I hope you got out and got some sunshine. I spent my day trying to get in touch with a couple of republican fellows who are up to their armpits in robocall bilge. –BG

I managed, through a source that was promised anonymity, to locate the cell phone numbers of the Executive Director of the HRCC and the Executive Director of Victory Strategies, a political strategy firm that is closely associated with the HRCC.

They are also pretty closely associated with Denny (Noun, Verb, CPA) Hoskins in Warrensburg, as you can see in this photo:

Dave Hageman, Missouri Executive Director of Victory Enterprises (left) and

Robert Knodell, Executive Director of the House Republican Campaign Committee (right)

Marching together in the CMSU UCM homecoming parade kinda makes the whole ‘recoil in horror and deny everything’ approach Denny has chosen not merely unbelievable, but, frankly, laughable mockworthy.

I first left a message for Mr. Knodell, but I didn’t expect a callback. He doesn’t even say his name on his voicemail greeting, just his number, but I gave it the old Mizzou try…Keep in mind I hate talking to machines…

“Hi, ah, my name is Tammy Booth and I am a reporter with “They Gave Us a Republic” that’s a national web, ah, national news website…they gave us a republic dot com, if you want to look at it…Ah, I was wondering…I’m looking for a man named Robert Knodell, and I’m wondering if I can get a comment on the HRCC decision to pull the robocalls that went out attacking schoolteachers and, and other Democrats, um…at the end of the, ah, that have now been pulled…and if you had a comment on the decision to launch them, and the decision to pull them. Thank you.”

I wasn’t too pushy…I waited a bit before sending him the following text message:

Hello, I am looking for Robert Knodell and a comment on the robocalls that went out and were quickly pulled.  Thank You. Tammy Booth theygaveusarepublic.com

I didn’t call Mr. Hageman. He wasn’t going to answer for me, and we both knew it, so I just cut to the chase and sent the following message:

Hello Mr. Hageman. My name is Tammy Booth and I am a reporter with the national news site theygaveusarepublic.com   I am looking for comments on the decision to first launch, then pull the robocall campaign that accused Democratic candidates of taking money from the gay porn industry?  Thank you.

It is now 7:30 p.m. on Friday, and neither of these fellows has seen fit to “man up” as Sharron Angle would say.

I can only assume then that they know they have no excuses, realize that they have done more harm than good (or as my father used to say “stepped on their dicks”) and they are bravely laying low ’til Tuesday.

They don’t just have “no comment,” they have the double-secret “no comment” that no one has to say.

Previous coverage below the fold.

HRCC robocall in the 121st Legislative District: desperation and homophobia (October 27, 2010)

The Missouri HRCC steps in it with homophobic robocalls (October 28, 2010)

Tilley (r) on HRCC robocalls: Uh, that didn’t go very well, did it? (October 28, 2010)

Tilley (r) on HRCC robocalls: “But, but, the Democrats are mean to us…” (October 29, 2010)

Tilley (r), the HRCC robocalls, and the media: “…testing, testing, testing, is this thing on?” (October 29, 2010)

Today at the Missouri Ethics Commission there was an interesting little tidbit in one of the reports:

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

C000953 MO REPUBLICAN PARTY [pdf] 10/29/2010

House Republican Campaign Committee

Jefferson City, MO

10/28/2010

$100,000.00

[emphasis added]

Yeah, that Missouri HRCC.

Robo calls accuse candidate of porn ties

Posted: 10.28.2010 at 11:49 AM Updated: 10.29.2010 at 9:30 AM

….The message says it’s paid for by the House Republican Campaign Committee, Inc. That is not the Missouri Republican Party. I called the campaign committee and left messages, and didn’t hear anything back. KHQA did get a statement from the Missouri Republican Party. It says it did not authorize, approve, or pay for this campaign activity….

[emphasis added]

Really?

Yeah, that $100,000.00 went the other way on the same day. As if they don’t know each other? With that kind of money moving around they all must be good friends, eh?

“Guy’s a clod. Promises were made, gifts exchanged…”

Our useless old media. Look! Over there, another shiny bauble!

