Previously: The Political Year in Pictures – 2011 (December 29, 2011)

We did this last year with Our top 16 traffic generating stories of 2010.

There are some patterns to our readers’ interests. Occupy, occupy, occupy. Working people. Child labor. Teabaggers. Money. Racism. Office holders and their constituents. Money. There you have it, our current political climate in a nutshell.

Our top twenty for 2011 from the top:

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#1 Occupy Wall Street comes to St. Louis (October 2, 2011)

99 > 1

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#2 Sen. Nieves is a bully and a fraud (May 19, 2011)

The republican members of the Missouri General Assembly never fail to generate traffic. This story was about an elected representative’s interaction with constituents.

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#3 Todd Akin greets peaceful constituents. With cops.  (August 25, 2011)

When a republican member of Congress is afraid of little old ladies who aren’t teabaggers packing sidearms.

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#4 Wecome to post-racial America (August 6, 2010)

This story was at #5 in 2010. It still generates traffic and it’s moved up the list.

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#5 Rallies in Jefferson City, Saturday, Feb. 26th: organized labor or teabaggers – photos (February 26, 2011)

Photos from the competing rallies at the state capitol. The folks at the organized labor rally were gathered in solidarity with Wisconsin workers. The teabaggers on the other side of the capitol were obsessed with communists. I kid you not.

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#6 In which I explain who showed up for Ed Martin’s dance (February 17, 2011)

Half the battle is in actually showing up.

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#7 Jane Cunningham hearts child labor (February 14, 2011)

Again, a republican member of the Missouri General Assembly leads the way. And it just goes to show that Newt Gingrich (r) doesn’t have an original thought in his head.

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#8 Our long municipal nightmare is at long last over (March 23, 2011)

Kansas City gets a new mayor, Sly James.

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#9 Missouri Teachers Are Denied Social Security Benefits (October 22, 2007)

Yep, another oldie, but goodie. This post from our early days continues to generate significant traffic. Teh Google is so useful.

And it’s moved up a spot from last year.

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#10 Bank of America foreclosing unjustly on Mike and Mary Boehm (December 21, 2010)

A real family, not statistics, in the foreclosure crisis. From late in 2010.

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#11 Rallies in Jefferson City, Saturday, Feb. 26th: support organized labor or teabaggers, your pick (February 24, 2011)

The lead up to #5 above.

….I thought accusing someone of being a communist went out with high button shoes. Evidently not for fascists….

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#12 Should Democrat Tracy McCreery run as an Independent? (October 7, 2011)

A House seat special election, a legislative committee selected candidate, and an independent in the race. The progressive independent won.

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#13 Police roust Occupy STLers from sleeping bags at 4:15 a.m. (October 5, 2011)

Having DFHs around public spaces inconveniently reminds the top one percent that they’ve been winning the class war.

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#14 Missouri State House Redistricting, an introduction (May 15, 2011)

An explanation of the history and the process of legislative district redistricting by our colleague who could probably run the show better than anyone else.

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#15 Why do conservatives hate poor people? (April 19, 2010)

What has become the universal question of our time. From 2010.

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#16 The Post-Dispatch fails St. Louisans again (March 12, 2011)

Suppose you held a downtown rally and over four thousand people show up. If the local paper of record doesn’t bother to cover it does the dead tree media make a sound in the twenty-first century forest when it falls?

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#17 Is Dave Spence a new GOP contender for governor? (October 23, 2011)

Why, yes he is. And with two million dollars of his own money.

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#18 Missouri American Water Company: as bad as Ameren? (June 8, 2011)

Profits, worker contracts, and rate increases.

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#19 Friday Public Art Blogging: Thomas Hart Benton’s Mural in the Capitol (May 1, 2009)

A sample of our public art blogging from 2009. Teh Google is awesome.

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#20 Welcome to the Midtown KC chapter of Drinking Liberally (January 4, 2011)

Sometimes it’s nice to meet face to face.

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What a year. And 2012 is an election year. Think about that for a minute.

