If you live in St. Louis County, I’ll bet you didn’t know how lucky you are. And if you don’t live there, you’d want to after listening to the County’s biggest booster, County Executive Charlie Dooley. Speaking at the August meeting of West County Democrats, Dooley emphasized how important this county is to the state. Thirty-three percent of the state’s revenue is generated here. More than 500,000 jobs are here.

It’s important that the biggest economic engine in the state be well run. And it is.

• First, St. Louis County is the only county in the state with a Triple A bond rating. In fact, it’s one of perhaps fifteen counties in the nation so rated.
• Second, the County has more police on the streets now than ever before, and the St. Louis County Police are TriArc accredited. What that means is that the police department itself is accredited; the police academy is accredited; and the communications sector of the department is accredited. Only seven police departments in the country have TriArc accreditation–that’s out of 14,000 police departments.
• Third, the St. Louis County jail system is the only one in the state that is accredited. Naturally, we don’t long to incarcerate people, but when it’s necessary, this county does so professionally.
• Fourth, the county’s Health Department is the only one in the region that actually had a plan for dealing for the H1N1 virus and implemented its plan. The last time the Health Department was examined by accrediting authorities, it received 100 percent scores in all ten rating categories.

Who knew there were so many accrediting authorities associated with county governments–or that STL County stood out like it does?

Still, if you can believe it, life isn’t perfect in St. Louis County. Dooley says he’s working on it, though. He claims bragging rights for the improvements on I-64–a half billion dollar road project finished in less than two years and under budget. Anybody who lives in this area remembers the dire predictions of terminal road jam and damage to local businesses. In the event, though, nobody died of starvation sitting on a Ladue Road that had morphed into a parking lot. The process was merely inconvenient. The upside is that it was two years of hassle instead of seven. AND, it cost $500 million instead of a billion. Dooley’s proud that the County Council pushed the project.

And he’s pleased as punch that the County Council successfully pushed for a second vote to get a sales tax increase to fund our public transit. The second time around, that proposition got 62 percent.

Dooley has two more big projects in mind. I’ve got objections to them. Okay, I’ll admit I believed the naysayers about how bolloxed up the I-64 construction would be, but I did know the renovations needed to happen. And of course we need better public transit. For true. But I don’t think the other two projects Dooley wants should happen. Especially the first one. He wants to open up 3,000 acres of land on the Missouri river floodplain for development.

He presents his case with a compelling example by arguing that MasterCharge would not have left fifteen years ago if it could have found appropriate space to expand in the County.

Dooley doesn’t mention “floodplain”, you’ll notice, but talks instead about using stimulus money to extend Highway 141 through that area. The roadwork, in itself, is an awful idea. A Missouri Coalition for the Environment member who lives on land next to those wetlands says:

  

Exactly 1.7 miles of bottleneck occurs during morning and afternoon rush hours along Woods Mill Road between Olive and Ladue. About 20 hours a day, there’s no congestion; in summer and on weekends, even less. But, just like every other place in the metro area, rush hour is definitely congested, but only for 10 or 15 minutes of slow up, because it’s only a short stretch of road.  Building a new 6-lane expressway two miles long for relieving Woods Mill congestion is the equivalent of moving to Arizona when you catch a cold. The state very wisely never funded it, because it couldn’t be justified as a priority, but it wasn’t quite dead. Now, with the stimulus money on the table, our state and county governments are thrilled to ignore the enormous financial and environmental costs, grab those federal millions, and blast off with this irresponsible project. It’s just shameful.

But would the expanded highway be worth doing if it gave another “MasterCharge” a place to locate?

No.

Look, nobody wants to drive a major employer like MasterCharge out of town, but what Dooley fails to mention is how the last development of the floodplain in St. Louis County turned out. Mills Mall was built. With only two anchors–Marshalls and Burlington Coat Factory–it has dozens of shops … and few customers. Acres of mostly unoccupied parking spaces that need to be leveed against floods have supplanted wildlife habitat and natural flood control.

