On Sunday night Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was the guest speaker at Blue Valley Northwest High School’s commencement ceremony at Kemper Arena in Kansas City. His presence was a result of the school’s finalist status in the White House’s “Race to the Top High School Comencement Challenge” program.

Previously: Secretary of Defense Robert Gates at Blue Valley Northwest High School Commencement – photos

The transcript of Secretary Gates’ commencement speech:

[applause] Secretary of Defense Robert Gates:  Thank you, Ambika. That was certainly a nicer introduction than  recent CNN correspondent’s description [laughter] as an elderly white-haired ruthless gentleman. I really objected to the elderly part. [laughter]

When I was president of Texas A and M I always used my authority to make sure I never spoke after the student speaker. [laughter] They’re always really hard acts to follow. Derek was in that same vein.

So thank you for the opportunity to be here tonight. Believe it or not, nearly half a century ago, yes, I am that old, I was in similar position to where you are now at another Kansas high school, waiting, indeed begging, for the graduation speech to be over. [laughter] So I’ll keep my remarks brief, keenly aware that I am probably the main obstacle between you and a great party. [laughter]…

…First, to the class of two thousand ten, congratulations. Congratulations on being one of the six finalists out of more than a thousand applicants [to] the President’s Race to the Top Commencement Challenge. This is indeed [applause], this is indeed a truly impressive group, with roughly ninety-five percent of you going on to college. Your academic performance is truly outstanding. But from what I’ve been told, what makes Blue Valley Northwest such a special place are the intangibles, the values and the spirit, that bond this class and this school and to the wider community. Collectively you’ve given up thousands of your hours in community service, not as a graduation requirement, but because it was the right thing to do. You’re the proud host to a Special Olympics event with more than six hundred participants. And many of you devote time to tutoring other students with special needs. Your annual diversity assembly and urban exchange program broaden your cultural horizons and foster a greater understanding of those around you. From your production of The Outrage to programs such as the football teams’s first downs for Down’s Syndrome, you take the initiative and the opportunity to educate and assist where it is needed most. You learned what true friendship and courage are through the late Alex Glaros and his battle with cancer.

Over the next ten minutes, and that’s a promise, I’d like to impart some of what I learned growing up and being educated here in Kansas, and then through the personal and professional experiences that followed. I would start here because in my life’s journey, my high school experience, in my case, Wichita High School East, played a major role. Indeed, much of what I have done I trace back in many ways to a half dozen of my high school teachers who I have never forgotten. They opened my eyes to the world and to the life of the mind, and they were role models of decency and character. And I only hope that half a century from now you will look back on your time here, at Blue valley Northwest  with such fond memories, and above all remember the amazing teachers who you will come to realize played a similarly major role in shaping your lives.

After graduating from high school and against the wishes of my parents I did not follow in the footsteps of my brother and go to K-State. Instead, I went to the College of William and Mary in Virginia. I had pretty good grades at in high school so I thought I was pretty smart.[laughter] Well, first semester my freshman year I got a D in calculus. [laughter] I got a long distance call from my father. He said, “Tell me about the D.” [laughter] I said, “Dad, the D was a gift.” [laughter] Years later, as president of Texas A and M, I would tell university freshmen that I learned two lessons from that D. First, even if you’re fairly smart, you will not succeed if you don’t work hard. Second, I am standing proof that you can survive a D as a freshman and still go on to make something of yourself. [laughter, applause]

So for those of you on your way to college, don’t be intimidated or frustrated if you find yourself not doing so well at first in your classes. Just work harder, learn better how to learn, and don’t let the challenges stop you from reaching outside your comfort zone to consider new subjects or try new things. Statistically, most of you who go to college will change your major at least once, so welcome to the club. All of you, whether you go on to college or take another path, should be prepared to take your life in a direction you hadn’t necessarily planned for.

When I went to graduate school at Indiana, I ran into a recruiter from the Central Intelligence Agency, an organization I had never considered working for. I thought I was going to be a history professor. Well, at first CIA tried to train me to be a spy. However, my efforts were less James Bond and more Austin Powers [laughter]. I don’t mean that in a good way.[laughter] One of my first training assignments was to practice secret surveillance with a team following a woman CIA officer around downtown Richmond, Virginia. Our team wasn’t very stealthy and someone reported to the Richmond police that three disreputable-looking gentlemen, that would be me and my fellow CIA trainees, were stalking this poor woman. [laughter] My two colleagues were picked up by the Richmond police. [laughter] The only reason I didn’t get arrested was because I had lost sight of her so quickly.[laughter] I and CIA decided that I really wasn’t cut out to be a spy, and so I became a CIA analyst, one of those who assess and interpret all the information that comes in. That led to a career that allowed me to witness amazing moments in American history. So it may take you a few missteps and even embarrassments before you find the thing you’re really good at, whether you go to college or not. But, keep at it.

