There will come a day when campaign finance sanity comes to Missouri.

It might take a year or two, or 10, but when it happens, remember July 2016 as the month that turned the tide. In terms of the unencumbered flow of corrupting money, the month started with the absurd and quickly advanced to the obscene.

On July 1, the most prolific donor in Missouri history, St. Louis billionaire and chess fanatic Rex Sinquefield, demonstrated the dual problem with the state’s lax campaign finance laws.

First, he donated $849,995 to his chosen candidate for governor, Republican Catherine Hanaway. Sinquefield had already bought and paid for Hanaway’s candidacy with more than a million dollars in previous donations. But Sinquefield didn’t put his name on the check. Instead he passed the money through two political action committees he runs, Great St. Louis and Missourians for Excellence in Government, as though he or his political minions believe voters are dumb enough to believe that money came from some grass-roots organization.

Sinquefield was just getting started.

The same day he made it clear that his chosen candidate for attorney general, Republican Kurt Schaefer, was also a fully purchased commodity, by depositing $906,630 into his campaign accounts.