Including us.

Announcer: Everyone wants to know who’s paying for the campaign against the earnings tax. Who would want five hundred fewer police officers on our streets? We’ll never know. Contributors to the opposition are not disclosed. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions hidden in a cloak of secrecy.

If we don’t know who’s paying the folks who are telling us to vote no why should we trust anything they say?

On Tuesday, April 5th, vote yes to keep the earnings tax. Vote yes to keep KC alive.

“…If we don’t know who’s paying the folks who are telling us to vote no why should we trust anything they say?…”

Good question. Who is bankrolling the bankrollers? Just asking.

Previously:

Campaign Finance: Freedom PAC’s spending against the earnings tax in Kansas City (March 28, 2011)

Uh, we already knew about that (March 24, 2011)

Campaign Finance: Freedom PAC funded by the usual suspect(s) (March 18, 2011)

Campaign Finance: Who is bankrolling the bankrollers? (March 10, 2011)

Campaign Finance: your Friday big bucks contribution dump (March 4, 2011)

Campaign Finance: opponents of the earnings tax in Kansas City get a lot of help (February 26, 2011)

Digby:

…despite what many people insist isn’t true and what vast majorities of the public want, Social security is on the chopping block in this congress. The first salvo was the failed deficit commission. The next is coming up in the budget negotiations. We’ve got people on both sides of the aisle desperate to do this thing to “prove” they are able to harshly cut spending — 30 years from now — in some quixotic attempt to make the markets magically fix everything that’s wrong with the economy. It’s a form of mass delusion, but it has become a matter of conventional wisdom among our ruling elite…

StrenghtenSocialSecurity, a coalition of groups, is asking us to contact Congress and let them know we want them to defend the most successful and effective social program in the country.

Principles

1. Social Security has a surplus of $2.6 trillion, which it has loaned to the federal government. Social Security did not cause the federal deficit. Its benefits should not be cut to reduce the deficit.

2. Social Security, which has stood the test of time, should not be privatized in whole or in part.

3. Social Security is insurance and should not be means-tested. Because workers pay for it, they should receive it regardless of their income or savings.

4. Social Security is fully funded for more than 25 years; thereafter it has sufficient funds to meet 75 percent of promised benefits. To reassure Americans that Social Security will be there for them, Congress should act in the coming few years outside the context of deficit reduction to close this funding gap by requiring those who are most able to afford it to pay somewhat more.

5. Social Security’s retirement age, already scheduled to increase from 65 to 67, should not be raised further. That would be a benefit cut that places the greatest hardship on older Americans who are in physically demanding jobs, or are otherwise unable to find or keep employment.

6. Social Security, whose average benefit is $13,000 in 2010, provides vital protection against the loss of wages as the result of disability, death, or old age.  Those benefits should not be reduced, including by changes to the cost of living adjustment or the benefit formula.

7. Social Security’s benefits should be increased for those who are most disadvantaged.  The benefits, which are very important to virtually all workers and their families, are particularly crucial to those who are disadvantaged.  

Shout these principles from the roof tops and at Congress.

The folk(s) agitating against the earnings tax on the April 5th ballot in Kansas City have been spending money. We’re just not sure who’s bankrolling the bankrollers.

From the March 26th “24 Hour Expenditure Report”:

DIRECT EXPENDITURE REPORT

FREEDOM PAC 3/26/2011

B. BALLOT MEASURES

KC Earnings Tax

Kansas City

4/5/2011

$75,930.00

[emphasis added]

EXPENDITURES AND CONTRIBUTIONS MADE

FREEDOM PAC 3/26/2011

B. Itemized Expenditures All Over $100

Smart Media Group

814 King Street

Suite 400

Alexandria VA 22314

3/25/2011

Media Buy

$75,930.00

[emphasis added]

From the March 28th “8 Day Before General Election” report:

CONTRIBUTIONS AND LOANS RECEIVED

FREEDOM PAC 3/28/2011

A. ITEMIZED CONTRIBUTIONS RECEIVED

The Adam Smith Foundation

P O Box 21

Jefferson City MO 65102

2/25/2011

$25,000.00

Integral Construction Services, Inc.