In the years since joining the government, I’ve been privileged to work for eight presidents. As a result I’ve learned a few things about service and a few things about leadership. Many of you have probably already found opportunities, even at a young age, to exercise leadership in different ways – in athletics, extracurricular activities such as student government, your church, or what, wherever you may to work. These opportunities have placed you in a position to show responsibility or influence others. And since you are all potential future leaders, I thought I might share a few thoughts on what my experience tells me are the qualities needed by good leaders.

One of the things you must have, in fact, the foundation stone, is integrity. I’m talking about honesty, telling the truth, being straight with others and yourself. In a movie, John Wayne once said, “There’s right and there’s wrong. You’ve got to do one or the other. You do the one, and you’re living. You do the other and you may be walking around, but you’re as dead as a beaver hat.”

Second, courage – the courage to do what is right and not just what is popular. The time may come when you see something going on that you know is wrong. You may be called to stand alone, and to say, “This cannot be allowed.” Don’t kid yourself, that takes courage.

Third, real leaders treat other people with common decency and respect. Too often, those who are in charge demonstrate their power by making life miserable for their subordinates just to show that they can. Pre
sident Truman had it right when he said, “Always be nice to all the people who can’t talk back to you.” In America today, we badly need leaders with these three traits. Integrity, courage, and common decency. We need real leaders in all walks of life.

We also need people to step up and be of service to others, to the community and their country. No life is complete without such service, and in that respect this school has set a national example. There are many ways to serve, at school, in your community, through your church, or elsewhere. As Secretary of Defense I lead the United States military, where that kind of service, that kind of dedication, patriotism, and sacrifice are on display every day by people who in many cases are your age or not much older. People who have set aside their dreams in order to protect yours. Those of you on your way to military service academies will learn that soon enough, and for your commitment you have my thanks and my respect. It has been the sacrifice of those willing to step forward at  times of crises and conflict, in times of war, that has made it possible for Americans to live free and secure. To be able to make the choices about our own lives that I’ve just been talking about. Our democracy is not just about our rights, it’s also about our responsibilities and our obligations.

Which brings me to my final point. I’ve noticed that too often people in this country get so absorbed in their own needs and their own problems, that they lose sight of how blessed we all are, how blessed you are, to live in the United States of America. It is the goodness and the opportunity of this country that made all things possible for me, that made possible my journey from East High School in Wichita to the corridors of power in Washington and around the world. It has been my privilege and the honor of my life to give something back in service. And so for all of you, tonight, with this graduation, the door to opportunity opens for you to serve and for you to lead.

Good luck, and God bless. [applause]

Secretary Robert Gates’ speech as prepared.

( – promoted by Clark)

Every now and again, an idea or concept or product comes along, spreads out all over the place and sets a new standard. Take, for example, ATM machines or UPC Barcode or even the internet; looking back, it’s hard to imagine those innovations not being ubiquitous and ever-present. We just accept them today as being an integral part of the modern landscape, like wallpaper or furniture, cars.

“Energy efficiency” is quickly becoming the latest standard centering around new retrofit construction techniques reducing the energy consumption of homes, offices and buildings.

Energy efficiency generates multiple benefits:

* Massive job creation and domestic economic stimulus

* Good for the environment

Last week, Efficiency First organized over a 100 small business contractors from across the nation to travel to Washington DC to champion the Home Star Energy Retrofit Act in the US Senate, which had previously passed the US House with bi-partisan support. Home Star is a jobs bill, but it doesn’t stop there. It also supports the development of smart energy strategies and jump starts the energy efficiency industry. Home Star has sometimes been called “Cash for Caulkers” loosely named after the well-known “Cash for Clunkers” program. But whereas Cash for Clunkers often went to purchase foreign cars, just about Home Star’s whole kit-and-caboodle stays in the US.

Congressman Peter Welch (D-VT.), who had authored the US House version of Home Star, addressed the contractors, saying,

“We want to build up manufacturing in this country and 90% of the materials that are used in this work are manufactured in this country — so even without the whole debate about ‘buy American’ — it will be bought in America. This work will be done in America.”

