ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - A St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney nominee made stunning claims earlier this week that a associate of County Executive Dr. Sam Page asked her to dig up dirt on a political rival of Page.
In a meeting with members of the St. Louis County Council, Melissa Price Smith, who was picked as Missouri Gov. Mike Parson's nominee for St. Louis County Prosecutor and currently a assistant prosecuting attorney in the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney's Office, alleges back in October, she was asked by an associate Page asked her to dig up dirt on Republican Councilman-elect Mike Archer, who was a private citizen and candidate when the request was made.
Price Smith says she refused, but she would later be pressed a second time.
"I told them I had no dirt on Archer, and then it was my understanding he quit years before I began," said Price Smith. "I received a call two days later from the same person on behalf of Dr. Page instructing me to try harder."
Price Smith added the requests came prior the interview process to succeed outgoing Prosecuting Attorney and Congressman-elect Wesley Bell.
KMOX Legal Analyst Brad Young joined 'The Chris and Amy Show' and discussed if there are any potential legal ramifications from the allegations Price Smith made in front of the county council.
"Right now, since as far as I know, Price Smith testified she didn't know who exactly called her, and since it was by phone, this is really unsubstantiated," said Young. "If it was possible to obtain verification that's what was done, this would be explosive. This is the kind of thing people go to jail over."
"However, since it's by phone, we don't know who said it, we don't know the contexts. There could be a dispute about what was said. There's no transcript of the call. Because of all those squishy parts of this story, I don't really see if there would be enough to even launch an investigation, much less prosecute anyone for this."
Young says from his perspective, the issue isn't trying to find dirt, it's using a public official to dig up the dirt and then "conditioning a potential appointment on their refusal to do something unethical."
"You could hire a private investigator to dig up dirt on anybody. It's not illegal," said Young. "What's illegal is using an official whose a prosecutor whose paid by taxpayers dollars to dig up dirt on a political adversary. That is exactly where the problem is."