The Humphreys family declined a request for an interview, but they issued the following statement through Tamko spokesman Ron Cook:

"The Humphreys family supports issues of individual liberty and responsibility, lower taxes, free markets and less restrictive government regulation of people and commerce (as the most efficient regulatory restraints come from free market competition).

"We support politicians who appear to share a similar philosophy. We are hopeful that we can help in some small way to preserve and advance a freer society so that our children can enjoy the same kinds of freedoms and opportunities that we have had. And we feel some sense of duty to play some part in that endeavor."

The next three largest contributors, all of which gave $10,000 to the leadership PAC, are Leggett & Platt Inc. in Carthage, Tri-State Motor Transit Co. of Joplin, and Rudolph and Dorothy Farber. Rudolph Farber is president of Community Bank and Trust in Neosho.

Empire District gave $7,000, and the utility's own political action committee contributed an additional $2,000. Other contributors, of more than $1,000 but less than $5,000, include the Ameristar casinos in Kansas City and St. Charles, the Freeman Physicians Group PAC, St. John's Family PAC, Hunte Corp. of Goodman, and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.

Partnership

Terry Jones, a professor of political science at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, said the popular image of politicians being bought by interest groups is rarely true. Instead, Jones said, it typically is a relationship between like-minded individuals.

"It's a mistake to look at it as a bribe," he said, "but not a mistake to look at it as a partnership. It's a situation where one says to the other, 'I can help you get elected and stay elected.'"

Gipson, the head of Empire District, makes no bones about the fact that the utility lobbies and contributes to candidates in an attempt to influence public policy. Overall, he said, the strategy has been a success, and he cited a recent bill introduced by Sen. Jack Goodman, R-Mount Vernon, that would directly help Empire in a land dispute in Taney County.

Goodman said the bill would help Empire, but that it was simply aimed at clarifying existing law regarding adverse possession. It would not give utilities any land or rights they did not already possess, he said.

The bill, which has yet to pass the Senate, would exempt utilities from the statute of limitations for the recovery of land. Gipson said he did not consider a 2005 bill, of which Nodler was among five co-sponsors, that allows utilities automatic rate hikes for fuel and power costs, to have been a result of any influence by Empire District. The bill, Gipson said, passed with such broad support - 179 to 7 - that it simply fell into the area of common sense.

Nodler, though, was the sponsor of a similar but unsuccessful bill that would have allowed utilities automatic rate increases based on fuel costs. He also voted against an amendment that would have allowed the Public Service Commission to consider the ability of consumers to pay in setting utility rates.

'Lawful' laundering

The leading recipient of Nodler Leadership PAC money was the GOP Senate Majority Fund, at $41,500. Coming in second was the 32nd Senatorial District Republican Committee - the political committee for Nodler's district of Jasper, Newton and Dade counties - at $29,000.

Although Missouri has had limits since the 1990s on how much can be contributed to the election campaign of an individual candidate, there are no limits on how much can be moved from one political committee to another.