Representing Missouri as chair of the Missouri Association of Accredited Energy Professionals (MAAEP), I advocated with other efficiency business owners to the offices of eight US Senators, including personal exchanges with Missouri’s Sen. Claire McCaskill and Sen. Sam Brownback of neighboring state Kansas. I applauded Senator Brownback on recent Kansas City successes with the number of energy efficiency retrofits leading the Midwest, including Kansas City Missouri’s Green Impact Zone.

Sen. Brownback indicated his support for Home Star, and said,

“Let’s try to find a way to get this done.”

Many potential solutions to get Home Star passed were talked about in the offices of Senators Tom Coburn (R-OK.), Tom Harkin (D-IA.), Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-TX.), Kit Bond (R-MO.) and Jeff Sessions (R-AL.) , to name a few our group visited (there were 8 Efficiency First groups).

Matt Golden, President of Recurve, Inc. and policy chair of Efficiency First had a lot to say about the struggling construction trades; how Home Star acts as a ‘shot in the arm’ building up a new industry that puts underemployed workers back on the job.

“For hundreds of thousands of American construction and manufacturing workers who have been sidelined by the recession, the proposed Home Star program – which now awaits Senate approval – represents a lifeline to good jobs with living wages in a growing 21st-century industry. While much of our economy appears to be on the road to recovery, the outlook for American construction workers is truly grim. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, nearly 2 million construction jobs dried up between December 2007 and January 2010, leaving around one in five experienced construction workers unemployed. And with demand for new buildings stalled at historically low levels, there’s little hope that these workers will be rehired in traditional construction jobs any time soon.”

This is where Home Star comes in.

Slated to begin creating 168,000 jobs the moment President Obama signs into law, Home Star is not just throwing money at a wall to see what sticks, it builds a market-driven rebate model that rewards home owners who reach higher levels of efficiency performance, which is good for our nation as a whole. Home Star also leverages private investment giving more bang for the buck. Home Star is a $6 billion program, so a state like Missouri is pro-rated to receive a potential $120 million dollars.

For details on the Home Star rebate program click here.

As I’ve said in the past, I believe in less than ten years, an energy audit and retrofit for an existing home or office will become as commonplace as the safety and emissions test for your car. It will be a new standard and this is a new industry taking hold the nation. Efficiency is about jobs, and domestically manufactured products like weather-strip, insulation and caulking. Estimates fly around about the size of this national revolution of retrofits, from 1 trillion dollars of economic activity to a recent figure I heard from the Department of Energy roadshow in Kansas City, a gargantuan 6 trillion dollars coast-to-coast! (presumably including commercial Real Estate)

In an era of incessant dismantling of entire legacy industries stateside, all Americans should lower their shoulders to help launch the energy efficiency industry into the mainstream–and all Americans can participate in its rollout. These jobs are quality American jobs that are insulated from outsourcing and as job creation is the prevailing social issue of the day, our collective support of this emerging new standard becomes the moral, patriotic and smart thing to do.

On Sunday night Blue Girl and I attended the Blue Valley Northwest High School commencement held at Kemper Arena in Kansas City. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was the guest commencement speaker as a result of the school’s finalist status in the White House’s “Race to the Top High School Comencement Challenge” program. The school is located in Johnson County, Kansas, in the Kansas City metropolitan area.

The commencement procession – Secretary of Defense Robert Gates (center), Dr. Amy Murphy, principal of Blue Valley Northwest High School (right).

Graduating senior Derek Sechi giving his commencement speech.

To everyone’s credit this was a typical high school commencement, presented for and by the graduating students for their families and friends in attendance. The program included a performance of Brahms Paganini Variations, Op. 35 by pianist Christina Yuan and an original composition written and performed by Hailey Lapin, voice and Andy Rao, piano. Interestingly, there wasn’t an overwhelming emphasis on the school’s athletic program.

Being in the arena for the festivities brought back a lot of memories and a bit of post traumatic stress, except, for the life of me, I can’t remember who our commencement speaker was.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.

Blue Valley Northwest High School faculty (in the foreground) and graduating seniors seated on the arena floor. The media riser is at the back. Directly behind the media riser was the school’s concert band which performed the prelude, processional, and recessional music.

I’ve been one of those behind the scenes collecting articles, doing research and writing short pieces in an attempt to educate my fellow Americans about the giant blood-sucking squid that’s draining the life out of our democracy.  But I’ve finally realized that “educating” voters is a fool’s errand so long as they prefer to be alternately entertained with patriotic ego boosters and scared shitless by the big bad wolf.