An audience member at Dooley’s speech asked what assurance he could give that the project wouldn’t just be turned into big box land. Dooley said:

“We want to showcase Creve Coeur Lake Park. We want to showcase that. Our park is just as beautiful as any park in the world. And how we do it, enhance it, is going to be key to moving it forward. So just anything being there won’t do. It has to work and enhance what we already have there.”

Not exactly an iron clad guarantee, is it? But even if we had it iron clad that the wetlands would not end up sitting under more Chevys, QuikTrips, and Home Depots, so what? St. Louis County may lack undeveloped land, but it has plenty of unoccupied buildings. We have no business leaving our failures to crumble while we build new businesses on a floodplain.

If we’re going to destroy our last vestige of natural flood protection in the County, why not at least use some of the richest land on the continent for farming? People always need to eat, and locally grown produce is, to return to the theme of vision, the wave of the future.

Dooley and the County Council get credit for wanting to create jobs. I get that and I respect that. Unfortunately, he and they are still living in the last century, relying on the old model of extract, waste and consume, instead of thinking sustainable.

That same outdated mode of thinking characterizes the other project Dooley is pushing. Much as he wants businesses on that floodplain, that’s a minor vision as far as he’s concerned. What he’s really high about is the China Hub. St. Louis honchos and, in fact, Missouri legislative bigwigs (both senators and the governor) have traveled to China trying to lure Chinese trade to Lambert “International” Airport–to make the airport’s name no shameless exaggeration for the first time. Until now, the Chinese have exported to our coasts. But it would be cheaper for them, for goods that are destined to be sold in the middle of the country, if they shipped those goods to … the middle of the country. And that doesn’t mean Chicago, where planes routinely circle the airport for an hour waiting to land, wasting fuel and time. Lambert, located centrally, is only half used. It’s dying for the business.

Dooley points out that when St. Louis hosted the World’s Fair in 1904, it
was the fourth largest city in the country. We have fallen on hard times. We haven’t grown in the last forty years. The China Hub, according to Dooley, could put us back in the big time. China could send us its stuff and we could put beef on the return trip to a nation literally hungry for steaks.

I guess I’ll sound all Grinchy about it if I point out that wasting jet fuel in these times of impending climate change to send cheap, often contaminated, plastic goods halfway around the planet does not strike me as visionary. How many Chinese American flags do we really need? And as for sending beef to the Chinese, the planet is already groaning under the load of methane that cattle emit. Let’s not create a new billion people strong market.

As with the floodplain scheme, Dooley’s motives in securing the China Hub for St. Louis are understandable. He wants jobs. No doubt many of his constituents would side with his vision over mine. In these hard times, jobs trump just about anything.

But in the next few years, Mother Nature is going to swat humans upside the head for their stubborn insistence on ignoring her. Then a different way of life will happen or we as a species will disappear. A visionary leader would get that.

Charlie Dooley is  a talented politician and a competent administrator, who knows how to put his point of view across. Now if he would alter his vision, looking to the actual future we face, and use his gifts getting people to work toward sustainability, he could be the leader we need.

Benjamin Todd Jealous, NAACP President and CEO, July 10, 2010:

….And there are, there is once again an insurgent movement in this country to tear this country apart. And if we pull off the veneer what we see behind them are wealthy law firms and fancy lobbyists like Dick Armey, this faux populist rage represented by the Tea Party. There is nothing new, and what is new  is that this group of people is smaller than they have ever been in our society, smaller than the White Citizens Council, smaller than the Klan of the nineteen-twenties, but divisive and dangerous….

Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, NAACP National Convention, July 11, 2010:

….And I thank you professor very much. I’m going to be engaging you with those very powerful numbers that you have offered on what the tea party recognizes, uh, or is recognized as. Might I add my own P.S.? All those who wore sheets a long time ago have now lifted them off and started wearing [applause], uh, clothing, uh, with a name, say, I am part of the tea party. Don’t you be fooled.  [voices: “That’s right.”, applause] Those who used to wear sheets are now being able to walk down the aisle and speak as a patriot because you will not speak loudly about the lack of integrity of this movement. Don’t let anybody tell you that those who spit on us as we were walking to vote on a health care bill for all of America or those who said Congresswoman Jackson-Lee’s braids were too tight in her hair had anything to do with justice and equality and empowerment of the American people. Don’t let them fool you on that [applause]….

Reverand Al Sharpton, NAACP National Convention, July 14, 2010:

….You cannot have people who are now trying to have tea party for state’s rights coming and celebrating the day that asked the federal government to overrule where states were segregating and allowing segregation to go forward. There clearly is some racial leaves in their tea bag, but this is not just about race. This is about how you see government….

Well, this is interesting (via Think Progress):

2010 Multi-state Survey on Race & Politics

….the 2010 Multi-state Survey of Race & Politics examines what Americans think about the issues of race, public policy, national politics, and President Obama, one year after the inauguration of the first African American president.

The survey is drawn from a probability sample of 1006 cases, stratified by state. The Multi-State Survey of Race and Politics included seven states, six of which were battleground states in 2008. It includes Georgia, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, and Ohio as the battleground states. For its diversity and its status as an uncontested state, California was also included for comparative purposes. The study, conducted by the Center for Survey Research at the University of Washington, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percent and was in the field February 8 – March 15, 2010….

….Since the public has become aware of the data, several people have come forward to challenge our initial findings, specifically, that supporters of the Tea Party appear racially intolerant. A principal charge, one not without intellectual merit, is that the observed relationship between support for the Tea Party and racial resentment is more about the relatively conservative politics of Tea Partiers than racism. Indeed, conservatives tend to believe in a small government, one that doesn’t do much to help people who, they believe, should make an effort to do for themselves. This is certainly a legitimate view; it’s one to which many Americans have adhered from the beginning of the Republic. In short, some of our critics charge that, instead of the racism we observe associated with support for the Tea Party, we’re merely observing Tea Partiers’ conservatism at work. In other words, support for the Tea Party, they suggest, is simply a proxy for conservatism.

To address this issue, we turn to regression, a statistical technique that allows analysts to tease out how one variable affects another. This is important because it permits us to account for the presence of other variables that may also affect the outcome while isolating the impact of the effect of the variable of interest on the result. So, in this case, if support for the Tea Party is truly a proxy for conservatism, the relationship between racial resentment and support for the Tea Party should evaporate once we control for conservatism. Otherwise, there’s something else going on with support for the Tea Party; it’s not just conservatism. To make things a little easier, we combined all of the items (questions) that comprise racial resentment, making them into a scale.

As the figure shows, even as we account for conservatism and partisanship, support for the Tea Party remains a valid predictor of racial resentment. We’re not saying that ideology isn’t important, because it is: as people become more conservative, it increases by 23 percent the chance that they’re racially resentful. Also, Democrats are 15 percent less likely than Republicans to be racially resentful. Even so, support for the Tea Party makes one 25 percent more likely to be racially resentful than those who don’t support the Tea Party….

Obviously not everyone, but a few. Wasn’t that the point of the NAACP resolution?

Welcome to post-racial America.

A video from Robin Carnahan‘s (D) campaign with more on Roy Blunt’s (r-lobbyists) inside the beltway record:

Roy Blunt: Not all earmarks are bad. But all earmarks deserve to be scrutinized and have to be justified.

[But Congressman Blunt refuses to reveal earmarks he’s tried to push through Congress][Gannett News Service, 5/3/07]

[Congressman Blunt: the ‘prodigious porkmeister’

Providence Journal, 2/6/06]

[Headline: Blunt Takes Insider Role to New Heights

Kansas City Star, 9/29/05]

[Pursuing a Fast Track to Party Leadership; Blunt Builds Network, Delivers Votes]

[Washington Post, 10/01/05]

[Watchdog Group CREW Identifies Congressman Blunt as one of the most “crooked candidates” seeking higher office]

[www.CitizensforEthics.org, 7/20/2010]

Roy Blunt: Not all earmarks are bad. But all earmarks deserve to be scrutinized and have to be justified.

