ST. LOUIS _ Scott Faughn, the Missouri newspaper publisher who gave $50,000 in cash to the lawyer who helped break open the scandal now engulfing Gov. Eric Greitens, has a history of playing different, often conflicting roles: mayor, journalist, political activist, even convicted felon.
But Faughn, 38, has been consistent about one thing in the past few years: his dislike of Greitens.
"When I first met the governor, something in my sizable gut detected a certain lack of authenticity," Faughn wrote recently in his political newspaper, the Missouri Times, adding to his longstanding criticism of Greitens' use of dark money, his attacks on tax credits and his conflicts with fellow Republicans. "It just seemed odd to go from well-tailored suit-wearing Obama supporter in 2008 to the most right-wing of right-wingers dressed in jeans and work boots a few years later."
Greitens faces a felony invasion-of-privacy charge and calls for impeachment stemming from an extramarital affair which, the woman involved has alleged, included violence and a threat. Greitens also faces a second felony charge for allegedly misusing a charity for political gain.
The affair and related allegations first came to light in January, when Clayton attorney Al Watkins, representing the ex-husband of the woman who'd had the affair with Greitens, released an audio recording the man secretly made of his then-wife talking about it.
Watkins has since said in a deposition that he received two cash bundles of $50,000 each: one from a courier identified only as "Skyler," and the other from Faughn.
Faughn has been coy about providing details on his role, scheduling and then postponing a radio interview on the issue Tuesday. He didn't respond to a St. Louis Post-Dispatch request for an interview Tuesday.
He may soon have no choice but to lay it all out, though, as a special Missouri House committee is expected to subpoena him in its on-going investigation of Greitens.
Faughn, barrel-chested and gregarious, first came into the public eye in 2002, as the 22-year-old mayor of his home town of Poplar Bluff in southeast Missouri. His youthful political career ended with a felony conviction for forging checks to himself from a highway project.
His newspaper, the Jefferson City-based Missouri Times, is generally identified with the state's Republican establishment. That alone somewhat puts Faughn at odds with Greitens.
Although he's a Republican, Greitens has been battling the GOP's old guard in the state capital since before his 2016 election. With no previous political experience, Greitens won that year in part by vilifying the Republicans who control state government. He has continued that practice as governor.
Faughn also is a strong supporter of the lucrative industry that has grown around Missouri's generous tax-credit system, which Greitens has begun dismantling, suggesting it's a boondoggle by developers at the expense of the taxpayers.
Under that system, the state gives tax incentives for goals like providing low-cost housing and historic preservation, with the developers of those projects taking their profits off the top, often by selling the credits for cash.
Last year, Greitens used his board appointment powers at the Missouri Housing Development Commission to cancel the state's tax credit match for federal low-income housing tax credits, appointing two new commission members right before the meeting. The only votes against it were from state Treasurer Eric Schmitt and Lt. Gov. Mike Parson, a vocal supporter of the state's tax credit system who will become governor if Greitens is removed.
"Parson, Schmitt defend rural Missouri with 'no' votes on ending low-income housing tax credits," read The Missouri Times headline after that vote, over a story that focused primarily on criticism of Greitens' move.
In addition to publishing The Missouri Times, The Clayton Times and The SEMO Times of Poplar Bluff, Faughn hosts the weekly television show, "This Week in Missouri Politics." Its sponsors include Sterling Bank of Poplar Bluff, which is involved in low-income housing tax credit projects.
Those and other ties between Faughn and the tax credit development industry have led to speculation this week that that industry might have provided the $50,000 that Faughn gave to Watkins.
A Sterling Bank official didn't return a call seeking comment Tuesday. Its lobbyist in Jefferson City, former House Speaker Steve Tilley _ who has appeared on Faughn's show and co-sponsored legislative parties with him _ said Tuesday he had "no idea" where the money came from. "You would have to talk to Scott about Scott," he said.
In an off-the-air conversation with KMOX Radio's Mark Reardon Tuesday morning, Faughn apparently denied that he was delivering the cash for someone else.
"Faughn says that he was the source of the money. He says, 'It was my money.' That's a direct quote," Reardon told his listeners later in the day. "This was part of an effort to write a book about this."
Reardon added: "Do I believe that it was his money? I do not."
The notion that Faughn personally provided the money does seem questionable, given his relatively recent financial problems. Just two years ago, Faughn faced legal action over $17,000 in unpaid taxes and other debts related to his two newspapers.
Faughn is a regular guest on St. Louis' KMOX shows, including Reardon's show, but had never mentioned his connection to the Greitens' legal case before it came out in court.
As recently as Friday, Faughn appeared on "Reardon's Roundtable" on KMOX, participating in discussion about the two $50,000 payments made to Watkins by then-unknown sources, and continuing his criticism of the governor. Faughn didn't mention that he was responsible for delivering one of them.
In addition to any legal issues arising from his entanglements in the Greitens case, Faughn _ not for the first time _ faces questions about his role as a journalist.
"A basic standard of journalism is that you do not participate in the events _ the issues _ in which you are covering," said Phill Brooks, an associate professor emeritus at the Missouri School of Journalism who has worked in the Capitol since the early 1970s and works for KMOX Radio.
He said the fact that Faughn delivered $50,000 to Watkins _ whatever the motive _ is "as serious an ethical violation as you can find in American journalism."
"This is a member of our Capitol news association who is engaged in funneling money to an agent involved in trying to oust the governor of the state of Missouri," Brooks said.
The Missouri Capitol News Association is comprised of members of news organizations around the state, and administers office space at the Capitol for its members. The group's bylaws restrict it to organizations that are "editorially independent of any political party, institution, foundation, lobbying entity or interest group."
The Missouri Times is part of the association, but Faughn's adherence to its standards has come into question in the past. For example, the Times hosted lobbyist-sponsored parties and, for a time, one lawmaker slept in the publication's offices, according to a report in the Gateway Journalism Review.
