Talent Gets $30K from UniGroup Execs 

A report by the blog ePluribus Media outlines over $30,000 in campaign contributions from executives and political action committees related to UniGroup, Inc., a Fenton-based firm that owns some of the nation’s largest moving companies and which has millions of dollars in federal contracts.

According to campaign finance reports, Richard McClure, the firm’s CEO and the former chief of staff for then-Missouri Gov. John Ashcroft, has given $4,000 to Talent’s Senate campaign. His wife, Sharon, gave another $2,000.

What’s wrong with that? Well, according to ePluribus, the Senate Ethics Manual bars contributions from federal government contractors. Not exactly.

While the rules fordid contractors like UniGroup, Inc. from giving to candidates, its employees and executives are free to give as much money as is legally allowed for anyone else.

Now whether it’s ethical for politicians to accept campaign contributions from people whose employers are affected by legislation overseen by those legislators is another deal altogether.

But if that was outlawed, who would fund all the citywide campaigns in St. Louis?