ST. LOUIS (AP) – An audio recording has captured a heated phone call between two Republican gubernatorial candidates.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch (http://bit.ly/1OqBaSp ) reports that former Navy SEAL officer Eric Greitens is heard calling St. Louis businessman John Brunner a “weasel,” “coward,” “corrupt” and a liar on the Nov. 14 recording. Brunner spends much of the conversation appealing for calm.

At one point, Brunner says men “don’t call people names.” He added that they “talk face to face.”

Brunner campaign manager Mike Hafner said the call was recorded because an earlier call from Greitens was “bordering on a threatening nature.”

Greitens’ campaign says the candidate wasn’t aware the conversation was being recorded. But Greitens Campaign Manager Austin Chambers said in a statement that the recording shows “Greitens is disgusted by sleazy politics.”