[Seven-Fold Increase in Earmarks

On Congressman Blunt’s Watch]

[The Blunt Debt (in trillions)]

[Congressman Blunt refuses to disclose his earmark requests

What is Congressman Blunt Hiding?]

[Waste

Corruption

Sticking it to the Middle Class]

[Congressman Blunt

The Very Worst of Washington]

And besides, for that kind of money, the tux should fit better.

According to the Turner Report, Cynthia Davis believes that she would not have lost her race for the State Senate if only people outside her district were not “unfamiliar with me and were easily misled by all the negative campaigning.” But I think Cynthia might have missed the point here. I bet most Missourians know lots about Cynthia and many are pretty turned off by what they know – particularly when it comes to her vendetta against children, especially poor children.

While we know that Cynthia really cares about fetal life, we also know that she thinks poor school children don’t deserve free school lunches, but should instead rely on McDonalds. We surely all remember her outrage that funds from marriage license fees might be used to assist childen and mothers fleeing domestic abuse. Or her belief that that it’s unacceptable government intrusion to close down unlicensed day-care providers accused of criminal child abuse – although when government intrudes into individuals’ reproductive and sexual lives in order to impose minority religious values, it’s just the ticket.

Her bitterness at her loss aside, there is a silver lining for Cynthia given her high opinion of fast foods and the general level of her skills.  As one commenter on the Turner Report suggested, when her term expires in December, McDonalds will probably be hiring.  

Now I understand why Roy Blunt (r-lobbyists) wants to be in the Senate.

In The New Yorker:

The Political Scene

The Empty Chamber

Just how broken is the Senate?

by George Packer

August 9, 2010

“This is just one of those days when you want to throw up your hands and say, ‘What in the world are we doing?'” Senator Claire McCaskill, the Missouri Democrat, said….

[….]

….But this was not McConnell’s agenda. Instead, financial reform became a slightly more polite repeat of the health-care-reform brawl: the Republicans threatened filibusters, the Democrats threatened all-nighters, and thousands of lobbyists prowled the Capitol, charging their Wall Street clients more than a billion dollars….

[emphasis added]

It all makes sense, somehow.

Go. Read the whole freakin’ thing.

Before the August 3rd primary we received a photocopied flyer on our doorstep in the name of a right wingnut astroturf organization in support of proposition C and in opposition to federal health care reform legislation. Of course, it’s much ado about nothing because of the supremacy clause in the U.S. Constitution, but it does serve republican posturing.

Let’s take a look at the money.

They received some interesting contributions in the days leading up to the election – as reported to the Missouri Ethics Commission:

CONTRIBUTION OF MORE THAN $5,000.00 RECEIVED BY ANY COMMITTEE FROM ANY SINGLE DONOR – TO BE FILED WITHIN 48 HOURS OF RECEIVING THE CONTRIBUTION

C101350 MISSOURIANS FOR HEALTH CARE FREEDOM [pdf] 7/30/2010

Ethelmae Humphreys

Joplin, MO Retired 7/29/2010

$25,000.00

[emphasis added]

CONTRIBUTION OF MORE THAN $5,000.00 RECEIVED BY ANY COMMITTEE FROM ANY SINGLE DONOR – TO BE FILED WITHIN 48 HOURS OF RECEIVING THE CONTRIBUTION

C101350 MISSOURIANS FOR HEALTH CARE FREEDOM [pdf] 7/22/2010

Menlo Smith

St. Louis, MO Sunmark Capitol 7/22/2010

$5,000.00

[emphasis added]