Brad Lager’s (r) instant campaign for Lieutenant Governor, challenging incumbent Peter Kinder (r) in the primary, got another big money boost. Today, at the Missouri Ethics Commission:

C091011 12/30/2011 CITIZENS FOR BRAD LAGER Citizens for Will Kraus 612 SW Trail Park Circle Lees Summit MO 64081 12/29/2011 $25,000.00

C091011 12/30/2011 CITIZENS FOR BRAD LAGER Herzog Contracting Corp P O Box 1089 St Joseph MO 64502 12/29/2011 $250,000.00

C091011 12/30/2011 CITIZENS FOR BRAD LAGER Friends for Munzlinger P O Box 65 Monticello MO 63457 12/29/2011 $5,001.00

C091011 12/30/2011 CITIZENS FOR BRAD LAGER Nodaway Valley Bank P O Box 700 Maryville MO 64468 12/29/2011 $10,000.00

[emphasis added]

That’s a total of $640,001.00 in one week from two individuals, two companies, and two committees. It’s good to be the kingmakers.

Previously:

Campaign Finance: it’s the most wonderful time of the year… (December 29, 2011)

Campaign Finance: Add big contributions, stir, voila, instant campaign! (December 23, 2011)

Paul Demer is an 18 year old singer-songwriter from Arlington, Texas….

Claire McCaskill needs our help. Specifically, she needs some facts. Just listen to this video in which McCaskill gives us her opinion about the Keystone (KXL) pipeline controversy and you’ll see what I mean:

First point: McCaskill says she thinks development of the Keystone pipeline is inevitable: “it’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when and where,” she says. And maybe she’s right. Certainly there will be lots of money spent to make sure KXL happens – we know that Big Oil can really grease those congressional skids. However, because grilling seems inevitable, one doesn’t, like St. Lawrence, have to turn over and ask the cooks to roast the other side.

One of the ways that Big Oil insures that they get their way is by spreading loads of BS, spurious research or outright falsehoods, disseminated by members of the Republican party with the aid of their tame media. Often, though,  poorly informed – or cynical – Democrats like Claire McCaskill will echo the GOP line du jour, as she does in the video above. To her credit, one must add, McCaskill is much more tentative than the usual congressional big oil spokesperson, which leaves me with the impression that she might be receptive to a critique of her remarks.

Second point:  Per McCaskill, if the pipeline doesn’t go from North to South, it’ll go East to West, remaining within Canada. She implies that such an eventuality would deprive the U.S. of oil that would otherwise contribute to our energy independence. It seems to have escaped her attention that the pipeline is designed to run North to Southern port refineries – where it will be sold to any country that’s willing to pay the price.

As Money Morning’s David Zeiler puts it:

The pipeline will connect refiners, as Money Morning Global Energy Strategist Dr. Kent Moors recently noted in his Oil & Energy Investor newsletter. The oil that reaches Gulf refineries could ultimately be consumed in the United States, but the finished products could just as easily be exported to China, Japan, or any other oil-hungry nation.

Energy companies will look to sell their oil to the highest bidder.

In fact, the United States is currently a net exporter of gasoline. In September, the U.S. exported 430,000 more barrels of gasoline than it imported. …

Third point. McCaskill suggests we should make the most of KXL and take advantage of the jobs that it promises to create. Sounds reasonable enough until one examines the various job creation claims.  

The State Department calculates that it will create somewhere in the neighborhood of 6,000 temporary jobs – which, according to an independent assessment by Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations, may be somewhat too generous. That study estimates that between 2,500 and 4,650 temporary, non-local jobs may result.

Given these numbers one can only look askance at the study commissioned by the company that seeks to build the pipeline, which estimates 20,000 construction jobs and 118,000 associated jobs in supporting industries. And, indeed, there are problems with these figures. As Money Morning explains:

… . That study used a “one person, one year model.” So if it takes 6,500 workers two years to build the pipeline, that’s 13,000 jobs, with the other 7,000 coming from supply manufacturers.

And if that math isn’t fuzzy enough for you, take a look at the calculations for the 118,000 spin-off jobs.

That number is based on the one person, one-year model in addition to something called the multiplier effect, which takes the capital costs of the project and feeds it into a formula. In short, these job numbers are about as reliable as a politician’s campaign promise.

Morning Money also remarks on the irony of GOP support for the mostly temporary KXL jobs given their oft-expressed contempt for the temporary jobs that resulted from stimulus spending.