Two things in today’s (Saturday’s) Post Dispatch summed up just how crazy our society has become (maybe it’s really the fluoride after all.)

1.  

Texas law: People now have to go through a metal detector to enter the Texas Capitol, but under state law, those with permits do not have to surrender their firearms.

    No comment needed on that one !

2.  In his review of a speaker in the Darwin series at the St. Louis Science Center, religion reporter Tim Townsend felt it necessary to call Rep. Cynthia Davis (R-O’Fallon) for her expert opinion on Darwin’s theory of evolution.  As always, Cyndi was able to put the whole “controversy” in perspective in her own succinct way. “Evolution is based in atheism.”   There you go.  Nice and simple, easy to remember, likely to infuriate and oh, so, effective.  So why bother trying to “educate” people about Charles Darwin, his life’s work, theories and accomplishments?  When newspapers feel an obligation to consult idiots like Cynthia Davis when there are probably 3,000 other people in the St. Louis area better equipped to understand a topic, we are doomed.

Rep. Jeanette Mott Oxford (D-St. Louis) hit the nail on the head in the letter section of the paper.  The media is not interested in covering bills that they know haven’t a chance of passing in a Republican controlled legislature.  So there is no public information out there that might stimulate a public debate.  It’s a Catch-22.  No chance of passing, so no need to educate the public about it.  And so the  giant squid tightens its grip on the pitiful remains of what was evolving into a rational society.

House Minority Leader and Representative Paul LeVota (D) was the featured speaker at the Thursday night meeting of the Johnson County Democratic Club in Warrensburg.

Representative Paul Levota (D) speaking at the Johnson County Democratic Club meeting in Warrensburg on Thursday night.

House Minority Leader and Representative Paul LeVota (D): ….I’m here to give a little bit of background about what happened this, this session and the real need to, I’m going to try and tell you the facts that happened this session which will make you take that extra step for Courtney [Cole]…and for Zac [Maggi] and really try to win back some seats. Because what we saw this session in Jefferson City, we can do a heck of a lot better. And we’re so close in getting these two people elected. So,  I’m hoping to tell you a little bit about what happened and then maybe you’ll be a little bit more motivated….

[….]

I’ve been the House Democratic Leader for three years, been in the House for eight years. I represent my hometown of Independence, Missouri. And, uh, we, we have seen quite a bit of change in the last eight years. When I was elected I came in with ninety new members and we were the first group of people, group of Democrats that were in the minority. We didn’t have the luxury of being in the majority.

[….]

But since that time we’ve seen this Republican legislature move us backwards in the state. And we’ve worked very hard to try to move forward. We made some progress with picking up eight seats in two cycles, which is better than any other Democratic group since nineteen sixty-four or six… And we also did our best to get a Democratic governor in there. So now we’re at a, a time when we had this successful election in two thousand and eight and we see what these Republicans are really all about. They are scared. So in two thousand and ten in the legislature the House spent a lot of time on non-binding resolutions. And these non-binding resolutions that they would put up in the House basically were messages to Congress to tell them what to do. One of them was that we reject the new health care out of Congress. One of them was to remind them that we are sovereign state. [laughter] Yeah, I didn’t, I wasn’t aware of that one. One was that we have the right to pray even though we already have the right to pray. Also, they need to do a balanced budget and they need to, anyway there’s a lot of things that the Missouri House spent a lot of time telling Congress what to do. Well, we needed to work on Missouri.

The Governor came out with goals that all Missourians could get behind for the session. Number one is create new jobs in the state. Number two, to make sure we have a balanced budget. And number three, to have real ethics reform at state, so we can get rid of that cloud of pay to play mentality in Jefferson City. And as the Governor presented those proposals at the beginning of the year everybody was on board with those. The Republicans were saying this sounds good. But then they wasted time with these non-binding resolutions. Where even the Senate was doing some work, the House continued to do that.

Then the Governor came back and said it’s even worse than we thought. We have to cut a half a billion dollars from the current budget to make everything balanced. So you put that on the legislature. Well, this was not a problem that is a natural disaster, this was a man made disaster. And it was man made because the continual, uh, belief by these Republicans that all you need to do is cut, cut, cut, give away our tax money to big businesses through tax credits and have them not be accountable, and ignore any other way to bring in more money to the state. So that’s where we are now, we’re, we’re reducing revenue continually. House Democrats continue to say we need a balanced approach. We need to first a foremost look at these tax credits, uh, review them, but that was off the page because these Republicans want to give money continually to their big business friends in the state.

