Democrats in the city of St. Louis and in the fifth senatorial district in particular are fighting each other. Rodney Hubbard and Robin Wright-Jones are duking it out for the senatorial nomination, which is to say, for the whole ball of wax in the fifth, because no Republican has filed. (Why would one bother in the city?)
Robin is progressive right down the line. Rodney is … not. I’ll skip all the gossip about parking space and office space and who hangs with whom in the capitol, in favor of focusing on money, issues, and accomplishments.
From 2007 to the present, Rodney accepted $38,000 from Republican billionaire Rex Sinquefield. And what did Mr. Sinquefield get for his money? He got Rodney’s vote in favor of vouchers and another in favor of lifting campaign contribution limits. Rodney will tell you that he’d have voted that way in any case, that those were votes of conscience.
That may be. But they’re not votes we expect from a Democrat. Nor are they the only votes that should concern progressives. Starting with Rodney’s vote to sell off MOHELA assets in 2007, ProVote lists several troubling stands in his record.
In fact, his record is so troubling that ALEC named Hubbard one of four legislators of the year in 2007. And why would an award for being a good legislator be troubling? Click over to the ALEC site and see for yourself, from Bush’s grinning mug all over the front page through photos of Fred Thompson, Mike Huckabee and Newt Gingrich. When you reach page nine, you’ll see a picture of Rodney with the other three award winners for that year and you can read why ALEC chose him:
Rep. Hubbard voted for Tort Reform, Workers’ Compensation reform, and a Quality Jobs Act. He also helped develop and co-sponsor the Milton Friedman Put Parents in Charge Act.
Whaddaya know, those are some of the very votes Pro-Vote rated negatively.
Despite Perhaps because of his unprogressive attitudes, Hubbard has been raking in the campaign contributions–not just from Sinquefield but also from developer Paul McKee (more on his eminent domain grabs within the week) and from supporters of Mayor Slay. So far, Rodney’s taken in $291,000 for this election and spent $141,000 (versus Robin’s $62,000 taken in and $33,000 spent). To give him his due, he is also a hard worker and a smart campaigner.
The heart of his campaign is his claim that he brings home the bacon for his district. This year the legislature appropriated $2 million for a re-entry program to help ex-convicts find jobs. Rodney issued a press release claiming the credit for getting that passed. Of course, Jamilah Nasheed, who was on the Budget Committee that it went through, also issued a press release claiming credit.
Considering the competing press releases, it’s not easy to say who deserves the credit. (And by the way, Margaret Donnelly, a member of the Budget Committee, also begged for the funds.) But Rodney’s claim is bolstered by Allen Icet, the Republican Chair of the Budget Committee, who asserted that the funds were in because Rodney had asked for them–and, by the way, that Democrats shouldn’t ask for anything else.
Sounds like that settles it. Icet ought to know whose entreaty swayed him. Except … I wonder why Icet did Rodney such a favor. Was it Hubbard’s winning personality? Or was it that Icet wanted to boost Rodney’s chances in this election so that the Republicans would have an ally in the Senate for the next four years?
Whatever the case, other than the re-entry bill, Rodney’s legislative accomplishments are slim. This year for example, only one bill that he co-sponsored passed. That bill, HB2058, was an economic stimulus package with … wait for it … 102 bi-partisan co-sponsors. Along with the sponsor, then, Hubbard gets 1/103rd of the credit.
He can rightly claim some power in the legislature, however. Of the 63 House committees, only three are headed by Democrats: T.D. El-Amin is Vice Chair of the Special Committee on Urban Issues, Ted Hoskins (another African-American beneficiary of Sinquefield money and proponent of the voucher system) chairs the Special Committee on Urban Education Reforms, and Rodney Hubbard chairs the Special Committee on Urban Issues.
Rodney Hubbard, then, has obtained some power in the Republican-controlled House even though he’s a member of the minority party, but one is hard pressed to see how he has used it to benefit his community. The re-entry program might be mostly his doing. Beyond that … he gets a shrug. And a rap on the knuckles for voting to lift campaign finance limits and voting for vouchers.