303 SW Market

Lees Summit MO 64063

3/4/2011

$1,000.00

American Democracy Alliance

1100 Main Street

Kansas City MO 64105

3/4/2011

$100,000.00

American Democracy Alliance

1100 Main Street

Kansas City MO 64105

3/10/2011

$100,000.00

American Democracy Alliance

1100 Main Street

Kansas City MO 64105

3/17/2011

$100,000.00

[emphasis added]

And who contributed all that money to the American Democracy Alliance? They’re not saying. So much for transparency.

The expenditures:

EXPENDITURES AND CONTRIBUTIONS MADE

FREEDOM PAC 3/28/2011

ITEMIZED EXPENDITURES OVER $100 SUPPLEMENTAL FORM

Wilson Research Strategies, LLC

1319 Classen Drive

Oklahoma City OK 73103

3/21/2011

Survey

$5,562.50

Axiom Strategies, LLC

1251 NW Briarcliff Pkwy

Suite 85

Kansas City MO 64116

3/21/2011

Survey

$11,250.00

Axiom Strategies, LLC

1251 NW Briarcliff Pkwy

Suite 85

Kansas City MO 64116

3/21/2011

Various — Inv. #1432

$67,398.67

Wilson Research Strategies, LLC

1319 Classen Drive

Oklahoma City OK 73103

3/21/2011

Survey

$12,625.00

Axiom Strategies, LLC

1251 NW Briarcliff Pkwy

Suite 85

Kansas City MO 64116

3/21/2011

Various — Inv. #1447

$35,302.29

Missouri Ethics Commission

P O Box 1370

Jefferson City MO 65102

3/21/2011

Late Fee

$50.00

CRAFT | Media/Digital

706 7th St., SE

Washington DC 20003

3/23/2011

Media Work

$19,150.00

Law Office of James C. Thomas III

4131 N. Mulberry Drive

Suite 200

Kansas City MO 64116

3/23/2011

Legal Fees

$2,280.00

Gridiron Communications

12801 Sandy Court

Granger IN 46530

3/23/2011

Design and Layout

$750.00

Suede Group

5370 W. 95th Street

Prairie Village KS 66207

3/23/2011

Vidoe Work

$1,500.00

CRAFT | Media/Digital

706 7th St., SE

Washington DC 20003

3/24/2011

Ad Development

$15,675.00

Wilson Research Strategies, LLC

1319 Classen Drive

Oklahoma City OK 73103

3/24/2011

Survey

$5,000.00

[emphasis added]

Over $100,000.00 in “various”. That’s expensive stuff. Oh:

General Addendum:

Axiom Strategies, LLC — Invoice #1432 — General Consulting Fee (March); Field Staff (February); P.O. Box Rental; Online Advertising; Kansas City Voter Survey; Automated Advocacy Call; Research Package; Data Management;

General Addendum:

Axiom Strategies, LLC — Invoice #1432 (cont.) — Kansas City Voter Survey; Library Room Rental Fee for Press Conference; Voter Outreach (March)

General Addendum:

Axiom Strategies, LLC — Invoice #1447 — General Consulting Services (April); Field Staff (March & April); (March); Voter Outreach (1/2 + 1 full) Logo/Sign Design; Maps Design; Bumper Stickers; Yard Signs;

General Addendum:

Axiom Strategies, LLC — Invoice #1447 (cont.) — Focus Group Expenses; Voter Outreach – ducational event expenses

And the surveys. Also, too.

DIRECT EXPENDITURE REPORT

FREEDOM PAC 3/28/2011

B. BALLOT MEASURES

KC E-Tax

Kansas City

4/5/2011

$174,213.46

EXPENDITURES TO DATE $206,713.46

[emphasis added]

Previously:

Uh, we already knew about that (March 24, 2011)

Campaign Finance: Freedom PAC funded by the usual suspect(s) (March 18, 2011)

Campaign Finance: Who is bankrolling the bankrollers? (March 10, 2011)

Campaign Finance: your Friday big bucks contribution dump (March 4, 2011)

Campaign Finance: opponents of the earnings tax in Kansas City get a lot of help (February 26, 2011)

Especially when there are no limits.

