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JEFFERSON CITY — A member of the Normandy City Council has been fined $3,100 by state ethics regulators for violations of Missouri campaign finance laws.

Maurice Hunt, who made an unsuccessful bid for mayor of the north St. Louis County community in 2021, failed to file accurate reports with the Missouri Ethics Commission about how much money he was raising and spending during the spring campaign, according to an order filed Monday by the MEC.

Among the violations alleged by the MEC was a failure by Hunt to report four expenditures totaling more than $1,400 related to door hangers, magnetic car signs, buttons, T-shirts and yard signs.

Hunt had been appointed mayor in January 2020 by the city council following the departure of the previous mayor when he launched his bid for a full term in the position.

Mark Beckmann defeated Hunt in the mayoral election with 242 votes, five more than Hunt.

Hunt’s 15-month tenure as mayor was marked by a federal lawsuit by the former director of the Normandy public works department, who claims he was fired as part of an attempt by Hunt to rid the city of its white employees.

Kevin Gibson’s suit says that after the city council appointed Hunt as mayor pro tem in January 2020, Hunt began eliminating all white employees in the city. Gibson is white and Hunt is Black, as were all members of the city council at the time, the suit says.

The city, in a court filing, denied the allegation. The lawsuit continues.

Under terms of a consent order with the MEC, Hunt can pay $400 of the fine within 45 days. If he commits no violations in the following two years, the remainder of the fine will be waived.

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Kurt Erickson is a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch

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