MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG
Mo. Digital News
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Mo. Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG
Mo. Digital News
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Mo. Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
JEFFERSON CITY - The top assistant to the highest-ranking member of the Missouri Senate quit Thursday amid allegations of a conflict of interest.
David Barklage, chief of staff to Senate President Pro Tem Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, is the owner of Strategic Communications Inc., a Cape Girardeau-based campaign consulting firm. The firm received $117,000 from the Republican Party's Senate Majority Fund, which is largely controlled by Kinder. Some Democrats said they were unhappy that Barklage accepted the consulting deal in addition to his $69,600 staff salary.
In his resignation letter to Kinder, Barklage said he was proud of what he had accomplished in his work in the Senate, saying he was the victim of a smear campaign.
"It is clear that if I remain in my current role as your chief of staff that there are those who will use me to distract the Senate from conducting the people's business," his letter said.
Sen. Harry Kennedy, D-St. Louis, said he was glad Barklage stepped down.
"There was a problem with someone of his stature having that kind of conflict," Kennedy said. "And clearly other people agree, because he resigned."
"I've never come across anything like this," Kennedy said.
Barklage defended himself in a separate letter to the Senate Rules Committee. His letter said that his company had been employed by the Senate for three years before he took the job in the Senate. During those three years, the campaign fund paid Strategic Communications a fixed fee except for one bonus after Republicans gained the majority in the Senate.
"There is no evidence of any improper 'quid pro quo' on Mr. Barklage's part," the letter said.