Legislative Races

Richard Monroe is the Democratic Candidate facing Roy Blunt in the seventh district Congressional race.  His campaign is gaining more and more momentum as voters in this district learn of the voting record and position stands of Blunt.  Mr. Monroe is out on the campaign trail daily, talking to the voters of the district, and is drawing good crowds in the traditionally Republican areas of Jasper, Newton, and McDonald counties.

A remarkable admission by GOP Rep. Rob "I Hate Robin Carnahan" Schaaf in the pages of the St. Joe News-Press.  In a story about Schaaf's take on the state's Sunshine Law, he lets loose a gem in response to question #2:

2. Should notice of all meetings be posted, with an agenda, at least 72 hours in advance to give citizens a better opportunity to be present?

Schaaf: While this may be feasible for some political subdivisions, “at the State House of Representatives, it would not work.” It takes 12 to 15 days to move bills through the political process with current 24-hour rules, he said.

In other words, Rob Schaaf believes that meetings of the Missouri House ought not be subject to any onerous notice requirements.  Because posting scheduled meetings three days in advance is just too big a burden for those who run our state.

We already know that newly-minted GOPer Kurt Schaefer will take a beating in November as he goes up against Democratic incumbent Chuck Graham in an ill-advised run for the state senate.  

The only real question is whether Schaefer will be able to save any face and maintain an air of respectability around his campaign.  Judging by some Jason Rosenbaum video from last week, things aren't looking good on that front for Fred Ferrell's lawyer.  

In fact, some insiders are questioning whether key Republicans from inside the 19th Senate district will support or campaign with Schaefer after some revelations he made to the Columbia Trib reporter last week.  Specifically, the suggestion is that Rep. Therese Sander --whose Randolph County 22nd House district sits within the 19th Senate district-- will give Schaefer the cold shoulder. 

We've written before about the candidacy of Republican Mike Lair for the 7th House District and how his campaign is largely financed by Blunt administration fee agents installed by son-in-law James Harris.

Harris, who served as the Blunt administration's appointment secretary and now counts the gubernatorial campaign of Sarah Steelman among his clients, looks to be sharpening his talons on Mike Lair's opponent in preparation for Kenny Hulshof.  

Below is the text of a memo from Rep. Steve Hunter (R-Nutville) lambasting the state Chamber of Commerce and the Missouri Chapter of the National Republican Lawyers Association (whose members include the Treasurer of the House Republican Campaign Committee and GOP candidate for Senate, Eric Schmitt) about the Second Injury Fund.  Its amazing the lengths the Hushlof camp is willing to go to disparage Sarah Steelman for being custodian of the second injury fund.  Grab a bucket of popcorn and an overpriced soda, this primary is going to be a lot of fun.

Part of the reason why the GOP rationale for eliminating campaign finance contribution limits ("We need to do away with limits so we can have transparency!") is so transparently bogus is that the High Priests of GOP campaign hackery go to such great lengths to avoid what few opportunities for transparency the current laws provide.

Consider the subject of a post which I just unpublished from the site, which was about payments by the GOP's Majority Fund Inc. to a consulting outfit run by Weston McKee for "grassroots development."  The payments wound up in the coffers of a consulting firm called "Laurus LLC."

But the Majority Fund's April Ethics Commission report says it paid $12,000 to "Larrus LLC."  And of course, anyone looking to learn anything about "Larrus LLC" --e.g., to find out who, precisely, is getting that money-- would be frustrated in that task since searches of the State's corporation database reveal nothing, because no such LLC exists under that name.

McKee has worked for the Fund for the last year and a decision was made in January to stop paying fees directly to McKee and instead begin paying them to an LLC he controls.  What do you suppose the odds are that Majority Fund treasurer Buddy Hardin and mastermind David Barklage really didn't know what the name of McKee's firm are?  I'd handicap the chances at slim to none.

As we noted this morning, Gina Loudon --a GOP senate candidate and wife of sitting Senator John Loudon-- was the recipient of a campaign check late in the first quarter from Ann Michael, lobbyist for the adult entertainment industry's trade group, the Missouri Association of Club Executives.  To borrow a phrase from Paul Harvey - "now, for the rest of the story"...

