(AP) — Missouri gubernatorial candidate Eric Greitens has capitalized on the connections he made as the founder of a charity for military veterans to help finance his Republican campaign, but denies he used a charity donor list for political purposes in potential violation of federal laws. Financial records analyzed by The Associated Press show Greitens has received nearly $2 million from donors who previously gave significant amounts to The Mission Continues — an overlap that was especially beneficial during the crucial startup of his campaign. The Internal Revenue Service has ruled charities cannot give donor lists to politicians but can rent them at fair market value if made available to all candidates. Republicans have targeted it as a potential pickup because Democratic incumbent Jay Nixon is barred by term limits from seeking re-election. Greitens denied using the charity's donor database for his campaign and said he fired Hafner around that time because Hafner had ties to political consultants working for John Brunner, a Republican gubernatorial rival. Koster was the lead example in an October 2014 New York Times article describing how state attorneys general had changed polices and negotiated more favorable legal settlements after receiving campaign contributions and lobbyist perks. [...] report, Koster adopted a policy banning the acceptance of lobbyist gifts and campaign contributions from anyone with litigation involving the attorney general's office.