So, it consumed the rest of the year, in the budget. And we had to figure out a way to make cuts, they were very painful. Um, but the worst part of it is that we did nothing to help solve the problem for next year. And we’re going to be in a deeper hole next year.

Meanwhile, the other goals of getting new jobs in the state, the Republicans failed to pass the Governor’s jobs bill to help create those jobs in the state, particularly help create jobs for, uh, manufacturing, like Ford, in the Kansas City area. And they even refused to do a real ethics reform bill. The House Democrats continue to push for, uh, ethics reform, saying that we have to stop these committee to committee transfers. Got to stop the revolving door of someone being a legislator then a lobbyist. You’ve got to ban the practice, this is legal, but we were saying we need to ban the practice of a legislator being a political consultant at the same time. But we also said that we need to reinstate campaign finance limits. The people in Missouri, late nineties, wanted those. They voted for those. It’s fair. Uh, we had a hearing on that bill. Uh, we, we made some progress with that ’cause we actually were gonna, we thought we were gonna get to the Senate, but then again, continually, stopped over and over again. Particularly by the Speaker of the House and the Floor Leader who, um, will be the leader of the Republicans next year, Steve Tilley. He received a hundred thousand dollars from one person. Now that just doesn’t make sense, does it? [voice: “No.”] It doesn’t make sense that the person controlling legislation would make that much, so it’s my hope that we work hard to make him a, the next minority leader. [laughter, applause] [inaudible] We continue to push the issue. They, they try to play games with it. We ended up with an ethics bill that only included the committee to committee stuff, without the other stuff.

And they claim that this is a successful, uh, session. So, here’s my motivation for you. It wasn’t a successful session. There are people in Missouri who deserve better, people in Missouri who deserve representatives, regardless of what party, to look at everything in a balanced approach, figure out how we fund education, how we fund higher ed, how we make sure we take care of the, the least fortunate. And also those who are, are proud to be very ethical and have, return accountability to the state.

And I don’t just buy this act that this is gonna be a Republican year. I think people are tired of the games. They’re tired of the games in Washington…but there’s no better, bigger group of game players than the Republicans in the House of Representatives of Missouri. When they try to have an ethics bill that includes voter, a voter ID measure in there, trying to hurt unions in there, all this other crazy provisions, they were playing games.

And I think when you have good candidates like we do, we’ve got three good candidates in the room….When we go out there and when we knock on the door and we talk about what’s really going on in Jefferson City and the real need for change there. And we talk in terms that the people of the state are hurting because of inaction of this legislature. [Governor] Jay Nixon can’t do everything by himself. And, by golly, now he’s gonna have to with this budget since the budget wasn’t right. He’s gonna have to do it. And just on a side note, the, the things that the Governor has had to do to withhold money, the things that he will have to do, is going to be painful. I want everyone in the room to think, whenever when we’re unhappy with something that the Governor has to cut or do, remember it could have been a heck of a lot worse if someone else were sitting in that chair. [voice: “That
‘s right.” voice: “Amen”] They handed him a complete mess. And the only way he’ll get this better is if we get these candidates elected. [applause]

[….]

We really need your help to explain to folks that we could be doing a lot better in the state. And the people of this district particularly, but the other districts that we’re focusing on, deserve a heck of a lot better than what they have. And that should be our message this fall….

Talk about your crowded field. There are two Democratic party candidates, three republicans, and one Constitution Party candidate in the 5th Legislative District race. The outgoing republican representative, Jim Guest (r – right wingnuttia), is term limited out. The district is in Clinton, De Kalb, Gentry, Buchanan counties.

State Representative – District 5

Democrat

JUDY WRIGHT TURNEY MO 25 2/23/2010

MIKE WALTEMATH KING CITY MO 910 2/23/2010

Republican

GLEN KLIPPENSTEIN MAYSVILLE MO 563 2/23/2010

KEN GILLESPIE ALBANY MO 3/4/2010

GLENN B CROWTHER OSBORN MO 3/29/2010

Constitution

GARY MURRAY LAWSON MO 3/30/2010

The first Democratic party candidate (in alphabetical order), Mike Waltemath, terminated his campaign committee(s) on January 16, 2009 and April 26, 2007 and March 29, 2005. I couldn’t find a record of an active committee at the Missouri Ethics Commission site.

