Peter Kinder

Over the last four years, there is a list longer than your arm of ethical improprieties in Jefferson City and across Missouri which Peter Kinder saw fit to ignore completely.  Kinder never, not once, piped up to talk about ethics in government during any of the following ethical lapses and scandals...

The fee office scandal

The Jewell Patek-Andy Blunt favored lobbyist strongarm

The Fred Ferrell sexual harassment scandal

The Blunt brothers' Show Me Ethanol escapade

The Nathan Cooper illegal immigration saga

The Carl Bearden lobbyist-and-legislator-at-the-same-time trick  

Catherine Hanaway's Sweetheart Deal for Nathan Cooper

The Scott Eckersley firing

The Governor's Sunshine Law violation and cover-up

The Randa Hayes fiasco

Rudy Farber's $50K Purchase of a Transportation Commission seat 

Mike Kehoe's illegal in-kind bus donation to the Matt Blunt campaign

Yet now, all of the sudden, Kinder is drawing a bead on Rod Jetton, rolling out an ethics package clearly aimed at the Speaker.  I wonder if Kinder knows something the rest of us don't that he's trying to get out in front of by throwing Jetton under the bus?

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Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder recently addressed the meeting of a Missouri lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police.  When Kinder finished his remarks and opened the floor to questions from those assembled, one officer asked Kinder about the series of events in his office regarding the charging of his chief of staff, Eric Feltner, for furnishing pornography to a minor.

The question set off a rambling seven-plus minute response --the length of which exceeded his initial remarks.  Though audio of the entire event is available here, below is a transcript of a particularly compelling portion.  In the excerpt, Kinder seeks to enlighten his audience about the "nature" of the behaviors undertaken by people like his former chief of staff:

It is in the nature of these charges and these people who engage in that kind of behavior, I will further add, that it is located in a very dark and compartmentalized part of their life.  I consulted with a prosecuting attorney who's known to many of you with a statewide reputation who has prosecuted some of these cases and he said "Governor, we have priests, we have captains of industry, we have respected professionals --lawyers, doctors and CPAs-- we have ex-cops who we have charged and in most cases you will find that they have displayed wonderful judgment, excellent judgment, were reliable employees in every other facet of their work life and their daily lives."  And they've got this little dark thing going over here that no one else knows about, including in this case his wife.  And it's in the nature of these things that they are unknown to the rest of us.  So that's what I'm dealing with there, and it's in the courts and I await resolution to the case. 

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According to recently released state documents, GOP Attorney General candidate Mike Gibbons has asked the Missouri Development Finance Board to divert $5 million in job creation funds to Stages of Chesterfield, "a musical theatrical company that has four performance shows a year."

No word yet on whether MDFB President Peter Kinder is supporting Gibbon's bold jobs plan.

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For some reason, Peter Kinder's office has removed from his website the photo that we'd put up to accompany this post.  You know the photo --the one with Peter standing with the Fair Queen, eyes bugged out, eating a hostess pie and giving the 'thumbs-up' sign.  Peter must be trying to lay low.   

Luckily a smaller thumbnail version of the photo is still hosted here, at least for now... 

A steady stream of tipsters and correspondents have weighed in on the child porn scandal in Peter Kinder's office, with a number of experienced state government managers and Jefferson City lifers pointing out some severe dissonance between the Friday self-exonerations from the Lieutenant Governor's office and the way state government ordinarily runs.  

These folks in the know point to the statements that were rushed out of Kinder's office late Friday afternoon, in which a Kinder spokesman stated...

"This morning, following the immediate resignation of Eric Feltner our office began a prompt review of Mr. Feltner’s time cards and request for leave forms.

“Office records indicate that Mr. Feltner was on compensatory leave for both days in question listed in court documents. May 25, 2007, Mr. Feltner took compensatory leave from 3:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m. On July 5, 2007, Mr. Feltner took an entire work day of compensatory time."

As many have noted, Eric Feltner was an exempt management employee, a type not ordinarily entitled to or eligible for compensatory time.  

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As reported by Dave Catanese on KY3 blog...

“As a result of a thorough review of his state computer and email, the Office of Administration has informed me that there is no indication that state resources were improperly used by Mr. Feltner pertaining to these serious allegations. Leave forms and time sheets for Mr. Feltner that have been provided to the media show that Mr. Feltner was on leave during the time frames listed in the prosecutor's charge."

Worth noting that this "thorough review" was conducted entirely between the hours of 11am and 4pm by the same Blunt Office of Administration that specializes in destruction of evidence, as witnessed during the Scott Eckersley episode.  Inspires a lot of confidence. 

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As first reported here at Fired Up Missouri, Kinder Chief of Staff and former Kenny Hulshof District Director Eric Feltner has been charged with two counts of furnishing pornography to a minor.  

Observers note oddities in the timing of the charges.  According to the charging information, Feltner's criminal acts took place on May 25, 2007 and July 6, 2007 but no criminal charges were filed until May 21, 2008 --just days before the one year statute of limitations would have tolled on a misdemeanor charge.  The reason for the delay is unclear from court filings.

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Fired Up Missouri has learned that the Chief of Staff to Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder has been charged with furnishing pornography to a minor.  Eric Feltner served as District Director for Congressman Kenny Hulshof before joining Kinder's staff in 2005.

Charging documents filed by the Cole County prosecutor indicate that Feltner was implicated via sting operation in which he engaged in explicit online exchanges with someone he believed to be 13 years old.

From Kinder's 2005 announcement of his hiring comes this bit on Feltner:

"I am very please to have someone of Eric's caliber and experience joining the staff. I look forward having him as an integral member of my team," said Kinder.

"Eric has been a very effective advocate on my behalf for over eight years," said Congressman Hulshof. "As one of my top advisors, he has played an integral role in both a political and official capacity since 1996. I thank him for his tremendous effort and wish him the best of luck."

Feltner is scheduled to be arraigned on June 27 in Cole County Circuit Court.

Jo Mannies reports on Peter Kinder's trip to the GOP State Convention (wonder if he rode his bike to Branson?) and comes back with some weak junk from the Lieutenant Governor.  From Jo's blogpost:

Kinder said in an interview Friday night that he doesn’t expect state Treasurer Sarah Steelman to follow suit. And when asked, he said he was not ready to endorse either her or U.S. Rep. Kenny Hulshof...

Kinder's lack of readiness is a bit odd considering that he was in attendance at the Kenny Hulshof fundraiser hosted by Andy Blunt in Jefferson City last week.   Story Continued »

The Blunt/Kinder axis decided to use The Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority (MOHELA) as a political tool rather than allow the organization to serve the public interest by opening the doors of higher education.  Now, MOHELA will have to cut several critical student benefit programs.  The damage to MOHELA was not even the result of a tax cut or spending cut but the result of gross mismanagement of the program by the Blunt/Kinder axis.  Higher Education in Missouri suffers for  Story Continued »

After all the recent coverage it's received in blogs and national publications, few of us are probably unaware of the silly ad run by a wounded and desperate Sam Graves attacking Kay Barnes for what he calls her "San Francisco style values" because of a recent event she attended on the west coast.

But does Sam Graves reject the "San Francisco style" values of his fellow GOPers?  It's a relevant question after thumbing through the Personal Financial Disclosure of one of our statewide elected Republicans who'll be running again with Sam Graves this fall. 

The financial disclosure form filed by Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder with the Missouri Ethics Commission on April 2 of this year includes one compelling entry.  On the "Lodging and Travel" portion of the disclosure, on which officials are required to report any trips paid for by third parties, Kinder cops to accepting paid travel to --Gasp!!-- San Francisco.   Story Continued »

Peter Kinder's French-style, novelty bike race is finally creating jobs... in Colorado.

The bike race recently announced that "AllCustom Apparel of Colorado Springs, Colo., has been named the official licensee for on-site and web-based merchandise."

As readers of Fired Up will recall, Kinder has been diverting Missouri job creation funds to cover red-ink from his 2007 race and buy GOP VIP tents for his 2008 race.
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According to the ‘Marshall Democrat News’ (03/25/08) Commissioner Becky Plattner announced she is seeking the office of lieutenant governor and filed Friday, March 21, to be on the August primary ballot. In the announcement she stated: "I'm not going to run a hard campaign,” I am committed to serving the people of Saline County. I just want to get my name in the hat….”  Story Continued »

Peter "Every Dollar Counts!" Kinder's French-style bike race keeps eating taxpayer dollars.

Kinder recently diverted job creation money to fight the Bush recession cover red-ink from his 2007 race.

Now he has line-up a no bid, sole source contract from the state for his 2008 race.

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As he diverts job creation money to cover red ink from his 2007 French-style bike race, it's becoming clearer how Peter "Every Dollar Counts" Kinder wasted the money.

The latest example--- a bike race video.

No doubt Sam Page will find thousands of the videos stuffed under the furniture in the Lt. Governor's Office when he moves in next year.