But don’t let my emphasis on those votes and on his ALEC award mislead you, because even when you take that downside into consideration, Rodney still got an 87 percent positive rating from Pro-Vote (to Robin’s 100 percent rating). He is a Democrat. Mostly.
That’s going to leave a mark.
but I can understand desperation. But lifting campaign spending limits–an open vote for bought-and-paid for Republican politics.
The 87% score for Hubbard’s voting record on progressive issues is inaccurate. Here are the totals on the Pro-Vote report cards that can be accessed at their website:
2007 – 67%
2006 – 44%
2005 – 80%
2003 – 100%
Perhaps the wheeling and dealing that has been necessary to secure chairmanships under GOP-leadership has led to the decline in recent scores. I also had a major concern when Rep. Hubbard invited Democratic caucus members to come to him about the committee positions that we wanted in January 2007, rather than negotiating through our elected Democratic leadership. I saw this as playing into an obvious “divide and conquer” strategy out of Speaker Jetton’s office. Caucus unity would have put us in a much stronger position.
Jeanette Mott Oxford (State Representative, District 59)
First of all, the Pro-Vote scoring is a joke. Robin Wright-Jones missed 40% of the votes Pro-Votes scored last session, yet they still gave her a 100%. If they score report cards like every teacher me or you ever had, Robin Wright-Jones actually earned a 60% last year.
Secondly, this story reads like everything else that comes from Robin’s campaign: all about Rodney and nothing about Robin.
But then, it’s kind of hard to run on a record of accomplishment when you have none!
I challenge anyone to name ONE accomplishment by Robin Wright-Jones in her four terms in office. Just ONE!
The progressive community does itself a disservice when we push lazy legislators with zero accomplishments. And Pro-Vote rewards laziness and cowardness with their flawed report cards.
It’s not just Robin. Two St. Louis County reps, Juanita Walton and John Bowman, both took walks or just didn’t show up on 6 out of the 10 votes judged by Pro-Vote and were both rewarded with 100% voting records! What a joke.
And I can’t believe someone can actually write, “yeah, Hubbard brought $2,000,000 to the City of St. Louis to help fight it’s number one issue (crime), but so what.”
Are you kidding me? Robin hasn’t passed one single piece of legislation in four terms in office and you want to give her a promotion?!
You may not like every stance Rodney Hubbard has ever taken, but at least he does take a stance. Robin just takes a walk — 40% of the time!
Antonio D. French
PubDef.net
Campaign Manager
Hubbard for Senate
Robins campaign–and it is meant to be about Hubbard!
Antonio French has spun the Pro-Vote report card from one year to imply that Robin Wright-Jones was absent from voting 40% of the time. It’s important that fair-minded people note that Robin voted 100% of the time in the other years for which we have Pro-Vote report cards. In 2007 the Republicans called some labor issues up for a vote while many Democrats were in Kansas City for the wake and funeral for former senator Phil Curls. I believe some of the votes Robin missed were connected to that one or two day time period.
Antonio has asked us to name one accomplishment for Robin Wright-Jones. She has many accomplishments; for example:
– Co-sponsor of more than a dozen pieces of legislation that became law between 2002 and 2008 (including several important civil rights bills)
– Elected and re-elected Minority/Democratic Caucus Chair (and she was dependably there and effective in that role whereas I have seldom seen Rep. Hubbard at a Minority/Democratic Caucus meeting)
– Elected Chair of the bi-partisan St. Louis Regional Caucus
– Chair of the Missouri Legislative Black Caucus
It has also been important to me that Wright-Jones’ office is responsive to constituent concerns. Since our districts border, I sometimes get calls from her constituents as she does from mine. We have worked effectively to share messages with each other when this happens, and constituents receive prompt attention for their problems.
Rodney Hubbard’s actions have earned my opposition, but it also must be said that Robin Wright-Jones’ actions have earned my support.