Not enough people read these expense reports (heck, not enough people know how ridiculous the campaign finance laws are in Missouri), so i’ll try my best to make up for it.

As you read this stuff, remember one thing.. these are the people who want your vote because they claim to be fiscally responsible.

We’re gonna start with HRCC spending for Wednesday October 27th, the day the Republican robocalls invaded many Missouri homes.

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/27/2010 Media Buy-Hampton $907.50

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/27/2010 Media Buy-Shumake $15,092.00

Survey St. Louis, LLC PO Box 432 Saint Charles, MO 63302-0432 10/27/2010 IE Advocacy Call-Shumake $2,603.65

Survey St. Louis, LLC PO Box 432 Saint Charles, MO 63302-0432 10/27/2010 IE Advocacy Call-Houghton $2,410.40

Survey St. Louis, LLC PO Box 432 Saint Charles, MO 63302-0432 10/27/2010 IE Advocacy Call-Wyatt $2,135.25

Survey St. Louis, LLC PO Box 432 Saint Charles, MO 63302-0432 10/27/2010 IE Advocacy Call-Redmon $2,334.65

Survey St. Louis, LLC PO Box 432 Saint Charles, MO 63302-0432 10/27/2010 IE Advocacy Call-Cauthorn $2,021.25

Cauthorn’s opponent (Kelly Schultz) was hit by robocalls similar to what happened to Courtney Cole in the 121st. As was Redmon’s opponent (Keri Cottrell), as was Wyatt’s opponent (Rebecca McClanahan). McClanahan’s call was a CIA Black Propaganda call about electing her to help Obama. Cottrell was hit by the “porno” call and i’ve heard Schultz was hit by the same call as well. No reports on if that happened to Carl Thompson or Linda Witte on Wednesday as well. But having 3 of 5 focuses of “advocacy calls” wind up in the same cloud of calls is.. interesting. Right now, Survey St. Louis is my #1 suspect in regards to who put these calls out there.

Survey St. Louis does offer a sweet deal:

Win your Election!

Contact us TODAY, and we will curtail a phone program for your district. This could include; Full District ID, Phone polling, Automated Messages, Live Advocacy Calls, etc.

Do they charge per lie or will they be Ron Burgandy and read anything they give you? Apparently who ever cut the call on Keri Cottrell was too busy hiding behind the phone number for the Adair County Ambulance Service [uhhhh concealing your phone number like that isn’t illegal in Missouri yet?] to figure out how to pronounce Cottrell. Good thing they could handle Cole or Scavuzzo.

How about a look into the HRCC to Victory Enterprises pipeline? Here’s the 8 Day Report.

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/13/2010 Media Buy-Marshall $30,350.00

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/14/2010 TV Production Set-up Fee $10,867.83

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/13/2010 Media Buy-Solon $30,004.50

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/13/2010 IE Radio Buy-Hampton $21,774.50

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/13/2010 IE Radio Buy-Hoskins $21,098.74

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/18/2010 IE Radio Buy-Fitzwater $22,384.91

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/13/2010 Media Buy-Lauer $30,004.50

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/21/2010 Media Buy-Schieber $10,000.00

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/19/2010 IE Radio Buy-Higdon $14,106.00

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/21/2010 Media Buy-C. Brown $23,899.00

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/21/2010 Media Buy-Wieland $25,128.25

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/21/2010 Media Buy-Schneider $23,389.00

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/21/2010 Media Buy-Torpey $14,892.50

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/21/2010 Media Buy-McCaherty $12,488.25

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/21/2010 Media Buy-Cross $14,892.50

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/13/2010 Media Buy-Brattin $20,510.00

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/19/2010 Media Buy-Higdon $19,835.00

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/13/2010 Media Buy-Shumake $9,950.00

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/13/2010 Media Buy-Schneider $10,810.00

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/13/2010 Media Buy-Schieber $7,710.00

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/11/2010 Media Buy-Sellars $8,050.00

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/13/2010 IE Radio Buy-Cookson $7,029.00

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/05/2010 IE Radio Buy-Fitzwater $9,350.31

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/11/2010 IE Radio Buy-Sellars $7,069.50

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/05/2010 Direct Mail/Media Strateg $7,000.00

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/13/2010 Media Buy-Zerr $10,810.00

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/13/2010 IE Radio Buy-Shumake $16,133.55

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/13/2010 IE Radio Buy-Houghton $18,352.00

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/13/2010 Media Buy-Torpey $15,140.00

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/13/2010 Media Buy-Cross $15,140.00

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/13/2010 IE Media Buy-Hoskins $19,576.00

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/13/2010 Media Buy-Hampton $13,050.00

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/13/2010 Media Buy-C. Brown $13,051.00

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/13/2010 Media Buy-Haefner $13,051.00

In the span of SIXTEEN DAYS, The HRCC gave Victory Enterprises $546,897.84.