According to insiders, the industry's contribution to Gina Loudon has quite an interesting pedigree. 

John Loudon sponsored a bill this session, SB714, that related to criminal sexual offenses.  As that bill moved through committee, Sen. Matt Bartle offered a committee substitute that added provisions to the bill that would place legal restrictions on lap dancing, and the substitute passed out of the committee.  But when Loudon brought the bill to the Senate floor, he reportedly brought a Senate substitute for Bartle's Senate Committee Substitute that stripped (pardon the pun) out Bartle's prohibitions on lap dancing.

We wouldn't be doing our job if we didn't point out that GOP primary candidate Gina Loudon, who is running for the nomination against two others for her husband John's senate seat, took campaign cash in the past quarter from an adult entertainment industry lobbyist.

Two snaps up to Steve Kraske for posting an item to the PrimeBuzz about the just-released report from the Missouri Citizen Education Fund.  From Kraske's post...

Rich guy and pro-school-choice advocate Rex Sinquefield last year gave $168,700 to members of a Missouri state Senate committee that signed off on a school voucher bill in February.

The report, from the Missouri Citizen Education Fund, concludes that Sinquefield's "contributions and influence within the Missouri's Legislature seem to be endless," said the fund's Greg Shufeldt. Advancing the school-voucher legislation through the committee "shows what Sinquefield can do with his money."

Interesting timing for the report's release and Kraske's post, as just this week Sinquefield was spotted in the side gallery of the Missouri House kibitzing with various members of the legislature.  Story Continued »

Here's one more reason to hope that Jane Cunningham loses her bid for the state senate.

Some young people take the time to go to Jefferson City and carry out their civic duty by lobbying their legislators and Queen Jane kicks them out because she doesn't like how they look.  Painfully stupid. 

An breathtakingly repugnant admission leaked from Republican legislator Rob Schaaf's bile ducts at Saturday night's Lincoln Days event in St. Joe:

Rep. Dr. Rob Schaaf, R-St. Joseph, concluded the Lincoln Day dinner with a speech entitled, “Why I hate Robin Carnahan.” Ms. Carnahan, a Democrat, is Missouri’s secretary of state. Her office puts together Missouri’s official state manuals, commonly called “blue books” every year.

Dr. Schaaf cited page 808 of the 2007-2008 edition as his reason for the speech’s title. The book incorrectly identifies Buchanan County Eastern District Commissioner Dan Hausman as a Democrat.

What a perfect way in which to sum up an event that celebrates a Party whose chief virtue and top selling point are its incorporation of hate into the political sphere.  Hatred of "liberals", hatred of government, hatred of blacks, hatred of illegal immigrants, hatred of gays, hatred of judges and hatred of working families are the basic building blocks of the Republican coalition, so why shouldn't a hate screed against a particular individual serve as the capstone for an evening of GOP revelry?

The entire premise of haberdasher Jim Lembke's run for the south St. Louis 1st District Senate seat is that he will ride a wave of rabid "pro-life" support into office.  His plan is for anti-choice groups like Missouri Right to Life to beat the streets and pound the pulpits in favor of his candidacy, propelling him past better qualified Democratic opposition.

At each turn, he has painted himself as a crusader for the forced-childbirth cause, railing against the right of women to make determinations about their own lives and pointing to all who contradict him as "cloners" and murderers.  He has leveraged his every effort into concocting a mythology about his own status as King among the anti-rights, anti-research crowd.

The problem for Lembke?  The most important of the groups which he plans to rely on for support doesn't --by its own measure-- have a particularly high opinion of Lembke's recent history as a legislator.  Those he believes to be his base he has stood with only about half the time over the last year.

If undoing "a portion" of the GOP's disastrous 2005 Medicaid cuts is a good idea, as some House Republicans now seem to agree, wouldn't undoing all the cuts be even better?

Puzzling.  Anyway, congratulations to Republican legislators up for re-election this year who continue to hang like grim death onto the bulk of Blunt health care cuts.  They own 'em.