Legislators Squeal on Fee Increase for Records; Contract for Team Andy Client at Heart of Battle
Yesterday saw a couple news stories about how GOP legislators have grown livid about the increase in fees for driving records charged by the Blunt Department of Revenue. From the KC Star:
A new fee structure for Missouri motor vehicle and driver records
has insurance companies enraged and a lawmaker promising action in the
waning days of the legislative session.The state Department of
Revenue on May 1 raised the fee to $7 per record and has said it would
not provide a bulk discount to companies that use the data for things
such as calculating insurance rates. That means companies now must pay
about $28 million for the entire database.
The story notes that the fee increase pushed through by the Blunt Department of Revenue represents a 300,000% increase in the fee previously charged. We get more clues about why from the AP's story:
The Revenue Department in October signed a contract worth up to $50
million with Virginia-based BearingPoint Inc. to replace the state
computer system for driver's license records. Davis said the department
is paying for the new system with profits from driver's license and
motor vehicle requests and by letting the consulting firm keep $1 from
every record sale.
Until November of 2007, right after that contract was signed in October 2007, Bearingpoint's lobbyist was Jay Reichard. Reichard, of course, is the human conduit used by Andy Blunt to lobby the executive branch, which Andy claims he doesn't do. But it's a near certainty that the firm's compensation was structured so that Andy Blunt got a major windfall from this contract.
Ask yourself this: does raising a fee paid by businesses to 3,000 times over its current level sound like something Matt Blunt would do for no reason? Does it sound like something he would do if it provided financial benefit to a client of his brother's firm, and his brother himself?