Victory netted $111,506.50 from the HRCC on Tuesday alone. ($35,550 for the “TV Production Setup Fee”, $40,050 for a Sellars media buy [running against Sara Lampe], $19,881.50 for Kent Hampton [running against Tom Todd in Kennett], $14,635 for Leach [running against Charlie Norr] and the rest on a poll, and on radio production setup)

Essentially the HRCC hauls trucks of money to Victory every day to do the motherlode of the work for their effort to surf the rumored wave coming up on November 2nd.

Survey St. Louis got $8,802.68 for a “Voter Research Call” on October 13th, 2010 as well. No specification on if it was a robocall, poll, or where it was located. The total of the Wednesday spending was $11505.20 for five districts, so if it was concealed spending on robocalling, it may have went to four districts. So a Missouri firm with no identified leader may be the likely source of the troubles covered in-depth on this site and on Fired Up! Missouri. Although it is worth keeping in mind that there’s a gap where spending is not going to be reported until after the election.

The HRCC also gave $80000 to Public Opinion Strategies for polling. $24500 to Public Pulse Research for candidate research. $107373.65 to Pure Marketing (Including $100881.34 for media for Zack Wyatt in the 2nd and John Cauthorn in the 21st).

The one missing piece that we’re not likely to see before the election.. the details for the “advocacy calls” in the 121st, 137th (Norr/Leach), 17th (Biermann/Schneider), and 124th (Scavuzzo/Brattin). Those are the missing pieces right now. I wouldn’t totally count Victory out, since I’m sure that amongst the hundreds of thousands of dollars sent from Jeff City to Davenport, some of it was used on robocalls. But the shear oddity that three beneficiaries of the calls on Wednesday had “advocacy calls” paid for them on that day is intriguing.

Then again, will the HRCC get their money back from Survey STL for the Robocalls being halted? Victory Enterprises needs more money to build a fort in their offices and $100K from the HRCC should be enough to help them in that endeavor.

Heh.

…I ran out of gas. I, I had a flat tire. I didn’t have enough money for cab fare. My tux didn’t come back from the cleaners. An old friend came in from out of town. Someone stole my car. There was an earthquake. A terrible flood. Locusts. it wasn’t my fault, I swear to God….

Roseanne Mooring (Springfield News Leader) via Twitter:

Robo call update: Rep. @TeamTilley pulled calls, apologized, criticized Dem ad tactics. Read about it in tomorrow’s @springfieldNL.    33 minutes ago  via web  

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)

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

The Missouri HRCC has stepped in it with their desperate and homophobic robocalls in legislative district races across the state and the story has gone national:

Robocall Attacks Missouri Dem For Ties To Hardcore, Gay Pornography

First Posted: 10-28-10 09:42 AM   |   Updated: 10-28-10 09:42 AM

While the closing weeks of the 2008 presidential campaign were defined in part by a series of nasty robocall attacks on Barack Obama, there has been a noticeable absence of the campaign technique in the 2010 elections.

Among congressional candidates, only a few have used robocalls — a relatively cheap form of blitzing voters with an automated message — to push headline-grabbing messages. The real memorable ones, indeed, have taken place at the local level, often with groups trying to micro-target social conservative voters.

On Wednesday, a group called the House Republican Campaign Committee (presumably an arm of the Missouri Republican Party) released a robocall attacking Courtney Cole, a state representative in Missouri, for having ties to the “hardcore pornography industry, including gay pornography…”

…The ties-to-hard-core-porn charge borders on a self-parody of an attack ad….

Uh, Courtney Cole (D) is a candidate for state representative. If the Huffington Post had bothered to read and linked to our post (and done a little basic research there) they would have figured that out. They didn’t throw us a link. They did use the earlier version of our video, with the single typo. Heh. We did put our name and URL on the end credits.

And, lo and behold, the stenographer posted the story:

Dirty pool to a new level? Democrats cry foul over apparent spate of GOP robo-calls

Missouri Democrats are up in arms about what they call a series of automated phone calls being made to voters in the 121st state House district just south and east of KC.

The calls target Courtney Cole, the Democratic candidate for state rep. She’s running against incumbent Rep. Denny Hoskins, a Warrensburg Republican.

The script…

Uh, that was our transcription. and like the Huffington Post the Star uses the early version of our video without linking to our post.