Today, at the Missouri Ethics Commission:

C091145 03/28/2011 FRIENDS OF PETER KINDER David Humphreys PO Box 4050 Joplin MO 64803 Tamko Executive 3/26/2011 $100,000.00

C091145 03/28/2011 FRIENDS OF PETER KINDER August Busch III 1 Mid Rivers Mall Dr Suite 210 St Peters MO 63376 Retired Retired 3/26/2011 $25,000.00

C091145 03/28/2011 FRIENDS OF PETER KINDER Sarah Atkins 4713 Rock Spring Road Arlington VA 22207 Tamko Consultant 3/26/2011 $50,000.00

C091145 03/28/2011 FRIENDS OF PETER KINDER Ethelmae Humphreys 2505 E 11th Street Joplin MO 64801 Tamko Chairman 3/26/2011 $100,000.00

C091145 03/28/2011 FRIENDS OF PETER KINDER Drury Development Corpororation 721 Emerson Road Suite 200 St Louis MO 63141 3/26/2011 $12,500.00

C091145 03/28/2011 FRIENDS OF PETER KINDER Drury Hotels PO Box 910 Cape Girardeau MO 63702 3/26/2011 $12,500.00

That’s $300,000.00 in one day for they guy who may or may not be running for governor.

They must be big fans of Twitter.

Bumper stickers on a vehicle in west central Missouri:

At first glance you’d think they were from Oklahoma.

Nope, not Libertarians, but from Liberty, Missouri.

Chip Wood, running for St. Louis County assessor, not only doesn’t pay his property taxes, he also hasn’t paid the bills for his website.

Adam at St. Louis Activist Hub, has the story.

Previously on the banks:

The People’s Court is in session

The situation is improving for Mike and Mary Boehm

Bank of America: Slim the Slimeball

Bank of America: how the scam works

Bank of America: In January, the heat is on

Bank of America foreclosing unjustly, part 3: Major Major

Bank of America, foreclosing unjustly, part 2

Bank of America foreclosing unjustly on Mike and Mary Boehm

So said Abraham Lincoln. John Steinbeck, in Chapter 5 of The Grapes of Wrath, tells us that banks:

breathe profits; they eat the interest on money. If they don’t get it, they die the way you die without air, without side-meat.

Bank of America, Citigroup, J.P. Morgan, and Wells Fargo do not intend to share so much as a nibble of their side-meat. They took $2 trillion of our money from the Fed at the height of the crisis that their reckless risk taking caused, then let small businesses go under rather than lend to them, further damaging the economy. When their stinginess caused even more jobs to evaporate, putting millions more Americans in danger of losing their homes, our financial vampires sucked all the cash they could out of desperate homeowners before foreclosing on them, often illegally.

They deserve to have a bonfire the size of Texas lit under their asses. After last fall’s robo-signing scandals, the state attorneys general started meeting, all fifty of them, with Elizabeth Warren of the Consumers Financial Protection Bureau to discuss means of reining in banks for the blase way they’ve been dispossessing people of their homes. Earlier this month, Warren’s working group struck a match.

It sent a blueprint to the five biggest banks proposing regulations about when banks may and may not foreclose. It also recommended a penalty between $20 and $25 billion that could be used both to finance lower mortgage payments for a million homeowners facing foreclosure as well as to punish the banks. As punishment, twenty billion is a pittance. Let’s see, would that amount mean the hotshots who stuck American homeowners with a trillion dollars in underwater mortgages might have to to give up their bonuses? Poor babies. The money might cover enforcement, if there were any means of enforcement detailed in the blueprint, which there isn’t. And we all know how likely the banks are, without the threat of jail time for the honchos, to give a fig about regulations and laws.

It was closer to a two-man campfire than a bonfire, and the banks, never big on remorse, aren’t shaking in their boots.

Hell, the fat cats at J.P. Morgan had the gall last Thursday to try blaming the sour economy on us. They blasted workers who’ve been  idling around collecting unemployment. (I’m surprised they didn’t drag in any canards about union thugs, while they were at it.)