Previously:

HRCC robocall in the 121st Legislative District: desperation and homophobia (October 27, 2010)

The Missouri HRCC steps in it with homophobic robocalls (October 28, 2010)

Tilley (r) on HRCC robocalls: Uh, that didn’t go very well, did it? (October 28, 2010)

Tilley (r) on HRCC robocalls: “But, but, the Democrats are mean to us…” (October 29, 2010)

Tilley (r), the HRCC robocalls, and the media: “…testing, testing, testing, is this thing on?” (October 29, 2010)

Warrensburg Daily Star-Journal Headline: “GOP robocall attacks Cole’s ‘family values'” (October 29, 2010)

The negative fallout from the House republican Campaign Committee (HRCC) attack robocalls continues locally.

The text of the calls:

Female voice: This is an urgent alert for all Christian families. Before you vote you should know that state representative candidate Courtney Cole has taken hundreds in campaign donations from a representative of the hard core pornography industry, including gay pornography. By allowing her Democratic campaign to be funded by those who are involved with and support hard core pornography Courtney Cole clearly does not share our Christian family values. On election day stand up for what’s right and decent by voting no on Courtney Cole. Paid for by House Republican Campaign Committee, Inc.

Courtney Cole (center) and her family.

The Warrensburg Daily Star-Journal ran a front page story, above the fold, on the HRCC robocalls within the 121st Legislative District:

10/29/2010 2:08:00 PM

GOP robocall attacks Cole’s ‘family values’

Warrensburg – Rep. Denny Hoskins sought to distance himself Thursday from a robocall barrage targeting his Nov. 2 Democratic opponent….

….Hoskins said in a prepared statement. “I did not pay for, approve or have any knowledge of the robocall, nor do I condone its message….”

….The Star-Journal received phone calls and e-mails, and a visit from former House Rep. Deleta Williams, all denouncing the House Republican Campaign Committee’s robocall content.

“These robocalls that are being made against Courtney Cole and in support of Denny Hoskins, paid for the HRCC, are despicable,” Williams said Thursday. “They cross the line of campaign decency. I believe it’s a threat to our democracy because more and more good, qualified people will become increasingly reluctant to serve in public office when they know that they or their families may be targeted by these types of tactics.”

That distancing thing is really quite interesting.

The Executive Director of Missouri’s HRCC, Robert Knodell and Missouri Executive Director of Victory Enterprises, Dave Hageman walked with Denny Hoskins (r) in the UCM homecoming parade on October 23rd wearing Hoskins’ campaign t-shirts:

Dave Hageman, Missouri Executive Director of Victory Enterprises (left) and

Robert Knodell, Executive Director of the House Republican Campaign Committee (right)

“…I did not pay for, approve or have any knowledge of the robocall, nor do I condone its message…”

As we previously wrote about those folks walking in the parade:

That makes it difficult for Denny Hoskins (r-noun, verb, CPA) to distance himself from the HRCC, don’t you think?

Previously:

HRCC robocall in the 121st Legislative District: desperation and homophobia (October 27, 2010)

The Missouri HRCC steps in it with homophobic robocalls (October 28, 2010)

Tilley (r) on HRCC robocalls: Uh, that didn’t go very well, did it? (October 28, 2010)

Tilley (r) on HRCC robocalls: “But, but, the Democrats are mean to us…” (October 29, 2010)

Tilley (r), the HRCC robocalls, and the media: “…testing, testing, testing, is this thing on?” (October 29, 2010)

The Springfield News-Leader said “Norr and at least eight other Democrats were the target of the calls. Norr received a call and recorded it.”

One of those other 8 Democrats was Keri Cottrell, the Democratic candidate for House District #1 in Northeast Missouri. Cottrell works as a fourth grade teacher in Canton, Missouri and has taught elementary age children for 19 years. Here’s the statement from her posted on the “Elect Keri Cottrell” Facebook group:

Yesterday your homes and thousands of others in the first district were invaded by a robo call that ties my campaign to pornography and even gay pornogrpahy. How absurd!! The number to the Adair County Ambulance District was highjacked and appeared on those phones with caller ID and caused their personnel to spend time and energy addressing a problem that they were not involved in. The House Republican Campaign Committee Inc. paid for the robo calls. My opponent Craig Redmon called yesterday to acknowledge these calls and to say he was not behind them. But his party is paying for lies to be spread across the first district.

I hope this motivates us to point out that I have worked extremely hard and will work to win at all costs except jeopardizing someone’s integrity. Remember that I am ready to go to Jeff City to work for you and realize that the first district deserves better than having this type of invasion into their homes. November 2 is days away and I ask all of you to roll up your sleeves and talk to people about how absurd the republican party is in making these accusations and in doing so cause undeserved stress to the Adair County Ambulance District.

