Ashcroft requests taxpayer dollars to pay his legal expenses

Lawsuit filed against his office last year for interfering in free market investing practices

State Rep. Deb Lavender (MHDC)

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. —Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft requested $1.2 million from the House Budget Subcommittee on General Administration to cover his office’s legal fees to use outside counsel after the Security Industries and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) sued him for making a series of anti-free market rules.

These rules would require financial advisors and their representatives to receive written consent from their clients if they invested in companies that include environmental or social issues as part of the company’s mission.

Earlier this month, a federal judge ruled that SIFMA could continue its lawsuit against Ashcroft after he attempted to have it dismissed because the rules he wrote violated the organization’s members’ First Amendment rights.by requiring financial advisors to stick to a script.

“Missouri taxpayers should not have to pay a seven-figure sum to defend the Secretary of State’s unilateral decision to get government involved in the relationship between investors and the people they trust to invest their money wisely,” said state Rep. Deb Lavender, D-Manchester. “I don’t want Missourians to foot the bill for his campaign stunt, especially when we could use that money to better invest in the children, seniors and public servants of this state.”

Lavender serves on the House Budget Committee and the Subcommittee on General Administration.