“[T]he availability of these benefits has almost certainly played a significant role in the record rise in the duration of unemployment,” the report says. “Consequently, they have also had a role in the stunning rise in the unemployment rate over the last two years.”

Never mind that there are six unemployed workers for every job opening. Who are you going to believe: the financial experts or your own lying experience?

And never mind that:

U.S. corporate profits hit an all-time high at the end of 2010, with financial firms showing some of the biggest gains, data from the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis show.

(…….)

Corporate profits steadily increased last year as companies continued holding onto record amounts of cash and other liquid assets while cutting costs, laying off workers and wringing more productivity — defined as the amount of output that comes from an hour of work — from remaining staff, even as the recession eased.

(boldface mine)

It is immoral that the people who deep sixed the American economy are shoving the cost and the blame onto innocent workers and profiting more than ever as a result of their scandalous, disgraceful, ignominious, monstrous, odious greed. Americans ought to be mad as hell, refusing to take it anymore.

Our Attorney General doesn’t evince any of that outrage, but he has spoken about the need for mortgage reform and about his hope that the fifty-state working group will ease the foreclosure crisis:

“I believe the efforts of the fifty-state working group will lead to measures to insure the integrity of foreclosures and fair-dealing with those who are losing their homes,” Koster said. “While there were many causes of the financial crises affecting homeowners, banking procedures – such as robo-signing – clearly have inhibited a return to stability,” he added

While I don’t disagree with anything Koster said, he’s putting his ideas out to the MissouriRealEstateRama. In other words, virtually no Missourians got the message. And his language is lawyerly to the point of being bloodless. I know, I know, he is a lawyer, the state’s appointed lawyer. But I can’t help pining for a hint of fire in the belly. This is class warfare, we’re hurting, and he’s chatting with the MissouriRealEstateRama.

I had the same impatient reaction when the Assistant Attorney General in charge of investigating mortgage complaints, Doug Omman, spoke last week to a group of homeowners in St. Louis who’ve been dealing with foreclosure. Several of them described their frustration with lying, greedy bankers who’ve toyed with their lives. Mr. Omman assured them that he sympathized but that a broken system is the problem and that direct action, such as lawsuits, would be a waste of time. Such litigation drags on for years, long past the time when the forlorn citizen is out of house and home. He suggested, instead, that the homeowners ask the AG’s office to help mediate a settlement for them.

I’m sure he’s right about the deep pocket advantage banks have in litigation, and I’m positive that the broken system is the place to put most of our effo
rts. But I still think that there’s a place for litigation. It can be brought by government entities to pressure the banks. As a sign of nationwide righteous indignation, we need lawsuits springing up in state after state. An L.A. jury just fined Wells Fargo $3.5 million for discriminatory lending against blacks. It’s a small victory, and Mr. Omman would no doubt point out that that suit, based on lending practices in 2002, went on for close to nine years. I get that.

But do he and Chris Koster get my point? The banks need to feel our ire. Our AG could at least speak to the major media outlets, preferably in tones that would make Missourians perk up their ears because they sense he gives a damn.

He hasn’t done that yet, but we could urge him to. A coalition of groups working to pressure the banks has designated Tuesday, March 29th, as a day to call our Attorneys General. Koster’s phone number is 573-751-3321. Call and urge him to speak up with some fervor.

Because without that kind of spirit, not just from Elizabeth Warren but from the AGs of this nation, I fear that chapter 5 of TheGrapes of Wrath will prove prophetic:

The bank is something more than men, I tell you. It’s the monster. Men made it, but they can’t control it.

Seriously?:

The mission of the American Legislative Exchange Council is…

…to advance the Jeffersonian principles of free markets, limited government, federalism, and individual liberty, through a nonpartisan public-private partnership of America’s state legislators , members of the private sector, the federal government, and general public….

[emphasis added]

Really?

The Private Enterprise board of ALEC:

Private Enterprise Board Chairman

Mr. W. Preston Baldwin, Centerpoint360 (2011 Chairman)

Private Enterprise Board Members (as of December 1, 2010)

Ms. Sano Blocker, Energy Future Holdings

Mr. Don Bohn, Johnson & Johnson

Mr. Jeff Bond, PhRMA

Mr. Bill Carmichael, American Bail Coalition

Mr. Derek Crawford, Kraft Foods, Inc.