But there’s more. The Cornell study cited above actually suggests that the pipeline might cost jobs:

… According to TransCanada, KXL [i.e., the Keystone Pipeline] will increase the price of heavy crude oil in the Midwest by almost $2 to $4 billion annually, and escalating for several years. It will do this by diverting major volumes of tar sands oil now supplying the Midwest refineries, so it can be sold at higher prices to the Gulf Coast and export markets. As a result, consumers in the Midwest could be paying 10 to 20 cents more per gallon for gasoline and diesel fuel, adding up to $5 billion to the annual US fuel prices. … those higher fuel prices for the Midwest could cost that region thousands of jobs. …

The Cornell study explicitly concludes that the job potential of KXL is nil and that the decision should be based on other factors. Yet according to KXL supporters, denying the pipeline permit is an outrage against the unemployed, a point that McCaskill seems to echo, albeit more gently than hardcore supporters.

Fourth point: McCaskill seems to believe that she’s being pragmatic when she concludes that KXL is inevitable because we will need to depend on oil for a very long time. That’s what I call a self-fulfilling prophecy – all it takes to make it come true is a cabal of politicians who take their orders from Big Oil, their enablers in the go-along-to-get-along crowd, and those who can’t take the time to work out all the issues.

That’s why we have to help Claire McCaskill get on top of the Keystone XL controversy. I assume none of us want our congresspeople to decide on issues from a poorly informed position any more than we want them to base their decisions on purely political considerations. Nor do we want our Senators to go with the flow and claim that the destination was always inevitable.

Claire McCaskill can support the Keystone pipeline if she wants – there actually seems to be some evidence that the environmental costs are a bit exaggerated – but I hope that when the time comes, if she does so, she’ll be able to make a real case for it, not just concede defeat and repeat a few false GOP talking points.  

   

…for candidates. Those end of the quarter big dollar contributions are coming in. Today, at the Missouri Ethics Commission:

C111205 12/29/2011 SPENCE FOR GOVERNOR Gary Seeman 935 Morrison Ave. St Louis MO 63104 Alpha Packaging CFO 12/29/2011 $10,000.00

C111205 12/29/2011 SPENCE FOR GOVERNOR Carol McLerran 2904 W. 124th Street Leawood KS 66209 Alpha Packaging Executive 12/29/2011 $25,000.00

[emphasis added]

It’s a good gig, if you can keep it.

And even Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder’s (r) campaign managed to garner a mercy contribution:

C091145 12/29/2011 FRIENDS OF PETER KINDER James McDonnell III 40 Glen Eagles Dr. St Louis MO 63124 Retired Retired 12/28/2011 $10,000.00

[emphasis added]

That doesn’t make Brad Lager (r) too sad. Perspective.

Over the course of the last year we covered a number of government and political events in Missouri (and elsewhere), in the process taking thousands of photographs. Most of them didn’t make it into the blog. Some of the things we saw and heard made us smile, made us think, made us gasp, made us hope, and made us despair. We thought we’d provide a retrospective of some of the pictures and stories we consider to be memorable.

January 5, 2011 – The Missouri General Assembly begins the legislative session –

Secretary of State Robin Carnahan (D) brings the House into session.

We covered the opening of the Missouri General Assembly session. Again.

Teabaggers, and nullification, and the cult of the lost cause, oh my! (January 5, 2011)

Teabagger rally at the state capitol: when astroturfing lobbyists speak, they listen… (January 5, 2011)

Opening of the legislative session in Jefferson City: January 5, 2010 (January 6, 2011)

Our hopes were dashed. Again.

January 19, 2011 – Senator Claire McCaskill (D) sits down for a talk with bloggers at her Kansas City office.

Senator Claire McCaskill (D) sat down for a conversation with Missouri political bloggers for over an hour in her office in Kansas City. Five years ago the thought of doing so wouldn’t have crossed anyone’s mind. The world has changed.