CONTRIBUTION OF MORE THAN $5,000.00 RECEIVED BY ANY COMMITTEE FROM ANY SINGLE DONOR – TO BE FILED WITHIN 48 HOURS OF RECEIVING THE CONTRIBUTION

C101350 MISSOURIANS FOR HEALTH CARE FREEDOM [pdf] 7/21/2010

Mark Andrews

Sanibel, FL Retired 7/21/2010

$10,000.00 [emphasis added]

[emphasis added]

CONTRIBUTION OF MORE THAN $5,000.00 RECEIVED BY ANY COMMITTEE FROM ANY SINGLE DONOR – TO BE FILED WITHIN 48 HOURS OF RECEIVING THE CONTRIBUTION

C101350 MISSOURIANS FOR HEALTH CARE FREEDOM [pdf] 7/19/2010

Fred Sauer

St. Louis, MO Orion Investment Co. 7/19/2010

$5,000.00

[emphasis added]

CONTRIBUTION OF MORE THAN $5,000.00 RECEIVED BY ANY COMMITTEE FROM ANY SINGLE DONOR – TO BE FILED WITHIN 48 HOURS OF RECEIVING THE CONTRIBUTION

C101350 MISSOURIANS FOR HEALTH CARE FREEDOM [pdf]7/19/2010

William Canfield

Kirkwood, MO Retired 7/17/2010

$5,000.00

[emphasis added]

CONTRIBUTION OF MORE THAN $5,000.00 RECEIVED BY ANY COMMITTEE FROM ANY SINGLE DONOR – TO BE FILED WITHIN 48 HOURS OF RECEIVING THE CONTRIBUTION

C101350 MISSOURIANS FOR HEALTH CARE FREEDOM [pdf]6/28/2010

Ray Vincent

Chesterfield, MO US Auto Protection 6/28/2010

$5,000.00

Missourians for Goodman

Mount Vernon, MO 6/28/2010

$5,000.00

Citizens for Brad Lager

Savannah, MO 6/25/2010

$5,000.00

[emphasis added]

Ah, some of the usual suspects.

There were a few interesting contributions in the committee’s “eight day” report filed with the Missouri Ethics Commission on July 24th:

Detailed Summary of Contributions And Loans Received

Committee: MISSOURIANS FOR HEALTH CARE FREEDOM

Report Date: 7/24/2010

Midwest ENT Center PC Saint Peters, MO 7/19/2010 $1,000.00

August Busch III Saint Peters, MO Retired 7/22/2010 $1,000.00

Billy Long For Congress Seminole Springfield, MO 7/22/2010 $100.00

[emphasis added]

Yep, that Billy Long.

The expenditures:

Detailed Summary of Expenditures And Contributions Made

Committe: MISSOURIANS FOR HEALTH CARE FREEDOM

ReportDate: 7/24/2010

Media Placements Kansas City, MO 7/20/2010 yard signs 6300 $3,000.00

Market and Communications Research Kansas City, MO 7/6/2010 campaign management 14192.37 $5,000.00

John Hancock and Assoc Chesterfield, MO 7/9/2010 fundraising 499.55 $499.55

Phelan Design Group Wildwood, MO 7/9/2010 graphic design 1462.5 $1,462.50

Media Placements Kansas City, MO 7/9/2010 yard signs 6300 $3,300.00

Market and Communications Research Kansas City, MO 7/9/2010 online/social media 14192.37 $2,000.00

Market and Communications Research Kansas City, MO 7/16/2010 campaign management 14192.37 $5,000.00

Market and Communications Research Kansas City, MO 7/20/2010 travel reimbursements 14192.37 $2,192.37

CAMPAIGN Date Established:5/21/2010

COMMITTEE: MECID:C101350

MISSOURIANS FOR HEALTH CARE FREEDOM

KANSAS CITY MO 64171

TREASURER: PATRICK TUOHEY

[emphasis added]

Market and Communications Research, Inc.? Any connection [pdf]?