Mr. John Del Giorno, GlaxoSmithKline

Mr. Matt Echols, Coca-Cola Company

Mr. Jim Epperson, Jr., AT&T Services, Inc.

Mr. Michael Hubert, Pfizer Inc

Ms. Teresa Jennings, Reed Elsevier, Inc.

Mr. Ken Lane, DIAGEO

Mr. Kelly Mader, Peabody Energy

Mr. Bernie McKay, Intuit, Inc.

Mr. Mike Morgan, Koch Industries, Inc.

Mr. Kevin Murphy, ExxonMobil Corp.

Mrs. Sandra Oliver, Bayer Corporation

Mr. David Powers, Reynolds American Inc.

Ms. Maggie Sans, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

Mr. Russell Smoldon, Salt River Project

Mr. Toby Spangler, Altria Client Services, Inc.

Mr. Roland Spies, State Farm Insurance Co.

Mr. Pat Thomas, United Parcel Service

Mr. Jerry Watson, Chairman Emeritus

[Emphasis added]

Like any of these folks would ever hang with DFHs?

It gets even better. On their Board of Scholars:

….Arthur B. Laffer is the founder and chairman of Laffer Associates, an economic research and consulting firm. As a result of Dr. Laffer’s economic insight and influence in starting a worldwide tax cutting movement during the 1980s, many publications have named him The Father of Supply Side Economics….

Reagonomics, eh?

Their Board of Directors:

National Chairman

Rep. Noble Ellington, Louisiana

Rep. Dave Frizzell, Indiana

Rep. John Piscopo, Connecticut  

Rep. Linda Upmeyer, Iowa

Rep. Liston Barfield, South Carolina

Immediate Past Chairman

Rep. Tom Craddick, Texas

Board Members

Sen. Curt Bramble, Utah

Rep. Steve McDaniel, Tennessee

Rep. Harold Brubaker, North Carolina

Sen. Ray Merrick, Kansas

Sen. Jim Buck, Indiana

Sen. Bill Raggio, Nevada

Sen. Kent Cravens, New Mexico

Sen. Dean Rhoads, Nevada

Rep. Jim Ellington, Mississippi

Sen. Chip Rogers, Georgia

Sen. Billy Hewes III, Mississippi

Sen. William Seitz, Ohio

Spkr. Bill Howell, Virginia

Rep. Curry Todd, Tennessee

Sen. Owen Johnson, New York

Sen. Susan Wagle, Kansas

Sen. Michael Lamoureux, Arkansas

Noble Ellington, republican

Dave Frizzell, republican

John Piscopo, republican

Linda Upmeyer, republican

Liston Barfield, republican

Tom Craddick, republican

Curt Bramble, republican

Steve McDaniel, republican

Harold Brubaker, republican

Ray Merrick, republican

Jim Buck, republican

Bill Raggio, republican

Kent Cravens, republican

Dean Rhoads, republican

Jim Ellington, republican

Chip Rogers, republican

Billy Hewes, republican

William Seitz, republican

Bill Howell, republican

Curry Todd, republican

Owen Johnson, republican

Susan Wagle, republican

Michael Lamoureux, republican

“…through a nonpartisan public-private partnership of America’s state legislators…”

Really? They don’t even try for an appearance, do they?

Why should we care?:

One of the most important resources ALEC provides to its members is model legislation. Through the combined effort and unique partnership of public and private sector members, model legislation is drafted, deliberated and approved by one of ALEC’s eight Task Forces. These bills provide a valuable framework for developing effective policy ideas aimed at protecting and expanding our free society.

While ALEC provides the resources, our members, long known for their legislative activism, introduced hundreds of bills based on ALEC model legislation. During the latest legislative cycle, dozens of ALEC model bills were enacted into law.

