In the interest of full disclosure: I am chair of the 31st Senate District Democratic Committee. I communicate with Senator Koster in that capacity and as an individual party member who is pleased that he joined the Democratic Party.
Today’s Kansas City print edition of the Kansas City Star had a front page (below the fold) article on Chris Koster: After party switch, is Koster ‘a man without a country’?
The online title of the article?: Kosters party switch in Missouri leaves hard feelings on both sides of partisan fence
Hard feelings? They’ve got to be joking. As a Democrat what’s not to like? From my perspective all I had to do was show up to a press conference in Harrisonville at the beginning of August to find out that I didn’t have to help raise an ungodly amount of money to be represented in the Missouri General Assembly by a Democratic state senator.
We’re supposed to have a big tent in this party.
Let’s get some things out of the way. Several individuals who I greatly respect and who have worked with Chris Koster have spoken very highly of him over the years. Since August I have gotten to know Senator Koster. I’m no ingenue when it comes to politics – I’m as cynical as they come. Chris Koster is an intelligent public servant and a gifted politician. I like what I see.
I have met Margaret Donnelly on several occasions and recently had the opportunity to speak with her at a function. She is a formidable individual. I like what I see.
I have met Jeff Harris. I have heard him speak on several occasions. While I have not had the opportunity to speak with him, again, I like what I see.
The reality is we have three very impressive candidates running in the Democratic Party primary for Attorney General. My prediction: whoever wins the primary is going to be Missouri’s next Attorney General.
The Kansas City Star article:
…Now, many of his old Republican colleagues say Koster, who switched to the Democratic Party in August and officially launched his bid for attorney general in October, will don any uniform to advance his political career. That might be what you would expect a jilted party to say, but a number of Democrats resistant to Koster’s conversion say the same thing.
To critics in both parties, he’s now “Koster the Impostor…”
Okay folks, here are some cold, hard facts. All politicians are opportunists. And, Democrats should never take political advice or talking points from republicans.
As for the sincerity of Chris Koster’s switch? Anyone who doubts the present republican agenda on stem cells, their coming assault on labor and collective bargaining, and their attacks on the Missouri judiciary would probably like the idea of “opportunism” as the one and only motivating factor.
…To be sure, Koster has his supporters among Senate Democrats. Sens. Victor Callahan of Independence, Tim Green of St. Louis County and Jeff Smith of St. Louis all say Koster’s conversion was sincere…
Very interesting group of individuals, don’t you think?
There’s no waiting list to or loyalty oath in the Democratic Party. The only test you need to pass to become the party’s candidate in the general election is with the voters in the August primary. They’ll decide.
Meanwhile, our party’s strong group of candidates for Attorney General can chose to productively spend their time making their own case instead of complaining about the others around them. I’ll be waiting.
when you say that Koster’s conversion is the real thing. But he’s still got Rex Sinquefield’s money. And he carried the Farm Bureau’s water on CAFOs just last spring.
I’m willing to concede that he might be a mixed bag and that his concern for helping the little guy might grow with time. I’d love to see him adopt real Democratic values.
I’ll be watching what he does in the lege this spring and hoping he shows me I’m mistaken about him. But for now, I’m much more skeptical than you are.
and I’m unlikely to support Koster in the primary. Still, I welcome the switch, mainly because he can credibly say things like the following:
He’s saying that he just wants to be a mainstream politician, but the Republican Party made that impossible as long as he remained a member. So he had to switch to the mainstream party, the Democrats. I love that.
First Edwards then Kerry for me. Koster donated money to George Bush who I am certain you would have supported if he had just switched parties.
You never explained how Koster switching parties is going to help you. How? What exactly is he going to do this year that will help you? He won’t get a thing done next year.
Does Koster voting for the health care cuts, MOHELA, photo id, the foundation formula, removal of campaign contributions limits, and sponsoring the CAFO bill make you more of less likely to support him?
Maybe we can get Blunt to switch parties. You know he supports stem cell research. Then we would have two good candidates running for Governor.
Michael
I really don’t know what to say to you. I spend a good part of most weeks in the legislative session working in the Capitol on behalf of progressive issues. I am tempted to call you and give you the whole story but I think my employers who would privately approve could not publicly approve.
Let me try to respond to your points.
