Sam Page says Missouri Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder used funds he shouldn't have to pay for the Tour of Missouri. In fact Page has been running campaign ads on this very subject.

Kinder is a member of the Missouri Development Finance Board and about $350,000 to pay for the tour came from that board.

The rest of the price tag, more than $1 million, came from Missouri's tourism budget. Page says taxpayers should not have to foot the bill for the Tour of Missouri - some of that money should go to job creation.

Kinder's campaign says the Tour of Missouri brings an economic boost to the state and is an appropriate way to spend public funds.

"Kinder is the chair of the Missouri development finance board and if he wants to allot that money for a bike race and call it tourism then he can," Page said. "That historically has been job creation money."

Kinder's spokesperson, Gary McElyea, said Page's charges are unfounded and in fact Kinder was not the only person with a say in paying for the tour.

McElyea told KOMU that "Kinder only holds one vote on a bipartisan committee. It's not job creation money, it's economic development money."

The lieutenant governor's office also cited the $30 million the tour brought in as justification for the spending.