The city of St. Louis notified the Occupy folks in Kiener Plaza that they will have to leave:

Hey Hey, Ho, Ho: The Occupiers Will Not Go!

November 11, 2011

By OccupyStLouis

Official Press Statement

Contact: media@occupystl.org

Hey Hey, Ho, Ho: The Occupiers Will Not Go!

On November 10, 2011 Occupy St Louis received notification from the city of St Louis that we have 24 hours to remove all structures and obey the city curfew laws before they would forcibly remove our non-violent occupation from Freedom Square (formerly known as Kiener Plaza). Since October 1st, we have maintained a peaceful occupation in this public space, founded on the principle that large corporations have too much influence in the actions of our government. Mayor Slay and his Senior Staff have once again validated this by bowing to pressure from the Downtown Partnership of St Louis to restrict our First Amendment Rights to peaceably assemble.

Since its inception, Occupy St Louis has been a model of cooperation and non violence, and has made Freedom Square a safer, cleaner place. The city claims that in addition to violation of curfew that the tents and supplies we have in Freedom Square are a direct violation of city ordinance and provide a safety concern. We strongly disagree and believe that our encampment is a valid form of political speech justified by the First Amendment. Additionally this precedent has been set in other occupied cities across the nation.

On November 10, 2011 Mayor Slay stated in his personal blog that the city would be creating a space for a 24/7 public demonstration. On November 9th, senior members of the Mayor’s staff attended our General Assembly to propose this space to us as a possible alternative to Freedom Square. This was not a proposal, but rather an ultimatum to Occupy St Louis. The City had already made up its mind on the course of action that it would be taking. This new space would not allow for tents or occupation, which we feel are a valid forms of political speech. This proposal was blocked by a consensus of our General Assembly. The General Assembly uses consensus as our decision making process. It allows for all participants to have an equal voice. Occupy St Louis maintains that just because one states they are using the consensus process, does not mean that they are actually using it.

Occupy St Louis hopes that Mayor Slay realizes that our freedom to assemble is not limited to one space, but guaranteed to all people, in any public space, at any time. We believe that we are engaged in a vital attempt to restore the cornerstone of American ideals: equality, unity, and social mobility. St Louis City must recognize that Occupy St Louis is not mutually exclusive with public safety and the common good, but an ally in promoting social justice and in preserving order downtown. The medium is the message and our medium is occupation.

Brilliant public relations move that, removing a veteran or two from the site of a peaceful public protest on Veteran’s Day. Someone in the mayor’s office really thought this one through.

There’s been some local noise (see, for instance, here, here, here, and here) arising from the false claim by Rep. Todd Akin’s senatorial campaign that Rep. Paul Ryan, who is currently a ranking GOP BMOC, had endorsed his campaign. What was remarkable about Akin’s effort to twist some positive comments by Ryan into an endorsement was just how blatant it was, along with the fact that so many reporters actually bought into into the story without checking it out (see, for instance here and here).  

However, as Steve Benen observes, the dishonesty itself wasn’t as interesting as the fact that for once it actually generated some pretty brutal pushback, this time from Politico‘s Dave Catenese (based, interestingly enough, on some of the local coverage cited above):

This wouldn’t be terribly interesting – Akin is dishonest with striking regularity – except for Catanese’s response in Politico yesterday. The campaign reporter got burned by the Akin campaign this week, so he returned the favor in this piece, which ran under the headline, “Why Akin isn’t ready for primetime.

Benen adds:

Maybe this is an esoteric observation, but I’m glad to see Catanese slam Akin like this. Pols and campaigns lie to reporters all the time, and news organizations rarely seem to do anything about it. There’s no accountability built into the system, so officials and candidates mislead with impunity.

An esoteric observation, he says? More like the real heart of the issue.  Of course, if our media were to actually call out GOP pols (or any politician for that matter – lies just seems to be more formally institutionalized in the Republican party) when they persist in misrepresenting facts, that might be all they’d ever do – at least until the politicians got the message that they couldn’t lie with impunity anymore.

As an aside, notice the title of the Catenese article. If you believe political reporters, at least two of the GOP contenders for Claire McCaskill’s senate seat, Todd Akin and John Brunner, just “aren’t ready for primetime.”  