We also received three mail pieces from the Missouri Hospital Association in opposition to proposition C (and yes, they did spend a lot of money, too):

The MHA asks the question that the teabgger opponents to health care reform legislation never seem to want to answer: “Should Missourians who already pay for health insurance also have to pay for those who choose not to pay?”

The best quote about the outcome of the Proposition C vote, given the usual republican turnout in these August primaries: “It’s like expecting Red Sox fans to vote for the Yankees.”

Just before the Missouri primary election on August 3rd the following photocopied flyer from local teabaggers (along with another photocopied “Missourians for Health care Freedom” Yes on C flyer) was left at our doorstep:

So, where were all these folks from January 2001 to January 2009? Just asking.

Tea Party Supporters Overlap Republican Base

That’s what I thought.

A Non-partisan and Conservative, Political Action Group Standing for Constitutional Restraint, Limited Government and Missouri State Sovereignty

Okay, that fits the bill of all the republican Tenthers in the Missouri General Assembly. Again, where were all these folks from January 2001 to January 2009?

We believe that our elected representatives are responsible to us, the people. We are the bosses, not their children. They work for us. We do not work for them.

Actually, aren’t we all supposed to work together for the greater good of society? We can disagree on how we get there, of course, but we do elect our representatives to address the things that need to be addressed, right?

We believe that taxes represent the hard-earned money of American citizens. We recognize the need for limited taxation. Yet, we demand that our taxes not be used to pay interest on debts resulting from gross and irresponsible overspending by our elected representatives.

[emphasis added]

Don’t forget that corporations pay taxes, too. Oh, right…

Uh, there’s that small matter of the U.S. Constitution:

Article VI

All debts contracted and engagements entered into, before the adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this Constitution, as under the Confederation….

Original intent and all, you know.

Again, where were the folks from January 2001 to January 2009?

I seem to recall a presidential administration from January 1993 to January 2001 which just happened to run a budget surplus, don’t you? And then:

Okay, back to the teabagger flyer:

We believe that the right to vote is one of the most important rights of Americans and should not be diminished by fraudulent activity. We believe in one legal vote per legally registered United States citizen. We expect our elected representatives to puruse and prosecute voter fraud and intimidation.

ACORN! Run for the hills! Not.

Uh, elected representatives don’t prosecute violations of the law. If it’s a federal prosecution those would be pursued by U.S. Attorneys. They’re appointed by the President and subject to confirmation by the U.S. Senate. And then the U.S. Attorneys are supposed to pursue violations of the law without political influence. Except in Missouri and New Mexico under the Bush II administration – you, know, from January 2001 to January 2009 when all these teabaggers were apparently asleep.

We believe in the sovereignty of the State of Missouri. The States created the Federal Government, not the Federal Government the States. Any powers not specified in the Constitution are left to the States. We are the United States of America, not the United State.

[emphasis added] I kid you not.

Tenthers and states rights! There’s got to be a tautology or two in there somewhere, but it’s kind of hard to tell.

There’s the small matter of the “supremacy clause”:

Article VI

…This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding…

So, if their tenther arguments ever make it to the U.S. Supreme Court what do you think they’d do about it? I mean, at least Justice Scalia would be their champion, right? Wrong.

[What do you think about the Tenth Amendment of the United States Constitution, the reservation of powers to the states?]

I don’t think [garbled] it very much. [laughter] As I think our opinion holds, so what else is new? It’s just, it’s the repetition of uh, of, of the understood fact that the Federal Constitution is a constitution of enumerated powers. The only powers the Federal government has are those given it by the Constitution. And that all the other ones remain with the states. That’s why, you know, I mean the Federal government has branched out into stuff that the framers wouldn’t have thought it had any business being in. But there’s still a lot of fields where the Federal government doesn’t touch, like family law.

Ever think of it? There are no Federal statutes on marriage, on, uh, divorce, on adoption. All that stuff.  So, the Tenth Amendment is just a repetition of what everybody understood the Constitution would be anyway.