–Hard feelings? They’ve got to be joking. As a Democrat what’s not to like? From my perspective all I had to do was show up to a press conference in Harrisonville at the beginning of August to find out that I didn’t have to help raise an ungodly amount of money to be represented in the Missouri General Assembly by a Democratic state senator.–
I hate to be blunt with you but there has no been a single important vote in the last three years that has been decided by one vote. Medicaid cuts, photo id, the foundation formula, the removal of campaign contribution limits, MOHELA, 100 million to Paul McKee. Not a single vote. If you take the largest forty-five issues that are rated votes over the last three years there hasn’t been a single vote. We have picked off 1 or 2 of these on some votes but neve enough to matter. Koster is slick and I believe he has convinced you of this but it isn’t true.
We are screwed in this general assembly plain and simple. The next one should be better. If Koster was going to sit as a Democratic senator in the next general assembly his vote could matter. If he really wanted to help us he would run as a D incumbent for Senator. An open seat is going to cost you just as much money.
If fact in the short run Koster has made things worse although I believe he shouldn’t be blamed for that. If he would have stayed as a Republican and really worked with us we could have blocked some things. Believe me the Republicans hate him now and they will make him a pariah. It is safe to say that he will get nothing done for you this year. Again he could have really helped us if he would have stayed for four more years. The comment from the Griesheimer is representative of what many Republicans feel about Koster. Griesheimer is wrong on nearly all the issues. His voting record over the last three years is slightly better than Koster’s but certainly really lousy. But people in the Capitol don’t question his integrity. When these Republicans say Koster lied to them I tend to believe them.
A little side point here. If Koster really lied to these guys if we immediately embrace Koster for a statewide race aren’t we a little like the mistress who believes the guy who lied to his wife.
You also said
Let’s get some things out of the way. Several individuals who I greatly respect and who have worked with Chris Koster have spoken very highly of him over the years. Since August I have gotten to know Senator Koster. I’m no ingenue when it comes to politics – I’m as cynical as they come. Chris Koster is an intelligent public servant and a gifted politician. I like what I see.
I know of very few people in the Capitol that trust Koster. Koster certainly has his supporters. He is an engaging person. But very few Democrats in the Capitol are supporting him. Out of interest do you know anything about Callahan or Jeff Smith or the infighting among the Senate caucus. In any event it is telling that Maida couldn’t bring herself to say anyting positive about Koster.
You also said
Okay folks, here are some cold, hard facts. All politicians are opportunists.
Of course but I think in terms of political opportunism Koster is sort of setting the gold standard. If you think it is good for the democratic party that we have a person as our nominee that we can not trust and voted for everything Jay is going to criticize Blunt for you are sadly mistaken.
We have two great candidates that have represented our values for the last three years often times against Koster. What kind of message does it send to people like me. Votes don’t matter and whether you can trust someone doesn’t matter. None of what happened in the past matters. Just vote for the guy who the ladies fawn over.
A number of years ago I lived in a suburban St. Louis legislative district. There was little I liked about the democratic nominee. He had a terrible reputation. But I choose to vote for him because I knew he would cast the right vote on organizing the House. I did it holding my nose. He lost but I still think I made the right decision because he wasn’t dangerous.
Many of us who really know Chris know he is dangerous. If he wins the nomination I somehow vote for Gibbons. Somehow.
Let’s continue this dialogue.
And I agree with you, whoever wins the Democratic nomination for AG is going to quickly dispose of Gibbons in the general. So that being the case, I would rather support a candidate who has spent their entire career fighting for progressive values and standing up to Republican bullying tactics.
Sen. Koster is welcome in the party; if I lived in Cass County, I would be happy that I now have Democratic representation in the Senate. But I’m not going to vote for the man for AG, because we disagree on too many issues.
Jeff Harris is the candidate for me; proven track record, competent, and dedication to progressive values.
has an article about Koster as an example of how the GOP is losing moderates in the heartland. The article pretty much overlooks Koster’s rightwing votes, but it does give me a much better idea of why he felt switching parties was necessary. There’s no need to label the switch as opportunism. He actually had credible reasons for changing parties.
Before I begin, I am in Koster’s district. I was very happy and we should be very happy that a rising star in God’s Own Party switched.
We can be very upset with his votes before he switch. My impression of Koster is that his own ideology is very close to the ideology of the Senator whom he replaced, Caskey.
You don’t have to vote for him the primary. As Bersin has observed all three candidates for Attorney General are good. We should be happy.
My hope would be that we can talk about why one candidate is better than another without getting personal. We have to come together after the primary and unite to defeat the GOP. I don’t want to have to take back anything I have said about another Democrat if that Democrat defeats the person I am supporting.