Invasion is an excellent way to describe what those robocalls did. As well, the matter of “masking” the phone number with the number of an Ambulance District should get people in trouble. When it comes down to it, some people will do anything to help their favorites win, even to the point of lying about an elementary school teacher and trying to ruin her reputation.

But hopefully enough voters see through the Invasion of the Robocalls to see that the only way to get things back on the right track is to toss out people whose #1 ally would sanction these sorts of calls.

Rep. Hoskins claims to be good at creating jobs, but I have a very personal opinion here because since he was elected to the House, I lost my job. Yep, the thing got moved to Germany, very quietly. I worked for a company in Warrensburg called Bomag(run by a German company, but owned by a French multinational) that built asphalt paving machines. When oil spiked to $140.00 a barrel in the spring of 2008(the real trigger-pull that caused this depression), the price of asphalt of course skyrocketed also. No one had cost-of-material clauses in their contracts(who knew this was going to happen?), so new machine orders were cancelled by the road companies to pay for the increased cost of asphalt. By January of 2009, the plant quietly closed and 30-40 $15.00 per hour jobs were lost. What was Rep. Hoskins doing at that time? Trying to force universities and colleges to allow concealed weapons on their properties. I’d like to ask him why, but he won’t talk to me any more.  

Received a mailing from the Hartzler campaign this morning that surprised me. Well, the mailing didn’t, but the apparent message did. A picture of a newborn baby with this phrase printed on the pic, “Only one candidate will protect life from the very beginning…” followed by “Vicky Hartzler.” This seems to be telling me that she believes life begins at birth. The Missouri Republican State Committee sure knows how to get a message out.  

Previously:

HRCC robocall in the 121st Legislative District: desperation and homophobia (October 27, 2010)

The Missouri HRCC steps in it with homophobic robocalls (October 28, 2010)

Tilley (r) on HRCC robocalls: Uh, that didn’t go very well, did it? (October 28, 2010)

Tilley (r) on HRCC robocalls: “But, but, the Democrats are mean to us…” (October 29, 2010)

In the United States Constitution:

Article. VI.

….The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.

[emphasis added]

In the Missouri Constitution:

Article I

BILL OF RIGHTS

Section 5

…that no person shall, on account of his religious persuasion or belief, be rendered ineligible to any public office or trust or profit in this state…

[emphasis added]

In the aftermath of the offensive robocalls presented across the state by the House republican Campaign Committee (HRCC) which were directed at Democratic Party candidates for the Missouri General Assembly no one in the old media appears to be asking Steve Tilley (r) and the HRCC how the message of the robocalls…

This is an urgent alert for all Christian families….clearly does not share our Christian family values….Paid for by House Republican Campaign Committee, Inc.

…a candidate meeting someone’s definition of “Christian family values” –  coincides with those constitutional clauses.

Well? We’re waiting. [sound of crickets]

Roy Blunt has voted to privatize Medicare and has said that government should have steered clear of implementing it in the first place. And besides, he says, “Medicare has never done anything to make people more healthy.”

C. T. Sharp considers Blunt’s hope of undermining the program “beyond the pale.”

Previously:

HRCC robocall in the 121st Legislative District: desperation and homophobia (October 27, 2010)

The Missouri HRCC steps in it with homophobic robocalls (October 28, 2010)

Tilley (r) on HRCC robocalls: Uh, that didn’t go very well, did it? (October 28, 2010)

Heh.

Campaign pulls calls following criticism

Robo-calls from GOP allege Norr had ties with pornography industry.

Roseann Moring • News-Leader • October 29, 2010

….Tilley, the 2011 House speaker-elect, also criticized House Democrats, saying they have run worse ads.

“These calls pale in comparison to the misleading and malicious attacks by the Missouri Democratic Party against Republican candidates across the state,” he said. “I call on my Democrat colleagues to apologize and to do as we have done by ending the negative personal attacks against Republicans contained in ads, calls and mailers in the closing days.”

Yeah, running those bogus robocalls about pornography and religious “family values” is equivalent to pointing out that republicans didn’t pay over $20,000.00 in taxes on time or that they happen to own a plane with a lobbyist. That seems to work really well for old media, you know, all things being equal.