The HRCC also did something very similar in the 124th Legislative District with a robocall on the same day attacking representative Luke Scavuzzo (D):

Female voice: This is an urgent alert for all Christian families. Before you vote you should know that state representative Luke Scavuzzo has taken hundreds in campaign donations from a representative of the hard core pornography industry, including gay pornography. By allowing his Democrat campaign to be funded by those who are involved with and support hard core pornography we are disappointed that Luke Scavuzzo apparently no longer shares our Christian family values. On election day stand up for what’s right and decent by voting no on Luke Scavuzzo. Paid for by House Republican Campaign Committee, Inc.

That’s a different voice than the one on the robocall attacking Courtney Cole (D).

Is anyone gonna ask the HRCC’s Executive Director his opinion about the religious values of Democratic candidates across the state of Missouri? Just wondering.

Ever get the feeling that some Economic Conservatives read Robin Hood to their kids to scare them?

Oh yeah, the suspense, who is “robbin” you in Republican funhouseland?

Considering that the “Christian families” robocalls got to a lot of pissed off moderates, the odds of the anti-EFCA stuff being send to Union-friendly households is pretty damned good.

Oh yeah, the sources are the same as in this mailer. Only the previous mailer did not have a goofy photoshop job.

1. Cap and Trade is not likely to pass in it’s current form due to the thing we call the Senate, and also special interest groups. And barring a result not expected by anybody, Cap and Trade will probably not wind up in front of the House in the next session, and would need some extensive changes (or better public relations) before it’s moved for again.

2. The source on the card check claim is still slightly up in the air (it’s an online newspaper!) and seems to be an example of “give us what we want or we start hurting people” politics. If Republican politicians were as concerned about jobs emigrating to foreign lands are they are concerned about immigrants from foreign lands, then maybe they’d do something to stop outsourcing. But then again, they’re joined at the hip with the outsourcers.

3. Why do Republicans hate making sure that Medicare could last longer? Oh yeah, because they don’t want Medicare to exist at all. And they’re being opportunistic, claiming they like Medicare, which is a lie, to try and manipulate people into voting them into office. Not to mention that their health care plan is to essentially dismember health care with the promise that the parts they “really” support can be maintained after they disembowel the rest of the law.

The preceding mailer was brought to you by

And an unhindered picture of the goofy Robin Hood/Hamburglar getup that they put Robin in for this flier.

Obviously the MRSC works with stuff that is better than MSPaint. If it weren’t for that part of the flier, I may not have scanned it, because it’s the same old stuff that they sent me a few weeks ago. They need to work harder to stop letting the other clients in their office steal all the ‘good’ citations.

If you watch TV, you’ve probably seen Roy Blunt’s recent border-security ad about ten zillion times an evening. A folksy, jeans-clad, plaid-shirted Blunt strolls along a segment of the border wall with a jolly looking gentleman whom one assumes is a border agent, and declares with a strange, semi-ecstatic smirk that, among other things, he supports Arizona’s new anti-immigrant law. Indeed, Blunt has been forthright about his support of the Arizona law since its inception, declaring it to be “just common sense.”

Of course nobody with half a brain would have expected Blunt to say anything different, but, until today, I just assumed that he was simply pandering to the nativist fears of his GOP base. However, a new report by NPR suggests his motivation for supporting Arizona’s SB1070 might not be so clear-cut. Given the implications of NPR’s findings, Blunt may actually have an eye to cultivating new sources of financial support as well as playing to the anti-immigrant paranoia of the GOP base:

NPR spent the past several months analyzing hundreds of pages of campaign finance reports, lobbying documents and corporate records. What they show is a quiet, behind the-scenes effort to help draft and pass Arizona Senate Bill 1070 by an industry that stands to benefit from it: the private prison industry.

The law could send hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants to prison in a way never done before. And it could mean hundreds of millions of dollars in profits to private prison companies responsible for housing them.

Sounds like a natural fit for Blunt. I’m betting he’d like to get Missouri in on the goodies – a new, privately run prison for undocumented women and children maybe (and big future campaign donations for Blunt) in return for an ugly, probably unconstitutional law intended to make rich people richer. From Blunt’s point of view, it has to be a win-win position; play to the prejudices of the slaveringly anti-immigration GOP right-wing, while supporting laws at state or federal level that are almost guaranteed  not to address immigration problems. After all, why kill a cash cow?

* 2nd paragraph edited slightly for clairty.

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

The group of senior citizens who visited his office and got no answers about his stance on Medicare talked afterwards about their frustration, using a bit of black humor to make their point.

My husband and I just returned from a few days in Branson.  We were hoping for some nice fall colors, but that part of the state is even duller this year than the St. Louis area.  At the last minute I decided not to take my car which is a moving advertisement for all things Democratic because, I’m sorry to admit, I was afraid.  SW Missouri has a well-earned reputation for keeping the local folks pretty much in the Dark Ages.  I lived in Springfield during the 1970’s and part of the 80’s, so I know whereof I speak.

