.

He then went on to defeat Republican State Senator <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_R._Gibbons" title="Michael R. Gibbons">Mike Gibbons</a> in the general election, 52.83% to 47.17%.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Koster#cite_note-6">[6]</a> He was sworn in as Attorney General on January 12, 2009, succeeding now <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Nixon" title="Jay Nixon">Governor Jay Nixon</a>.

Koster is an advocate of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_penalty" title="Death penalty" class="mw-redirect">death penalty</a>, and as of July 2013, there were 21 inmates on death row in Missouri whose executions he was pressing the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Court_of_Missouri" title="Supreme Court of Missouri">Supreme Court of Missouri</a> to expedite. After the 21 inmates filed suit before the state Supreme Court against the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missouri_Department_of_Corrections" title="Missouri Department of Corrections">Missouri Department of Corrections</a> over the use of the drug <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propofol" title="Propofol">propofol</a> used in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lethal_injection" title="Lethal injection">lethal injections</a>, concerning <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruel_and_unusual_punishment" title="Cruel and unusual punishment">cruel and unusual punishment</a>, the state Supreme Court temporarily halted the further use of the death penalty until the case had been ultimately decided.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Koster#cite_note-7">[7]</a> With Missouri law allowing for the use of other forms of the death penalty in cases where lethal injection is not available,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Koster#cite_note-8">[8]</a> Koster has advocated the use of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_chambers" title="Gas chambers" class="mw-redirect">gas chambers</a> to execute Missouri prisoners.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Koster#cite_note-9">[9]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Koster#cite_note-10">[10]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Koster#cite_note-11">[11]</a>

Koster supports <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same-sex_marriage" title="Same-sex marriage">same-sex marriage</a>, but defends his state's constitutional ban on it because voters approved it.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Koster#cite_note-12">[12]</a>

Koster's office recently defended U.S. District Judge <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_D.Perry" title="Catherine D. Perry">Catherine D. Perry</a> after she denied a motion for temporary restraining orders on six police officers enforcing a 5-second rule in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferguson,Missouri" title="Ferguson, Missouri">Ferguson, Missouri</a>, citing the need for law enforcement's protection of property and the availability of a "free-speech zone".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Koster#cite_note-13">[13]</a> However, at the time of this ruling the free speech zone was off-limits to the public.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Koster#cite_note-14">[14]</a>

A 2012 audit by state Auditor <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Schweich" title="Tom Schweich">Tom Schweich</a>

criticized Koster for his practice of awarding contingency fee

contracts to law firms that had donated hundreds of thousands of dollars

to his campaign.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Koster#cite_note-stlouistoday-15">[15]</a> In 2014, Koster endorsed Missouri's contentious right-to-farm amendment, which passed.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Koster#cite_note-:0-16">[16]</a>

In October 2014, a California judge dismissed a lawsuit which Koster

had filed, rejecting the arguments of six states that challenged

California's prohibition on the sale of eggs laid by caged hens kept in

conditions more restrictive than those approved by California voters in a

2008 ballot initiative, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proposition_2" title="Proposition 2" class="mw-redirect">Proposition 2</a>.

Judge Kimberly Mueller ruled that the states lacked legal standing to

sue on behalf of their residents and that Koster and other plaintiffs

were representing only the interests of egg farmers, rather than "a

substantial statement of their populations".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Koster#cite_note-17">[17]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Koster#cite_note-18">[18]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Koster#cite_note-19">[19]</a> According to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas_City_Star" title="Kansas City Star" class="mw-redirect">Kansas City Star</a>. Koster's office spent more than $83,000 on the failed lawsuit.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Koster#cite_note-stlouistoday-15">[15]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Koster#cite_note-20">[20]</a>

In October 2014, House Speaker <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Jones_%28politician%29" title="Tim Jones (politician)">Tim Jones (politician)</a>

announced his plans to investigate charges that Koster took actions in

office that were designed to benefit campaign contributors. News

coverage revealed that The Simmons Firm had donated two $50,000 checks

to Koster's campaign in 2013 only months after Koster filed a lawsuit

against Republic Services over its underground fire at the Bridgeton

Landfill(Simmons subsequently won a nearly $7 million settlement from

Republic in a class-action lawsuit).; that Koster had ended an inquiry

focusing on the company <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5-hour_Energy" title="5-hour Energy">5-hour Energy</a>

after conversations with a lobbyist for the company who was also a

Koster contributor; and that Koster had negotiated an agreement with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pfizer" title="Pfizer">Pfizer</a>,

another campaign contributor, to pay Missouri $750,000 in connection

with a multistate investigation of illegal marketing practices, at

approximately $350,000 less than what the state would have collected had

it participated in a joint negotiation with other states, and attended a

Pfizer convention as a speaker and guest during the settlement

negotiation.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Koster#cite_note-stlouistoday-15">[15]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Koster#cite_note-:1-21">[21]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Koster#cite_note-:2-22">[22]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Koster#cite_note-:3-23">[23]</a>

<h3>Missouri Governor's Race, 2016</h3>

As his second term as Attorney General is coming to an end, Koster is running for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missouri_gubernatorial_election,_2016" title="Missouri gubernatorial election, 2016">Governor</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Koster#cite_note-24">[24]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Koster#cite_note-25">[25]</a>

<h2>Controversies</h2>

Contingency Contracts:

A 2012 audit by state Auditor <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Schweich" title="Tom Schweich">Tom Schweich</a>

criticized Koster for his practice of awarding contingency fee

contracts to law firms that had donated hundreds of thousands of dollars

to his campaign.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Koster#cite_note-stlouistoday-15">[15]</a> In 2014, Koster endorsed Missouri's contentious right-to-farm amendment, which passed.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Koster#cite_note-:0-16">[16]</a>

Pay to Play allegations: