Carne roja, de la derecha

by: RBH

Thu Jan 06, 2011 at 20:04:24 PM CST

"If you are on the roads and you can't read the signs, it is a public safety issue, period,"

Examples of the drastic difference between road signs in Mexico and Missouri:

The far-left Missouri Highway Patrol weighed in there:

With road sign colors and symbols based on an international standard, Hull said, the patrol sees no safety issues for drivers who are not well-versed in English.

Dude, that curve is not exactly the same, I barely figured it out (sarcasm off)

And every rose has a thorn, and every Republican party has a Cauthorn:

"The average guy on the street hates Spanish, and it is everywhere"

Ok, so if the Spanish is everywhere, the average guy is either not a Spanish speaker, or self-hating. Which should tell you what John Caut-- I mean the average guy really thinks about Mexicans. If I knew enough Spanish to make John Cauthorn jokes, I would. But i'll stick to English, because that's the way the Republican General Assembly wants us to speak.

The odds of the Republican General Assembly doing a lot for ESL education this session? No bueno, mi amigos

Good thing unemployment isn't a problem in Missouri or anything.

A Fugitive, and his puzzling Missouri political contributions

by: RBH

Wed Dec 22, 2010 at 14:06:12 PM CST

Now, the USNVA caught my eye for a reason I will reveal shortly.

The Missouri Attorney General's office Check-A-Charity page for the Missouri Chapter of the USNVA has a pretty low-key notice at the bottom

So, if you followed the encouragement, you would find this:

A man who falsely identified himself as "Bobby Thompson," director of the U.S. Navy Veterans Association, is wanted by Ohio authorities, and Attorney General Richard Cordray is turning to Ohio veterans - the group that the imposter cheated - to help find him.

"There are almost one million veterans who live in Ohio," Cordray said. "Those are men and women who put their life on the line for our country. The man who presented himself as 'Bobby Thompson' traded on their honorable reputation and service to benefit himself."

Hmmm... let's dig deeper here.

Talkin' about ethics reforms

by: RBH

Wed Dec 30, 2009 at 13:43:23 PM CST

Seems like Governor Jay Nixon has some ideas about ethics reform too:

In a conference call with reporters Wednesday, Nixon outlined four components of what he would support in terms of reforming government:

-- Restoration of campaign donation limits in the neighborhood of $1,200 to $1,300 for statewide candidates in primary and general elections.

-- A ban on the practice of shifting campaign funds among committees in an effort to disguise the original source of the funds.

-- A waiting period between when a lawmaker serves in office and then becomes a lobbyist.

-- A prohibition of the practice of a lawmaker receiving money to act as a political consultant.

Good luck on getting point A enacted. The Republican General Assembly seems to think that allowing 5-digit campaign donation checks makes things more open and ethical.

Meanwhile in today's campaign finance news, the House Republican Campaign Committee reported a $16275 donation from a St. Louis man and Jay Nixon reported a $25K donation from the "Lewis & Clark Regional Leadership Fund" (which apparently donated $50K to Kenny Hulshof last year). The fun never ends in the Texas-era of Missouri campaign finance. Big money big money no whammies.

Should be exciting to see how watered down the Republican "reform" bill ends up being.

Republican House Members figure out which anti-health care reform amendment to support en-masse

by: RBH

Thu Dec 17, 2009 at 16:29:27 PM CST

It's easier to publish the names of the Republicans not currently sponsoring this amendment than to publish the cosponsors.

The 11 non-sponsors are Jason Brown (termed out), Gary Dusenberg (termed out, running for the Senate), Doug Ervin (termed out, sponsored HJR 50), Steve Hobbs (termed out), Denny Hoskins, Scott Lipke (termed out), David Sater, Tom Self (termed out), Ryan Silvey, Maynard Wallace (termed out), and Billy Pat Wright.

Oh yeah, HJR 48, HJR 50, and HJR 57 are the exact same bill.

The Senate Bill SJR 25 probably the exact same too, but House and Senate duplication is to be expected.

Three identical versions of the same amendment? Wow. Hope the lobbyist and/or thinktank member who wrote this amendment gets his credit too.

The Amendment needs 82 votes in the House and at least 17 in the Senate (the Senate bill has 18 members aboard and the Senate is 23-11 Republican). No Gubernatorial approval is necessary.

The Amendment text is under the fold.

Only 180 Days? (the Tilley Ethics Plan unveils itself)

by: RBH

Tue Dec 15, 2009 at 16:24:58 PM CST

I asked "3) How long will former legislators be barred from lobbying? a year? two years? longer?"

"A moratorium on serving as a legislative lobbyist for 180 days after a member leaves the general assembly"

HA HA HA HA. Wait, that's not some joke before you reveal a moratorium with teeth?

That means that legislators who leave office due to term limits on January 5th(?), 2011 can lobby the legislature on July 4th, 2011. Which means that there is maybe a year break if the lobbyist doesn't find veto session work. But if a term-limited legislator were to resign on November 2nd, 2010, he could lobby the legislature on May 1st, 2011. Just in time to work on the most important days of the 2011 session.

Not that legislators, who have already resigned early for various reasons (moving on to a new position, giving their anointed successor a leg up) would eveeeeeeeeer notice that resigning in the fall, when they have no more work to do, would get them work lobbying the legislature in May 2011. Never.

BTW, nothing about that seems to prevent a legislator lobbying one of the three other non-legislative bodies for "on the job training" before going back to their old work place.

And I asked "2) How far will gift bans really go? and how blatant will the loopholes be? Will Lobbyists be able to co-own valuable items with legislators to stretch a gift ban?"

"An end to lobbyist gifts and meals to individual members of the legislature"

Still not answered. But then again, does that mean that gifts to the entire body or more than one legislator would be allowed?

"Tilley said he approached the legislation with three criteria in mind:
1. "It must be comprehensive."
2. "It must be fair."
3. "It must make an impact and prove effective.""

When we see the text, we can see how Tilley's bill does under Tilley's criteria. We'll also see if poking the bill with sharp sticks produces answers to pressing questions.

(h/t to Fired Up! Missouri for the Turner Report link)

Republican-crafted Ethics "Reform" and the Missing Piece

by: RBH

Sun Dec 13, 2009 at 14:58:15 PM CST

But don't worry about ethics, Republican Leader Steve "Air" Tilley is proposing an ethics package. Which would be a great joke, if it's not going to be taken seriously by Republicans and newspaper writers as being reform.

At least Five questions worth asking about a Tilley ethics bill in order to figure out if it's going to be reform or synthetic reform.

1) Will lobbyists and special interests write the Tilley bill or just provide an outline of acceptable limitations?
2) How far will gift bans really go? and how blatant will the loopholes be? Will Lobbyists be able to co-own valuable items with legislators to stretch a gift ban?
3) How long will former legislators be barred from lobbying? a year? two years? longer?
4) Will a bar on political consulting while in office really mean much other than the person doing the consulting not directly earning money for his efforts? (In other words, will it be a symbolic ban where the majority pats themselves on their backs at the end)
5) How much of this bill will ultimately get scrapped or fused onto the Shields bill?

But any ethics bill that fails to address the Texas-style campaign contribution laws we have on the books is not complete. Any bill that thinks you can clean up politics in the Missouri General Assembly while allowing prominent legislators to keep receiving six-digit long checks from power brokers and special interests is a bill built on a surplus of optimism, hope, and delusion.

Anonymous Republican state rep: "We need new leadership in the House"

by: RBH

Thu Dec 10, 2009 at 12:03:12 PM CST

Our Missouri Republican House is full of hard-working, industrious legislators who are doing their best for Missouri.

But our attempts to build a better and stronger party are being held back by the waste and greed of select individuals who have directed the party's resources to advance their own agendas. It began with Rod Jetton, and continues today with Steve Tilley.

(...)

Through their multiple political connections, Tilley and Jetton are inexorably connected. After Jetton left the HRCC, his leadership committee was given a jump-start of $15,922.00 by a PAC connected to Tilley. Tilley has directly employed Jetton's consulting services, and their indirect relationships are too numerous to count here. Through them, Tilley has been linked to many of the same controversies that have embroiled Jetton.

Here's a list of Rod Jetton & Associates clients

by: RBH

Mon Dec 07, 2009 at 22:53:22 PM CST

"Rep. Sue Allen was on Rod Jetton's clients list. But Rep. Allen says she just had Jetton send out invitations to the inaugural ball for her. / "I don't know how my name got on the list. He wasn't consulting with my campaign," Rep. Sue Allen tells me."

Of course the client list is exaggerated, J&A was trying to get more money. And the story is on Talking Points Memo.

Update 3: And Rod Jetton will be closing down his political consulting business in order "to deal with false allegations and spend time with his family" (his lawyers words). Not a stunner.

Update 2: Rod Jetton's mug shot suggests that there were no combs in the Cole County Sheriff's office last night. And that Rod didn't pay Tom DeLay for consulting on how to look for a mugshot.

Update 1: RodJetton.org has gone offline, and a link to the Google cache of that page has been posted to replace that link in this post.

Former Representative Jetton is innocent until proven guilty. But realistically, his public influence amongst Jeff City Republicans is gonna vaporize. The Republican General Assembly may be arrogant and overconfident, but they're not that stupid.

It's for the purposes of posterity  and public knowledge that the Representatives who have paid Jetton & Associates in the year 2009 (and what they paid for) are displayed for you, the reader, and their constituents to know.

Sue Allen: $214, mailing
Chuck Gatschenberger: $160, invitations
Timothy Jones: $3599.95, consultant services, mailing costs
Shelley Keeney: $788.50, consulting
Rob Mayer: $734, consulting
Brian Nieves: $188, consultant
Don Ruzicka: $189, expenses
Dwight Scharnhorst: $1000, fundraising expenses
Shane Schoeller: $5405.69, fundraising event, mailing/postage, consulting
Jason Smith: $613, direct mail
Steven Tilley: $46806.67, lots of stuff (23 entries, so far)

Will the guy who could be the next Speaker of the Missouri House continue his hand-in-hand relationship with Jetton & Associates in the year 2010? You don't need a political consultant to figure out the answer to that question.

It'll be around a month from now before we figure out the 4th quarter spending from candidates to J&A. Will Floor Leader Tilley (R-da plane da plane) top $50K in payments to Jetton in 2009? Can't wait to see.

Addendum: Reaction #1 is from Shane Schoeller:

"This is barely two hours old. I'm not going to be making any hasty decisions, These are serious allegations that have been made. And obviously, if it's true, we'll part paths."