Will Schmitt

WSCHMITT@NEWS-LEADER.COM

Over the past 24 hours, a small group of people supporting Eric Greitens, a Republican running for governor, have targeted Democratic Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Chris Koster over Twitter.

Their weapons: photographs of couches, sofas and even a chaise lounge or two.

The couch photos — some plush, some fancy and some downright ridiculous — and the hashtag "#CouchesForKoster" are meant to call attention to the $3.2 million previously used to remodel the attorney general's office, which Koster said was in poor shape and in need of repair.

None of the money came from the state's general revenue. Instead, the repairs were funded mostly by money brought in by the attorney general's office, such as from consumer fraud cases, with the remainder coming from the federal government.

Greitens supporters, including campaign manager Austin Chambers, lambasted Koster for what they characterized as overly lavish purchases using taxpayer money that could have funded other, more important needs.

"Chris Koster is a big-spending liberal career politician who thinks it's ok to waste taxpayer money," Chambers said in a statement. "Koster owes Missouri families an explanation as to why a newly decorated and 'spruced up' office for him, was far more important than their children's education or their safety.

"This type of reckless spending will end when Eric Greitens is governor. He will take Missouri in a new direction."

Koster's communications director, David Turner, described the couch tweets as "inanity."

"If the Greitens campaign would like to use the last two months of the campaign tweeting out nonsense, we encourage them to continue spending their time in that manner," Turner said. He noted that the office "was in terrible shape" before the renovation.

"Since the Attorney General has won key endorsements from the Farm Bureau and the NRA it's clear the only tactic the Greitens campaign has left is childish antics on Twitter," Turner said.

The Associated Press recently reported that Greitens received $700,000 in salary over five years while heading up The Mission Continues, the charity he founded to aid veterans and from which he stepped down in 2014.

Ads paid for by Koster, who is paid about $116,000 per year as attorney general, criticized Greitens for diverting money that would otherwise defend veterans. Greitens' campaign responded by calling Koster's ads a "desperate attack" and releasing an ad of its own, titled "Veterans Respond to Chris Koster's Lies."

Chambers declined to say whether the veterans in the ad were filmed prior to Koster's recent ad. "We knew the lies from Koster were coming and we're ready for them."

Koster has held a slight lead in recent polling. A poll with a margin of error of 3 percent released Wednesday by The Missouri Times showed Koster beating Greitens 46-42 among likely voters. All other Republican statewide candidates were winning by small margins.

Editor's note: David Turner is communications director for Chris Koster. A previous version of this story misidentified his title.