Previously:

Campaign Finance: Payday loans get the big bucks, again (September 27, 2011)

Campaign Finance: Isn’t that interest(ing)? (August 24, 2011)

Campaign Finance: big bucks for a payday loan PAC (August 20, 2011)

Limit predatory interest rates? Why would anyone want to do that?

Today, at 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

C111153 MISSOURIANS FOR EQUAL CREDIT OPPORTUNITY [pdf] 11/10/2011

Missourians for Responsible Government P O Box 45571 Kansas City, MO 64171 11/10/2011 $150,000.00

[emphasis added]

Why, there must be grassroots support for the payday loan industry, right? One would have to look at a previous quarterly campaign finance report to ascertain that:

REPORT SUMMARY

MISSOURIANS FOR EQUAL CREDIT OPPORTUNITY [pdf] 10/15/2011

1. Total Receipts For This Election Previously Reported $107,279.50

2. All Monetary Contributions Received This Period $250,000.00

10. Expenditures made by cash or check this period $18,777.75

12. Expenditures incurred this period (not Indebtedness including loans) including payments made by credit card (line 17 CD3) $30,129.50

27. Money On Hand at the close of this reporting period $246,633.10

[emphasis added]

Yep, add $150,000.00 [from who?] in one fell swoop to that and you’ve got a nice pile of cash.

And the previous grassroots contributions?:

CONTRIBUTIONS AND LOANS RECEIVED

MISSOURIANS FOR EQUAL CREDIT OPPORTUNITY [pdf] 10/15/2011

Missourians for Responsible Government P O Box 45571 Kansas City MO 64171 9/26/2011 $250,000.00

B. NON-ITEMIZED CONTRIBUTIONS RECEIVED AMOUNT

(LIST BY CATEGORY, NOT BY INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTIONS) RECEIVED

11. TOTAL CONTRIBUTIONS RECEIVED AT FUND-RAISERS AS REPORTED INLINE 8 ON FORM CD1A $0.00

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

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

14. TOTAL IN-KIND CONTRIBUTIONS RECEIVED FROM PERSONS (NOT COMMITTEES) GIVING $100 OR LESS $0.00

[emphasis added]

Nope, no grassroots there.

And what are they spending money on?:

EXPENDITURES AND CONTRIBUTIONS MADE

MISSOURIANS FOR EQUAL CREDIT OPPORTUNITY [pdf] 10/15/2011

A. Expenditures of $100 or Less by Category

Check Printing Fee $20.95

Wire Transfer Fee $11.00

B. Itemized Expenditures All Over $100

Stinson Morrison Hecker LLP 230 W McCarty St Jefferson City MO 65101 9/30/2011 Legal Fees $18,745.80

Graves Bartle Marcus & Garrett LLC 1100 Main Street Suite 2700 Kansas City MO 64105 9/30/2011 Legal Fees $30,129.50

[emphasis added]

Well, that’s special.

Previously:

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D): and you shall know her by her political enemies (June 22, 2011)

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D): and you shall know her by her political enemies, part 2 (July 8, 2011)

Crossroads GPS, a republican right wingnut astroturf organization, continues to dump a ton of money into television ads attacking Senator Claire McCaskill (D). The latest attack ad:

Narrator: Claire McCaskill and Barack Obama. Their idea for a next step on the economy? Four hundred fifty billion in more wasteful spending. Senator McCaskill calls this new spending a step in the right direction? Just like their wasted eight hundred thirty billion stimulus last year. And billions more in auto and bank bailouts. Spending billions while step by step unemployment just continues to rise. Perhaps it’s time for them to step in a new direction.

[Paid For By Crossroads Grassroots Political Strategies]

“…And billions more in auto and bank bailouts….”