Model legislation, like:

Federal Affairs Resolutions

Constitutional Convention Amendment

States’ Initiative Amendment to the Constitution of the United States

Resolution Reaffirming Tenth Amendment Rights

Government of the People Amendment to the Constitution of the United States

Madison Amendment

Accountability in Government Amendment to the Constitution of the United States

Resolution Requesting Congress of the United States to Enact Legislation that Requires Congress to Specify the Constitutional Authority for the Enactment of Laws

Article V/Repeal Amendment: Resolution Calling for the Congress of the United States to Call an Amendment Convention Pursuant to Article V of the United States Constitution to Propose a Constitutional Amendment

Tenthers!

Follow any of those resolution links and you get:

The page you have attempted to access is restricted to our members.

If you are an existing member, please log in to gain access to the protected areas of our site.

You are not currently logged in, please click here to do so.

[emphasis in original]

Though the list could explain the majority party’s legislative agenda in Missouri:

HCR 9 Barnes, Jay

Submits an official application by the State of Missouri for the calling of a federal amendment convention (LR# 0420L.02I)

HCR 12 Rowland, Lyle

Claims sovereignty for the State of Missouri under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over all powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government(LR# 0682L.01I)

HCR 19 Gatschenberger, Chuck

Submits an official application by the State of Missouri for the calling of a convention for proposing amendments to the United States Constitution(LR# 0497L.02I)

HCR 44 Barnes, Jay

Urges the United States Congress to propose a constitutional amendment under Article V of the United States Constition for ratification by the states regarding state sovereignty(LR# 1983L.02I)

There’s even stuff at ALEC on restricting environmental regulation:

Air Quality

….State Sovereignty for Air Quality and Visibility Act

Resolution in Opposition to EPA”s Regulation of Greenhouse Gases from Mobile Sources

Resolution In Opposition To EPA”s Plan To Regulate Greenhouse Gases Under The Clean Air Act…

And, in Missouri:

HCR 42 Funderburk, Doug

Urges the United States Congress to prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gas emissions or to take action on climate change(LR# 1644L.01I)

There’s a lot more.

Coincidence? Just asking.

The stenographer is, oh, so predictable, the weather isn’t.

It snowed yesterday in west central Missouri.

Yesterday the stenographer had a thing or two to say about Senator Claire McCaskill’s plane issue:

In political circles, that’s not the sound of a leaky faucet. It’s insider lingo for a bad-news story that won’t go away….

….The classic example: Woodward & Bernstein’s coverage of Watergate. The burglary….

….And on and on it went.

Drip, drip, drip.

Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Democrat, is in the midst of one of those cycles. It’s a place where no self-respecting politician wants to be….

False equivalence? Check. Let’s see, apparently, in the stenographer’s mind a wide ranging conspiracy and the resultant cover up is equivalent to the failure to pay property taxes on a plane which was self reported by a politician and accompanied by that politician’s immediate mea culpa.

Contrast that instance of taking responsibility with another politician in Missouri, who, by the way, won reelection.

Then, there’s this little gem:

….The recent stories open the door for reporters to go farther….

You mean you don’t dig around unless prompted by someone else? Just asking.

That’s what I thought. As useful as a lawn full of plastic flamingos.

Previous coverage of County Assessor race:

Jake Zimmerman’s first ad

Jake Zimmerman has the soul of a Democrat

L. K. Wood, Jake’s opponent for St. Louis County Assessor, has failed, if you can believe it, to pay his property taxes.

Who needs Seinfeld reruns when real life offers comedy like that?

The St. Louis City Collector of Revenue confirms that L.K. “Chip” Wood owes $12,458.56 for two years of unpaid property tax, penalties and interest – on the L.K. Wood real estate office at 5600 Hampton Avenue. “I guess the company didn’t have the money to make the payments,” Wood said Tuesday. “I apologize. It’s an oversight. I didn’t know where we stood with that until you just called me.”

The original sin  was bad enough, but on top of that, his excuses contradict each other. Which is it? ‘I couldn’t afford it’ or ‘I didn’t know I owed it’? Geez, Louise, what a mess of a response. Aside from the fact that voters don’t want anybody that inept or unethical in charge of the office, let’s hope they also don’t want anybody stupid enough to offer that so called “explanation.”

If you don’t fancy letting Chip Wood botch your property assessment, get to the polls a week from Tuesday and vote for Jake Zimmerman.