Hundreds of COVID-19 deaths draw focus on nursing home industry and its political influence in Missouri – STLtoday.com

From 2015 through 2018, the Missouri Health Care Association PAC gave a total of $423,743 to dozens of candidates and committees, including its only contribution in 2018: $1,000 to Parsons campaign.

Two PACs formed in 2017, DSV and RQC, have made similar donations to dozens of candidates. Both PACs are largely funded by the MHCA, as well as a handful of nursing homes and attorneys contributing $300 or less. Last year, RQC PAC made 48 contributions totaling $84,950, to recipients including Uniting Missouri and American Dream. DSV made 39 contributions totaling $67,600 to many of the same candidates.

The two PACs each contributed $5,000 to Uniting Missouri at the Dec. 11 fundraiser.

While the PACs have given to Republican candidates in greater amounts, theyve also supported Democrats. Galloway for Missouri, for example, received $2,500 from the MHCA PAC in 2016; RQC gave $1,000 to Galloway in 2017; and the DSV PAC contributed $2,600 in 2018.

MHCA reported spending $329,767 in nondeductible lobbying expenditures in 2017, according to federal tax filings of the most recent year in which tax filings were available. The association also listed $39,772 in legislative expenses. The group spent $296,357 on lobbying efforts in 2016.

Another industry group, the Missouri Assisted Living Association, also operates three PACS the Missouri Assisted Living PAC, Residential Care Facility PAC, and the MO Residential Care-PAC that also similarly made contributions. Those three PACs have given a total $29,525 since 2017, including $3,000 to the campaign accounts of Parson and $1,000 to Kehoe.

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Hundreds of COVID-19 deaths draw focus on nursing home industry and its political influence in Missouri - STLtoday.com