The second of two Democratic Party candidates (in alphabetical order), Judy Wright, filed her amended first quarter campaign finance report with the Missouri Ethics Commission on April 28th:

Detailed Summary of Committee Disclosure Report

Committe: JUDY WRIGHT FOR MISSOURI

ReportDate:

1. TOTAL RECEIPTS FOR THIS ELECTION PREVIOUSLY REPORTED $7,837.95

2. ALL MONETARY CONTRIBUTIONS RECEIVED THIS PERIOD $8,301.00

9. TOTAL ALL RECEIPTS THIS ELECTION(SUM 1B + 7A – 8A) $16,862.95

15. TOTAL EXPENDITURES THIS ELECTION (SUM 10B + 14A) $1,386.27

28. MONEY ON HAND AT THE CLOSE OF THIS REPORTING PERIOD (SUM 25 + 26 – 27) $14,749.73

[emphasis added]

Nice. Good fundraising and a low burn rate.

Let’s take a look at where the contributions came from:

Detailed Summary of Contributions And Loans Received

Committee: JUDY WRIGHT FOR MISSOURI

Report Date: 4/13/2010

Citizens for Mike Talboy Kansas City MO  03/01/2010 $400.00

13. TOTAL MONETARY CONTRIBUTIONS RECEIVED FROM PERSONS GIVING $100 OR LESS $510.00

And a long list of small dollar contributions from individuals apparently associated with the UAW (Ford and GM).

The expenditures:

Detailed Summary of Expenditures And Contributions Made

Committe: JUDY WRIGHT FOR MISSOURI

ReportDate: 4/15/2010

A. EXPENDITURES OF $100 OR LESS BY CATEGORY

Postage $44.28

Reimburse self for candidate filing $49.05

Postage $28.00

Flightline Magnetic Signs $48.25

Paper $8.58

B. ITEMIZED EXPENDITURES ALL OVER $100 AND ALL PAYMENTS TO CAMPAIGN WORKERS

Lee’s Printing Kansas City, KS 3/22/2010 postcards $428.05

Frugal.

The first of three republican candidates (in alphabetical order), Glenn Crowther, doesn’t appear to have an active committee according to the Missouri Ethics Commission site.

What is it with this legislative district?

The second of three republican candidates (in alphabetical order), Ken Gillespie, filed a Committee Statement of Limited Activity [pdf] on April 27th.

The third of three republican candidates, Glen Klippenstein, filed his amended first quarter campaign finance report with the Missouri Ethics Commission on April 21st:

Detailed Summary of Committee Disclosure Report

Committe: FRIENDS OF KLIPPENSTEIN

ReportDate:

1. TOTAL RECEIPTS FOR THIS ELECTION PREVIOUSLY REPORTED $18,272.11

2. ALL MONETARY CONTRIBUTIONS RECEIVED THIS PERIOD $3,700.00

6. IN-KIND CONTRIBUTIONS RECEIVED THIS PERIOD $2,200.00

9. TOTAL ALL RECEIPTS THIS ELECTION(SUM 1B + 7A – 8A) $24,172.11

15. TOTAL EXPENDITURES THIS ELECTION (SUM 10B + 14A) $1,958.11

28. MONEY ON HAND AT THE CLOSE OF THIS REPORTING PERIOD (SUM 25 + 26 – 27) $21,774.89

[emphasis added]

What is it with republican House candidates and their hefty in-kind contributions? Pad much?

Let’s look where it came from:

Detailed Summary of Contributions And Loans Received

Committee: FRIENDS OF KLIPPENSTEIN

Report Date: 4/10/2010

David Albin Newman, IL Farmer 01/20/2010 $1,000.00

Glen Klippenstein Maysville, MO 03/30/2010 $2,200.00

11. TOTAL CONTRIBUTIONS RECEIVED AT FUND-RAISERS AS REPORTED IN LINE 8 ON FORM CD 1A $0.00

12. TOTAL ANONYMOUS CONTRIBUTIONS RECEIVED FROM PERSONS GIVING $25 OR LESS $0.00

13. TOTAL MONETARY CONTRIBUTIONS RECEIVED FROM PERSONS GIVING $100 OR LESS $0.00

[emphasis added]

A hefty in-kind contribution from a republican candidate on the last day of the quarter. Go figure.

let’s take a look at the expenditures:

Detailed Summary of Expenditures And Contributions Made

Committe: FRIENDS OF KLIPPENSTEIN

ReportDate: 4/10/2010

Farmer Printing Maysville, MO 03/15/2010 Cards and Stationary $197.22

What, no postage? I can’t wait for the t-shirts and parade candy.

The Constitution Party candidate, Gary Murray, does not appear to have an active committee on file with the Missouri Ethics Commission.