KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Newly released documents show Republican Senate hopeful Josh Hawley’s campaign paid lawyers tens of thousands of dollars to review emails and other documents from his time as a University of Missouri law professor before releasing them publicly.

The Kansas City Star reports that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and another Democratic group asked last year for documents from Hawley as well as his wife, Erin, who still works as a law school professor. Hawley’s campaign says Erin Hawley didn’t feel it was appropriate for her to be making public records determinations.

University of Missouri spokesman Christian Basi says it’s standard for the university to inform employees of records requests. But Basi says it’s “very rare” for a faculty member to use outside counsel to review documents in response to them.