State rep to return more than $3,000 in contributions

State Rep. Billy Pat Wright, R-Dexter, will return $3,925 in campaign contributions received during a seven-month period when legislation repealing donation limits was in effect, he said Wednesday.

Wright, a second-term lawmaker, said he never solicited donations larger than the $325 maximum that the law allows. From Jan. 1 until July 19, when the Missouri Supreme Court ruled the repeal of the limits was invalid, politicians across the state accepted donations in unlimited amounts.

"I don't want any questions asked, and I don't want to apply for hardships," Wright said. "I am returning about $3,900."

Most area politicians are returning the donations, rather than seeking an exemption for hardship. Two, Rep. Steve Hodges, D-East Prairie, and Rep. Steve Tilley, R-Perryville, have said they plan to ask the Missouri Ethics Commission to allow them to keep the over-limit donations.