Senator Claire McCaskill (D): a conversation with bloggers in Kansas City (January 20, 2011)

Senator Claire McCaskill (D): a conversation with bloggers in Kansas City, part 2 (January 20, 2011)

Senator Claire McCaskill (D): a conversation with bloggers in Kansas City, part 3 (January 21, 2011)

Senator Claire McCaskill (D): a conversation with bloggers in Kansas City, part 4 (January 22, 2011)

February 26, 2011 – Teachers and organized labor rally in solidarity with Wisconsin workers at the state capitol in Jefferson City.

Photo by Joan Ferguson, Show Me Progress.

In late February teachers and organized labor held a rally in solidarity with Wisconsin workers at the state capitol in Jefferson City. There was a much smaller astroturf teabagger rally on the opposite side of the building at the same time.

Rallies in Jefferson City, Saturday, Feb. 26th: support organized labor or teabaggers, your pick (February 24, 2011)

Rallies in Jefferson City, Saturday, Feb. 26th: organized labor or teabaggers – photos (February 26, 2011)

Voices of Organized Labor in Jefferson City on February 26, 2011 (February 27, 2011)

An editor for the Wisconsin State Journal, a Madison paper, contacted us in April about using the photo in their coverage of the ongoing rallies at their state capitol. We granted permission and they ran the photo, with a credit.

Wisconsin: “Thank God for Missouri…” (April 21, 2011)

March 22, 2011 – Sly James is elected Mayor of Kansas City – speaking with the media.

In March we had to make a choice about which post election gathering to cover for the two candidates running for Mayor of Kansas City. We made the correct one.

Sly James: Mayor-elect of Kansas City – photos (March 23, 2011)

Our long municipal nightmare is at long last over (March 23, 2011)

May 29, 2011 – President Barack Obama speaks at the memorial service for victims of the Joplin tornado

on the campus of Missouri Southern State University.

In late May we covered the memorial service on the campus of Missouri Southern State University for the victims of the Joplin tornado.

Governor Jay Nixon in Joplin – remarks (May 30, 2011)

President Obama in Joplin – photos and remarks (May 30, 2011)

Some thoughts on Joplin (June 2, 2011)

June 16, 2011 – Governor Jay Nixon (D) addresses Missouri Boys State on the campus of the University of Central Missouri.

Missouri Boys State 2011 (June 11, 2011)

Former Governor Bob Holden at Missouri Boys State: Q and A, part 1 (June 12, 2011)

Former Governor Bob Holden at Missouri Boys State: Q and A, part 2 (June 13, 2011)

Governor Jay Nixon (D) signs HB 233 into law at Missouri Boys State (June 16, 2011)

Former Senator John Danforth at Missouri Boys State: Q and A, part 1 (June 16, 2011)

Former Senator John Danforth at Missouri Boys State: Q and A, part 2 (June 19, 2011)

June 17, 2011 – A rally in support of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security at Senator Claire McCaskill’s (D) office in St. Louis.

In June we had one of those rare Show Me Progress blog gatherings where the westsiders joined the eastsiders in St. Louis. We used the opportunity to cover two events.

St. Louis: calling on Sen. McCaskill (D) to protect Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security (June 18, 2011)

Definitely not a teabagger… (June 18, 2011)

Definitely not a teabagger, part 2 (June 20, 2011)

St. Louis: Jefferson Jackson Dinner – photos (June 18, 2011)

St. Louis: Jefferson Jackson Dinner – Wisconsin State Senator Lena Taylor (D) (June 19, 2011)

August 10, 2011 – Representative Vicky Hartzler (r) listens at a town hall in Warrensburg, Missouri.

Representative Vicky Hartzler (r) held town halls in Clinton and Warrensburg in August. People other than teabagger true believers attended and there was significant pushback against Representative Hartzler’s agenda from many in attendance.

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r): town halls in Clinton and Warrensburg (August 10, 2011)

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r): town hall in Warrensburg, part 1 (August 11, 2011)

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r): town hall in Warrensburg, part 2 (August 12, 2011)

Vicky Hartzler is trying trying to scare you (August 12, 2011)

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r): town hall in Warrensburg, part 3 (August 13, 2011)

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r): town hall in Warrensburg, part 4 (August 14, 2011)

September 18, 2011 – Paul Begala (D) speaks to the media at the Harkin Steak Fry in Indianols, Iowa.

In what has become an annual September road trip for us, we once again made the trek to Indianola, Iowa to cover the annual Harkin Steak Fry.