[emphasis added]

He didn’t sound particularly enthusiastic, did he?

Back to the flyer. And finally:

We believe our nation was founded as a Republic, not a Democracy. A democracy would allow 51% of the people to enslave the other 49%. We are a nation governed by law, not by the whims of our elected leaders. We expect our elected representatives not go beyond the enumerated powers expressly granted them in the Constitution.

[emphasis added]

There is the little known George W. Bush exception in the U.S. Constitution.

“I’m the decider, and I decide what is best.”

Oh, wait, that’s right, these folks were asleep from January 2001 to January 2009.

The enslave part would definitely explain how republicans operate in the United States Senate.

Apparently, bringing all this up to teabaggers is just a waste of time.

Previously:

The bumper stickers of July: an appropriate warning label for noxious exhaust fumes

The bumper stickers of July, part 2

One advantage of taking a road trip during campaign season is that you can observe what individuals (voters and candidates) in other states go through. And yes, the campaign commercials are just as obnoxious and vacuous there as they are here.

The Arizona primary is at the end of this month. What makes Southern Arizona interesting to watch in this season is the stark juxtaposition of progressive left and far right wingnuttia. Arizona has a long and distinguished history of such contrasts – Morris King Udall and Sam Steiger come to mind.

You can see that contrast and relive battles of the past in the bumper stickers:

To answer the question, no. Not in a million years. Not ever.

Then there are the campaign signs planted on the corners of almost every major intersection – in a metropolitan area with a population over one million. We’re talking serious sign budgets:

Somehow the placement of the sign for President McCain‘s right wingnut peer and challenger seems fitting in a time of SB 1070.

When Arizona right wingnuts collide it’s all about wedge issue orthodoxy. Tom Horne (r) is the current Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction (a statewide office) and candidate for Arizona Attorney General.

Sometimes you can’t get the photo in focus when you’re in traffic. The sign states, “Tom Horne supports amnesty for illegal immigrants”.

I’ve never seen such a concerted sign program in a primary attacking a candidate, never mind not advocating for another. He must have somehow really upset a whole bunch of people – sort of like being the Chris Koster of Arizona.

Most Missourians probably haven’t heard of State Rep. Brian Nieves, but those of us unfortunate enough to live in his territory were not surprised to read a story in the local paper that someone has filed an assault charge against him.  

He won the state senate district 26 seat last Tuesday after a nasty local campaign.  A letter mailed to selected voters from someone named John Franke listed Nieves’ alleged affairs of the heart (or whatever part of the anatomy was involved.)

Brian quickly blamed the campaign of one of his opponents, Dick Stratman of Washington, Mo.  Stratman is mayor (or retired mayor) of Washington and well regarded as far as I know by the local citizenry.  Brian even went so far as to tell folks at a candidate forum that the FBI was investigating the letter and had narrowed the bar code on the letters down to the same zip code used by Stratman’s other campaign material.  (I seriously doubt the FBI was investigating, and they certainly wouldn’t have told anyone what they’d learned until the case was over.)

So just before the election, Nieves sent out an email to his tea party worshippers asking them to pray for him against this evil opponent.

In this message to his followers, Nieves played the martyr role to the hilt

!!Serious Call to Action!!

Calling ALL Supporters! Calling ALL Supporters!

OK Folks… This is NOT one of those “Little Boy who Cried Wolf” scenarios! We have a Real Situation and we need your help! I will list some ways you can help and then at the bottom I’ll catch you up on why we need your help so so very much Right Now!!

We are NOT NOT NOT raising money right now! We need Boots on the Ground, Real Help from Real People and we need it RIGHT NOW!! Please read the list of Tasks listed below and then participate in one or more ways. What ever you can do – We need your help Now! Here’s some things you can do…

Pray Pray Pray! We need you to pray in agreement with us and it goes something like this: I pray that my opponent will be Blessed as a Child of God BUT that his evil, ugly and lie filled attacks will backfire on his campaign and serve as a building block to OUR Victory as God Blesses Our Campaign Efforts which have been rooted in Truth!