Uh, who was President in 2008 when the automaker bailouts and majority of bank bailouts occurred?:

History of U.S. Gov’t Bailouts

● Bear Stearns 2008 JP Morgan Chase and the federal government bailed out Bear Stearns when the financial giant neared collapse. JP Morgan purchased Bear Stearns for $236 million; the Federal Reserve provided a $30 billion credit line to ensure the sale could move forward. $30 billion

● Fannie Mae / Freddie Mac 2008 On Sep. 7, 2008, Fannie and Freddie were essentially nationalized: placed under the conservatorship of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Under the terms of the rescue, the Treasury has invested billions to cover the companies’ losses. Initially, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson put a ceiling of $100 billion for investments in each company. In February, Tim Geithner raised it to $200 billion. The money was authorized by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. $400 billion

● American International Group (A.I.G.) 2008 On four separate occasions, the government has offered aid to AIG to keep it from collapsing, rising from an initial $85 billion credit line from the Federal Reserve to a combined $180 billion effort between the Treasury ($70 billion) and Fed ($110 billion). ($40 billion of the Treasury’s commitment is also included in the TARP total.) $180 billion

● Auto Industry 2008 In late September 2008, Congress approved a more than $630 billion spending bill, which included a measure for $25 billion in loans to the auto industry. These low-interest loans are intended to aid the industry in its push to build more fuel-efficient, environmentally-friendly vehicles. The Detroit 3 — General Motors, Ford and Chrysler — will be the primary beneficiaries. $25 billion

● Troubled Asset Relief Program 2008 In October 2008, Congress passed the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, which authorized the Treasury Department to spend $700 billion to combat the financial crisis. Treasury has been doling out the money via an alphabet soup of different programs. Here’s our running tally of companies getting TARP funds. $700 billion

● Citigroup 2008 Citigroup received a $25 billion investment through the TARP in October and another $20 billion in November. (That $45 billion is also included in the TARP total.) Additional aid has come in the form of government guarantees to limit losses from a $301 billion pool of toxic assets. In addition to the Treasury’s $5 billion commitment, the FDIC has committed $10 billion and the Federal Reserve up to about $220 billion. $280 billion

[emphasis added]

Karl Rove must think we’re all stoopid. And such chutzpah.

“…while step by step unemployment just continues to rise….”

From the Bureau of Labor Statistics October 2011 employment report:

THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION — OCTOBER 2011

Nonfarm payroll employment continued to trend up in October (+80,000), and the unemployment rate was little changed at 9.0 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment in the private sector rose, with modest job growth continuing in professional and businesses services, leisure and hospitality, health care, and mining. Government employment continued to trend down.

Household Survey Data

Both the number of unemployed persons (13.9 million) and the unemployment rate (9.0 percent) changed little over the month. The unemployment rate has remained in a narrow range from 9.0 to 9.2 percent since April….

For right wingnut republicans doing everything they can to defund government and devastate public employment and then crowing that unemployment continues to rise takes some serious chutzpah. Never mind that private employment is up and the unemployment rate has, as the Bureau of Labor statistics stated, “…remained in a narrow range from 9.0 to 9.2 percent since April…” with current unemployment at 9.0%. Not only do right wingnut republicans have chutzpah, they are seriously number and fact challenged. But we already knew that.  

According to everyone and their brother Speaker Steve Tilley (r) has decided to drop out of the Lieutenant Governor race.

….Members of the House Republican Caucus were assembling in the Capitol this morning for a meeting later today, where they expected Tilley to stress his family reasons for dropping out of the race….

Tilley’s former company paid back taxes on aircraft

St. Louis Business Journal

Date: Thursday, November 3, 2011, 7:20am CDT

A company once owned in part by Missouri House Speaker Steve Tilley, a Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, paid nearly $50,000 in personal property back taxes, interest and penalties this year for two airplanes it owned, the Kansas City Star reports. Two payments, records show, came exactly 10 days after Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Democrat, told reporters in March that she owed nearly $300,000 for four years’ worth of back taxes on a private airplane her family owned….

This is probably not the plane in question.

Interesting. What’s going to happen to all this money?:

REPORT SUMMARY

FRIENDS OF TILLEY [pdf] 10/17/2011

1. Total Receipts For This Election Previously Reported $566,556.77

2. All Monetary Contributions Received This Period $575,940.00

27. Money On Hand at the close of this reporting period $1,544,024.01

[emphasis added]

Uh, does that leave Cynthia Davis as the last one standing for lieutenant governor for the extreme right? Just asking.

Tracy McCreery won her November primary and the general election in one fell swoop. She took it handily, for a three way race, with almost 44 percent of the vote. I had my doubts that a progressive, no matter how much admired by her supporters, should risk giving that seat to a Tea Party Republican. But, judging by the passionate support she mustered, we’re going to be tickled pink to have her in the lege.