My mood was probably influenced by something that happened last week as I was coming home after dark on I-44.  Even though we were virtually alone on the highway, the driver of a semi pulled up close behind me and then began blinking his lights.  I know that rude drivers do that when someone is poking along in the passing lane, but I was in the middle lane.  He could pass me on either side easily.  He continued tailgating and flashing his lights for a few more miles while I tried to stay in my lane hoping he would pass me.  Finally he did pass, on the right, and laid on his horn as he went by.  I don’t know if he was trying to tell me to move into the right lane or if he didn’t like my bumper stickers.  My husband thinks it was the latter.  He’s probably right.

So we took my husband’s very conventional Chevy Malibu, sans bumper stickers, to Branson.  Springfield is Roy Blunt’s home base, so it was no surprise to see hundreds of big “ROY” signs. There were also many “Vote No on Prop B” and “Vote YES on Prop A” signs as well.  SW Missouri is teeming with puppy mills as well as voters who believe “Let Voters Decide” is a good idea.  The Branson area is hosting a huge veterans  celebration next week which is a natural extension of many of the year round shows there.  During the height of the Iraq war hysteria, we attended a patriotic music show  (only because we had out-of-state guests who wanted to go) where the grand finale brought the flag and cross together as one huge symbol of love of country.  

The subtle blending of religion and patriotism blankets the hill country like morning fog.  Busloads of senior citizens come from all over the country to revel in it and to go home “saved” once again.   I thought I was beyond being shocked by all the appeals to emotional servitude, but one gigantic billboard caught my attention.  It was a double size sign – enormous and hard to miss – along hwy 76 just outside the actual City of Branson.  The letters that spelled out “Book of Revelations” were in the shape of a question mark.   Next to that it said, “What Does it Mean?”  and “Who is the Anti-Christ?”

I didn’t catch the details about where this “show” was being presented, but I certainly caught the message.  And I can guess who the anti-Christ is.   This is what rational people are up against.  Wingnuts like the tea partiers come and go over time, but this foundation of nativism provides the bedrock for the type of fanaticism that always was and always will be a part of our American character.

The good news is that, according to the executive director of the Greene County (Springfield) Democrats, Springfield now votes close to 50% Democratic.  So maybe there is still hope.

You can smell the republican flop sweat.

Today the House republican Campaign Committee ran a robocall in the 121st Legislative District attacking Courtney Cole (D) in terms that have never been seen before in this district:

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.

Evidently they don’t care about the Jewish, Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, or Wiccan (among many others) families in the district. Or maybe the HRCC feels less urgency for those families. Are they saying their favorite candidate feels the same way? Just asking. They know him better than we do.

A baseless accusation with no substance. Check. Exploiting religion. Check. Homophobia. Check. That’s the Missouri republican party for you. And those ain’t exactly family values.

The folks in the HRCC who paid for this robocall were walking with Denny Hoskins (r-noun, verb, CPA) and wearing his campaign t-shirt in last weekend’s homecoming parade in Warrensburg:

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

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

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

Do you think he cares? Just asking.

Lately ThinkProgress has been doing yeoman’s work in rooting through the various statements and the voting records of our congress members to find out just what their past record indicates about what they would do to important programs like Social Security. Among the 104 current congress members who are on the record for privatizing Social Security are – fanfare here – Roy Blunt (R-07) and Todd Akin (R-02).

The reason that it is worth remarking on this finding is because Missouri’s GOP candidates are so shy about discussing where they stand when Social Security comes up. They usually offer a rote (and often ambiguously worded) denial that they have any plans at all and then quickly turn the topic elsewhere. ThinkProgress lays out a familiar pattern of obfuscation:

… the GOP’s strategy on Social Security has been two-fold. First, Republicans deny they are interested in privatization. Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) recently told the Wall Street Journal that “no one has a proposal up to cut Social Security,” (his own book proposes doing so), while conservatives in the media have tried to argue that Republicans don’t actually want to privatize Social Security.

The second tactic has been to obfuscate their privatization plans by sugarcoating them in flowery, palatable language. President Bush’s privatization plan is a prime example. In his 2005 State of the Union, President Bush said we needed to “save” Social Security and give younger workers a “better deal” by having “voluntary personal retirement accounts,” the poll-tested language for privatization.

So don’t be fooled. If you are ready to see Social Security go bye-bye, vote for Roy Blunt or Todd Akin this year (although I am willing to bet that if push comes to shove, the rest of our GOPers wouldn’t mind taking up a shovel to help bury one of our most successful government programs). Keep in mind that if the Republicans take over the Congress this election,  as ThinkProgress observes, “it’s likely that a GOP-controlled Congress would have the necessary votes to revisit the issue.”