JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Two nonprofits have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to political action committees working to protect a Missouri right-to-work law that takes effect this month, legally shielding the source of the original contributors.
American Democracy Alliance contributed $350,000 to a PAC called Liberty Alliance and $150,000 to another PAC called Missourians for Worker Freedom, The Kansas City Star reported.
Republican Gov. Eric Greitens' nonprofit, A New Missouri Inc., donated $100,000 to Missourians for Worker Freedom. A New Missouri Inc. last month gave that PAC $250,000.
The nonprofits aren't required to disclose their donors. When contributions are routed through a nonprofit to a political campaign to hide the donation's source, it's called "dark money."
The contributions seek to stave off an effort by a PAC called We Are Missouri to put the right-to-work law Greitens signed in February on the 2018 ballot, asking voters whether the measure should be repealed. We are Missouri is funded by various labor unions that so far this year together have contributed more than $1 million, including $190,000 coming last month from the carpenters union.
In right-to-work states, employees in unionized workplaces can opt out of paying unions for the cost of being represented.
American Democracy Alliance's president is John Elliot of Smithville, and its treasurer is longtime Jefferson City lobbyist Jewell Patek. It shares the same Kansas City address as Missouri GOP chairman Todd Graves' law firm.
Since being launched in February by Greitens' political team, A New Missouri Inc. has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars promoting the governor and attacking his political enemies.