Get out your Church Roster and call Everybody you go to church with INCLUDING your Pastor or Priest and tell them what is happening in this campaign! Tell them we MUST band together and Refuse to reward what has actually proven to be the most Ugly, Disgusting, Lie Filled Campaign ever seen in this area! We, as a people, can NOT allow a campaign that has been built upon Lies, Attacks and attempts to personally destroy the opponent to be rewarded with a win because what we reward, we get more of!

Get out your list of Family, Friends, Neighbors and Co-Workers and simply call them to ask them to support Brian Nieves in Tuesday’s Republican Primary! This is a simple thing to do and without these calls – we could actually lose!

Think Outside the Box about ways you can creatively help! Two types of “Rooster Calls” can be done by YOU and just a couple of your friends. A Rooster Call is where you simply pick out a High Traffic spot, hold up our yard signs and wave friendly waves to passers by! A great place to do this on Sunday would be at parking lot exits of churches! Can you grab a few people and do a Rooster Call or two between now and Tuesday? Please do!

It’s NOT too late! All of these things remain Valuable & Viable till Tuesday Aug. 3rd at 7pm!

Pray Some More!! This campaign launched by my opponent has turned out to be so Horribly Ugly that it almost seems like a Spiritual Battle! Prayer will prevail and I believe God will move on our behalf!

Now let me tell you some of the things that have been done and been happening so you may understand the Gravity of Our Situation…

Dick Stratman hired a High Priced, Politically Powerful Consultant from out of town to run his campaign. We knew a long time ago that this would almost surely lead to an Ugly, Negative and Lie Filled Campaign and low & behold, that’s exactly what has happened! The Vile and Disgusting things being said in print, on TV and on the radio about me are slanderous to the point that we WILL seek legal action and Press Charges against them!

Yes, Julie & I have seen “The Letter” and all I can say is Oh My Goodness!! Thank God Julie & I have a Very Secure Marriage and love each other Deeply! These people literally make me sick – sick to my stomach! Don’t even discuss the Evil Lies found in the letter but instead, ask this…. Does the letter pass the “Sniff Test” at all? That anonymous letter along with about 15 Brutally Negative and Lie Filled mail pieces all hit thousands of mailboxes at the VERY LAST MINUTE! If – IF Any of what they are spewing was in any way true, Why did they wait till the Very Last Minute to bring it out?? See what I’m saying? If – IF Any of what they assert was true, why didn’t they bring it out six months ago and sink my ship before it ever set sail? Please help us to help people understand that this is nothing more than a “Chicago Style Thug Campaign” being run by a desperate and despicable man! Does “The Letter” or ANY of their vicious attacking lies even make sense at all? Again, if any of it were true they would have brought it out long ago and ended my chances before we ever even got off the ground! It simply does NOT pass the “Sniff Test” does it??

The Lies they’ve perpetrated against me are so over the top, so disgusting and so untrue that we are seeking legal action and intend to SUE!

Thank you for all you have done and what you mean to our campaign! We are indeed winning and as long as we band together and each one do these listed items … We Will WIN!!

We Love You!

-Brian

Brian Nieves for State Senate

“Citizens for Nieves”

We Have Fun, We Win Elections AND… We Make a Difference!!

His supporters showed up in droves in Franklin County and tipped the scales in his favor as well as passing Prop C by a huge margin.

Keep in mind that, at all tea party events and candidate forums, Brian used the time allowed him to rant and rave against President Obama.  So, when he talks about Chicago style thuggery, everyone knows what he really means. To follow the story, go to the Franklin County Dems blog.

Even some Republicans are afraid of this guy. One of them wrote on the Dem blog that he thinks this story will have a strange ending.  Hmmmmm….(to be continued)