No Evidence Missouri’s Abortion Surgery Center Sold Fetal Parts September 28, 2015

(AP) – An investigation found “no evidence whatsoever” that Missouri’s only surgical abortion facility sells fetal remains, Attorney General Chris Koster said Monday, marking the latest response to a heated national debate over Planned Parenthood’s handling of fetal tissue.
The Democrat said interviews and documentation from his office’s investigation show that tissue from the more than 300 surgical abortions performed at the St. Louis Planned Parenthood in June was properly incinerated. The nearly 50-page report details contracts that Koster said track fetal tissue from the abortion clinic to a pathology lab and then to an incinerator.
“We have discovered no evidence whatsoever to suggest that Planned Parenthood’s St. Louis facility is selling fetal tissue,” Koster said in a statement.
Several state attorneys general and health departments began reviewing state practices following the release of undercover videos in July by anti-abortion activists. The videos show officials from the national organization discussing the transfer of tissue for medical research, which spurred criticism primarily by Republicans.

Brownback & Koster Expanding Planned Parenthood Probes July 21, 2015

The investigation into Planned Parenthood’s sale of fetal tissue has extended in to Kansas and Missouri.

Kansas Governor Sam Brownback, a fierce abortion opponent, is asking for the Kansas Board of Healing Arts and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to investigate whether or not any Kansas abortion facilities sell tissue from aborted fetuses.

Earlier Tuesday, Missouri Democratic Attorney General, Chris Koster announced he would investigate Missouri Planned Parenthood facilities..

In the first secretly recorded video by the Center for Medical Progress (CMP), Planned Parenthood Executive Dr. Deborah Nucatola tells the persons recording the video the Planned Parenthood affiliate in St. Louis would be a good place to purchase tissue.

It is not illegal to sell tissue, but it is illegal to make a profit from it.

Koster said in a statement today, “regardless of whether one is pro-life or pro-choice the questions raised by these videos require careful review.”

The Executive Director of Missouri Right to Life, Patti Skain says her group is reserving judgment on the quality and the scope of Koster’s investigation.
Skain told KMBC TV, “AG Koster is not pro-life. And he does not believe in the constitutional right to life of an unborn child.”

The President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Mid Missouri and Kansas,, Laura McQuade told KMBC in a statement, “our affiliates do not have or participate in tissue donation programs. Planned Parenthood Affiliates follow all laws”.

The AP quotes her as saying the investigation are politically motivated.

Two other Missouri investigation may start up. Both Missouri house And State senators are organizing their own investigations.

Driving While Black Stops At Record High in Missouri June 1, 2015

(AP) – The disparity in the rate at which Missouri authorities pulled over black drivers compared with whites last year surged to its highest level since the state began compiling data 15 years ago, the state’s top law enforcer said Monday.

Attorney General Chris Koster’s annual report analyzing traffic stops by race found that African-American drivers were 75 percent more likely than white motorists to be stopped on Missouri’s roads based on their proportionate share of the driving-age population. That’s nine percentage points higher than last year. In 2000, blacks were 31 percent more likely than whites to be pulled over.

The report is Missouri’s first since the racial unrest that followed the shooting death last August in Ferguson of Michael Brown, a black, unarmed 18-year-old, by a white police officer. Koster’s report shows that black drivers in the predominantly black St. Louis suburb were stopped last year at a disparity rate lower than the statewide average.

Koster cautioned that with 622 law enforcement agencies, there is no single explanation as to why the disparities exist and that the statistics don’t prove law officers are making vehicle stops based on the driver’s race. But Koster said in a statement that his office’s analysis of nearly 1.7 million 2014 traffic stops “provides law enforcement, legislators and the public a starting point as they consider improvements to process and changes to policy to address these issues.”

Audit Questions Controls in Koster’s AG Office March 24, 2015

AP) – Although Attorney General Chris Koster’s gubernatorial campaign has had a policy in place for months to address concerns that he was influenced by lobbyist perks and political donations, an audit released Tuesday faulted his state office for not implementing a similar system.
At issue is a New York Times article in October asserting Koster was among many attorneys general who were soft on companies facing litigation from their offices after receiving gifts and donations.
Koster’s campaign spokesman Andrew Whalen on Tuesday confirmed that he adopted a policy the next month to stop accepting gifts from lobbyists or contributions from anyone involved in litigation with his office within the last 90 days.
Koster, the only Democrat running for governor in 2016, called it one of the strictest ethics policies of any elected attorney general in the U.S. But the state audit criticized the attorney general’s office for not implementing similar protocols to prevent conflicts of interest.
In a written response included in the audit report, the attorney general’s office said its lawyers had no contact with Koster’s campaign.
“Whether or not a particular entity, lobbyist, or attorney may be a political contributor is of no relevance, and AGO attorneys spend no time concerning themselves with that issue,” the office said in its written response. “The far better solution is to keep campaign business out of the office.”
Spokespeople for the attorney general’s office declined further comment Tuesday

JPB Passes on Missouri AG Run January 30, 2015

Jackson. County ProsecutorJean Peters Baker says she is not going to run for the Democratic nomination for Attorney General.
Veteran County Executive Mike Sanders, a potential candidate for years, says he continues to consider it, according to the Kansas City Star.
Democrats Scott Sifton and Jake Zimmerman says they intend to run in 2016,
Republican Kurt Schaefer is also planning to run.
Attorney General Chris Koster is planning to run for the Democratic nomination for Governor in 2016.