The 2011 Harkin Steak Fry in Indianola, Iowa (September 18, 2011)

The 2011 Harkin Steak Fry in Indianola, Iowa: Senator Bernie Sanders (I) (September 19, 2011)

The 2011 Harkin Steak Fry in Indianola, Iowa: Paul Begala – part 1 (September 20, 2011)

The 2011 Harkin Steak Fry in Indianola, Iowa: Paul Begala – part 2 (September 22, 2011)

The 2011 Harkin Steak Fry in Indianola, Iowa: Paul Begala – part 3 (September 23,2011)

October 9, 2011 – Occupy Kansas City marches down to the Plaza.

In October the Occupy Wall Street movement changed the conversation across America, including in Kansas City.

The Occupation of Kansas City: Day 9 (October 8, 2011)

Occupy Kansas City (October 8, 2011)

The picture I didn’t take (October 8, 2011)

Occupy KC, Day Ten: The day the occupation came to me (October 9, 2011)

Occupy Kansas City: a concert, a few speeches, and a march (October 9, 2011)

Occupy Kansas City: a concert, a few speeches, and a march – part 2 (October 10, 2011)

October 30, 2011 – Occupy Kansas City holds a downtown rally and marches in the streets.

Occupy Kansas City: rally and march from Ilus Davis Park (October 30, 2011)

Occupy Kansas City: rally and march from Ilus Davis Park, part 2 (October 31, 2011)

Videos from Occupy Kansas City October 30 rally! (November 1, 2011

Videos from Occupy Kansas City October 30 rally! – part 2 (November 2, 2011)

December 6, 2011 – President Barack Obama speaks in Osawatomie, Kansas.

Photo by Jerry Schmidt, Show Me Progress.

President Obama made a speech in Osawatomie, Kansas.

President Obama in Osawatomie, Kansas (December 6, 2011)

President Obama in Osawatomie, Kansas: the crazification factor kicks in (December 7, 2011)

Obama Speech at Osawatomie, Kansas 2011 Video(December 9, 2011)

December 19, 2011 – A conversation in front of the Middleton, Wisconsin City Hall

between a recall petition signature gatherer and a supporter of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (r).

We had the opportunity to interview folks taking part in the recall process against Governor Scott Walker (r) in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin: in the trenches for the recall of Gov. Scott Walker (r) (December 19, 2011)

Wisconsin: in the trenches for the recall of Gov. Scott Walker (r), part 2 (December 21, 2011)

Wisconsin: in the trenches for the recall o
f Gov. Scott Walker (r), part 3 (December 23, 2011)

Wisconsin: they were misinformed? (December 26, 2011)

We look forward to more of the same in the coming year.

Yeah, we were there this morning.

We drove across Iowa today.

The state of republican presidential campaigns in Iowa.

The only evidence we encountered that might have indicated something was up was a CNN bus parked next to Highway 151 in Dubuque and a vehicle traveling south on Interstate 35 south of Des Moines with a Michel Bachmann bumper sticker. That was it. I kid you not.

Compare that to four years ago:

….Traveling west on I-80 toward Des Moines we were confronted with Ron Paul signs placed on the slopes of overpass right of ways. Approximately every ten miles. They were less “slick” than the usual campaign signs – these appeared to be 2 x 6 or 4 x 6 with the exact same pseudo-homemade look. You’ve just got to love that affected “grassroots”  patina….

….We stopped for gas at a truck stop in Altoona. As we were pulling in a campaign bus emblazoned with “Huckabeast” was pulling out….

Yawn. You can just feel the Willardmentum building.

Yesterday, at the Missouri Ethics Commission:

C111201 12/27/2011 STAND UP MISSOURI SourceLink 5 Olympic Way Madison MS 39110 12/27/2011 $44,375.73

[emphasis added]

Why, that’s an odd and rather large number.

SourceLink?:

Our experience within the financial services markets includes retail banks, credit unions, mortgage, credit card acquisition and consumer finance. Within each of these, we specialize in programs that inspire customer loyalty and those that improve your marketing ROI.

Previously:

Campaign Finance: “does not represent payday lending or payday interests” (December 13, 2011)