Last month, she was part of a list that Arthur Lieber ticked off when he spoke to the West County Democrats. Lieber, whose most recent claim to fame was challenging Todd Akin last year, favors a positive take on life whenever he can. So he provided a list of some promising developments. He was encouraged that Obama has drawn a line in the sand about vetoing any revenue bill that doesn’t include more taxes on the wealthy; about the sort of, well, stunning evidence that Elizabeth Warren isn’t selling out for campaign cash; and–to return to the topic at hand–about McCreery’s run for the seat in the 83rd.

So anyway, 44 percent of the vote for McCreery, huh? If I could catch a crow, I’d eat it.

By the way, that blog Lieber refers to, where both he and his wife, Gloria Bilchik, contribute, is Occasional Planet.  Bilchik is also a positive thinker. And Lieber has a quirky idea to lure Obama away from Goldman Sachs contributions and make him indebted instead to progressives. If somebody with a national mailing list would step up, this idea could fly.

Tracy McCreery (D) defeats the Democratic Party nominee, Jeff O’Connell, and the republican candidate.

From the Missouri Secretary of State:

Unofficial Election Returns

State of Missouri Special Election  – Legislative District 83

Tuesday, November 08, 2011

State Representative – District 83   Precincts Reporting 15 of 15

  OConnell, Jeff DEM 1,096 29.2%

  Brennan, Patrick REP 1,005 26.8%

  McCreery, Tracy IND 1,647 43.9%

Total Votes   3,748

At least Patrick Brennan (r) got to add still another proof to the General Theory of Crazification.

Update:

The St. Louis County republican web site reacts predictably.

Tracy McCreery wins 83rd.

Abortion activist, Tracy McCreery, wins Missouri 83rd District election.

While Missouri needs a government to support all of our businesses, identity politics will be the order of the day in the 83rd.

“…Missouri needs a government to support all of our businesses…” That world view would probably explain some of the result for the republican candidate.

“…identity politics will be the order of the day…” Project much?

St. Louis GOP is a publication from the St. Louis County Central Committee. This group is made up of elected committeemen and committeewoman from each township in St. Louis County. Their goal is to identify Republicans for office and help get them elected.

[emphasis added]

And, apparently, to add even more proof to the General Theory of Crazification.

From the Missouri Secretary of State:

Unofficial Election Returns

State of Missouri Special Election  – Legislative District 39

Tuesday, November 08, 2011

State Representative – District 39   Precincts Reporting 13 of 13

  Morgan, Judy DEM 2,663 77.4%

  Landes, Jamie Barker REP 778 22.6%

Total Votes   3,441

Well, that wasn’t very close.

From the Missouri Secretary of State:

Unofficial Election Returns

State of Missouri Special Election  – Legislative District 15

Tuesday, November 08, 2011

State Representative – District 15   Precincts Reporting 13 of 13

  Paul Woody DEM 1,836 48.3%

  Sommer, Chrissy REP 1,874 49.3%

  Slantz, Bill LIB 94 2.5%

Total Votes   3,804

Thirty-eight votes. All of the battle is in showing up.

There’s a special election for the 39th Legislative District seat today. The twenty-four hour reports for the Democratic Party candidate, Judy Morgan, at the Missouri Ethics Commission:

24 HOUR NOTICE OF LATE CONTRIBUTIONS / LOANS RECEIVED

C111127 FRIENDS OF JUDY MORGAN [pdf]

Mike Merl Gladstone, MO 64118 10/31/2011 $400.00

[emphasis added]

24 HOUR NOTICE OF LATE CONTRIBUTIONS / LOANS RECEIVED

C111127 FRIENDS OF JUDY MORGAN [pdf]

SEIU Missouri State Council PAC St Louis, MO 63139 11/3/2011 $350.00

[emphasis added]

24 HOUR NOTICE OF LATE CONTRIBUTIONS / LOANS RECEIVED

C111127 FRIENDS OF JUDY MORGAN [pdf]

Missouri State U.A.W. P.A.C. Hazelwood, MO 63042 11/3/2011 $500.00

[emphasis added]

Organized labor (working people!).

The republican candidate, Jamie Landes, did not file any twenty-four hour reports.