This article first appeared in th St. Louis Beacon, Oct. 12, 2012 - Dave Spence, Missouri’s Republican candidate for governor, is serious about his anger over Gov. Jay Nixon’s ad campaign that repeatedly has labeled Spence “a banker.”
On Friday, Spence sued the governor for defamation of character.
Spence has been a critic of lawsuits, but said in his statement that his legal action in this case was warranted.
"I filed this lawsuit for one simple reason, we need good people in politics,” the candidate said. “If the standard for truthfulness in political campaigns is there is no standard, our state and country will continue to erode because good people won’t run for office. Jay Nixon’s attack ads are false and defamatory and he knows it.”
Spence then pivoted to his own attack on Nixon’s record. “If he had a record of accomplishment to run on he wouldn’t need to lie about me, but he doesn’t,” Spence said. “Missourians deserve a governor who won’t lie about his own record and about his opponent. Jay Nixon should be fired.”
No hearing date has been set.
The governor's campaign manager, Oren Shur, replied late Friday, “The stress of the campaign is clearly taking a toll on Dave Spence, but he should take a deep breath, and consider honestly defending his record at the bank instead of having his campaign manager file a frivolous lawsuit."
Shur added: "This week, TV stations across Missouri rejected Dave Spence’s attempts to bully them into removing ads, because the facts are clear: While serving as a director of a bank that took a $40 million bailout from Washington, Mr. Spence bought 500,000 shares of stock in the bank and took a million-dollar insider loan for himself, but then voted on Feb. 11, 2011, against repaying the bailout money to the taxpayers. You see a lot of crazy stunts during the course of a campaign, but this frivolous lawsuit is particularly misguided and desperate.”
On Thursday, Spence had asserted at several campaign stops that the governor had “sold his soul to the Devil.”
Spence's action contrasts with one of his key promises, if elected, to push for legislation to discourage what he called "frivolous lawsuits." Spence said his suit was based on firm legal grounds.
In the suit, Spence cited three Nixon campaign ads that “falsely claimed Spence is a St. Louis ’banker’ who ran a St. Louis ‘into the ground’ and that Spence used the proceeds from a stock sale to the U.S. Treasurer for his own benefit instead of having ‘taxpayers’ repaid.”
Spence was referring to the Nixon ads’ main narrative, which centers on Spence’s role on the board of Reliance Bancshares, and later on its ruling holding company. Before Spence had gotten on the board, the bank had agreed to accept $40 million in federal bailout money. He was among the board members who voted to delay repayment last year; Spence says they were acting on the advice of federal regulators.
Says Spence in the suit: “Defendant knows Spence is not a banker, knows he did not ‘run’ the bank, and knows that the loan business he brought the bank did not affect (and could not affect) the bank’s dividends or redemption of preferred shares from the Treasury.”
Spence was referring to the business and personal loans he obtained while he was on the bank board. One was for a vacation home at Lake of the Ozarks and has been pictured repeatedly in Nixon’s attack ads.
Spence also claimed in the suit that the ads’ assertions “are damaging (his) reputation as a successful Missouri businessman...”
