Today, at the Missouri Ethics Commission:

C131097 05/15/2014 GROW MISSOURI Rex Sinquefield 244 Bent Walnut Westphalia MO 65085 Retired 5/13/2014 $1,500,000.00

[emphasis added]

Come to think of it, for some people one point five million dollars is the equivalent of eleven cents.

There’s a history here (from 2013):

C131097 07/11/2013 GROW MISSOURI Rex Sinquefield 244 Bent Walnut Westphalia MO 65085 Retired 7/9/2013 $1,300,000.00

C131097 12/20/2013 GROW MISSOURI Rex Sinquefield 244 Bent Walnut Westphalia MO 65085 Retired 12/19/2013 $245,000.00

C131097 12/31/2013 GROW MISSOURI Rex Sinquefield 244 Bent Walnut Westphalia MO 65085 Retired 12/30/2013 $250,000.00

[emphasis added]

Missouri’s astroturf supported plutocratic future will be stunning in its magnificence.

Previously:

Campaign Finance: how astroturf (the fake grassroots) works (August 1, 2013)

HB 1955: a modest proposal (February 21, 2014)

[….]

The Red Lily, Anatole France

…For the poor it consists in sustaining and preserving the wealthy in their power and their laziness. The poor must work for this, in presence of the majestic quality of the law which prohibits the wealthy as well as the poor from sleeping under the bridges, from begging in the streets, and from stealing bread…

Here’s a modest proposal: limit campaign monetary contributions to eight times the hourly minimum wage. That is, a day’s wage for honest work – a “reasonable” amount available to every working adult in the state, no matter their economic status.

After that if you want to contribute more to a campaign using your individual sweat equity by going door to door, doing literature drops, walking in parades, stuffing envelopes, whatever, then go ahead and knock yourself out.

The law, in all it’s majesty, allows each and every one of us to contribute one point five million dollars or eleven cents to support our choice of political causes. It’s your choice…

Unless you really don’t have the resources to write a contribution check in $10,000.00 increments.

Yesterday, at the Missouri Ethics Commission:

C031159 05/14/2014 MISSOURIANS FOR KOSTER James Lincoln PO Box 1710 Osage Beach MO 65065 Health Systems, Inc. President 5/12/2014 $20,000.00

[emphasis added]

You need to be a republican candidate with really big bucks patrons for to get those really big odd number campaign contributions.

Just our eleven cents.

Missouri Republican politicians put the squeeze on middle class and working taxpayers all the time – just consider their reckless tax cut for the rich, a taxcut that will decimate Missouri’s coffers with little benefit for the ordinary Joe. They’re willing to risk tax dollars any old day when it comes to serving their rich patrons or pandering to their base – here you can reflect on the potential costly court cases that will result if Brian Nieves’ gun law nullification bill manages to squeak through. Or think about the beaucoup bucks that will be spent paying for ID cards and other nonsense if Republicans manage to get their way about voter ID – money spent to solve an imaginary problem (although the actual problem Republicans hope to address – voting Democrats – may not be so imaginary).  

By far the worst example of such waste can be found in the GOP’s to-the-death opposition to the Obamacare Medicaid expansion. You know that by refusing to expand Medicaid they’re not only depriving poor Missourians of health insurance that will, for many, be a matter of life and death, but they’re depriving the state of billions in federal Medicaid support. You also know that failing to expand Medicaid will cost the state many potential new jobs in the health sector. Hospitals will also bear the cost of the GOP Obamacare tantrum when they have to continue to treat the uninsured who don’t qualify for either Missouri Medicaid or the Obamacare exchanges in their emergency room, but with considerably smaller federal subsidies to do so. Many might actually be forced to close.

But these costs are all old news. There’s yet another potential strain on the state budget, if Republicans remain obdurate. Obamacare’s coverage mandate along with the publicity about insurance coverage has led many previously uninsured people who are eligible for Medicaid to sign up for coverage, people that Wonkblog’s Jason Millman identifies as “woodwork enrollees,” as in folks coming out of the woodwork. So how does this potentially strain Missouri’s budget? Here’s how:

From a state budget perspective, there’s an important difference between the woodwork population and those newly eligible under the Medicaid expansion. Under the Affordable Care Act, the federal government pays 100 percent of the costs for the Medicaid expansion population through the end of 2016, with the state share gradually increasing to no more than 10 percent. New woodwork enrollees are funded under the traditional Medicaid structure, in which the federal government on average pays 57 percent of the cost – though the federal share varies by state.

In Missouri the actual percentage paid by the state is 64% so the cost will be higher than average, although Millman speculates that fewer folks may come forward in states that don’t have their own exchanges since there’s been less healthcare outreach push to enroll the citizens of in those states. Millman goes on to say that:    

States knew the woodwork effect was coming and had time to prepare for it, since the ACA was passed more than four years ago. The big question is just how accurately were they able to predict its impact.

Except, of course, states like Missouri which is run by Republicans equipped with ideological and partisan blinders. It’s doubtful whether our feckless leaders could manage to plan their way out of a paper bag, much less plan for increased Medicaid enrollment – especially without the increased federal subsidy. These are, after all, the tax-cutting imbeciles who ignored all the contrary evidence and cost the state budget somewhere between $600 to 800 million dollars and $4.8 billion dollars yearly, depending on who you believe.  

Today, via Twitter:

Tony Messenger ‏@tonymess

The #moleg scorecard: Cut taxes for rich. Check. Raise taxes on poor. Check. Take $$ from public schools. Check. Kill ethics reform. Check. 2:02 PM – 14 May 2014

My reply:

Michael Bersin ‏@MBersin

@tonymess Purveyors of seersucker clothing remain pleased. 4:17 PM – 14 May 2014

Vice President Joe Biden in St. Louis – May 13, 2014.

Vice President Joe Biden was in St. Louis yesterday for an event promoting infrastructure at the riverfront construction project next to the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial (the Arch). From the White House:

…the Vice President will visit the CityArchRiver project at the St. Louis Gateway Arch to discuss the economy and highlight the progress of this future urban park site. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and Senator Richard Durbin will also attend…

After touring the construction site.

(left to right) St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell, Vice President Biden.

The event was definitely held at a construction site.

Vice President Joe Biden: ….You know, there are now, uh, those in Congress and in other parts of this country who say we can’t, uh, afford to make these kind of investments, we can’t afford to be rebuilding our infrastructure. Uh, but I think that the vast majority of the American people agree that every generation of, of leadership in this country has understood that the infrastructure is the back upon which this great nation has been built. In 1806 the Congress, uh, when it didn’t have a whole lot of money [inaudible] and built the first national road, from Maryland to Illinois, because it had a vision. They had a vision of moving west….

….And we have to rebuild the infrastructure of this country. Uh, the fact of the matter is we’ve stalled, we’ve stalled. And, uh, you know, I give you one example – the World Economic Forum ranks America eighteenth in the world in overall quality of its roads. Did you ever you’d live to see the day that we were heading down toward twenty in terms of what we could do or who we were?….

….This is about jobs. This is about growth….

….The Arch is much more than a land mark, quite frankly, it’s a metaphor for America never resting, always looking to improve….

Senator Michael Bennet (D-Colorado) and Senator Dick Durbin (D-Illinois).

The rain comes down.

The Arch in the rain.

Yesterday, at the Missouri Ethics Commission:

C111150 05/13/2014 FRIENDS OF TOM SCHWEICH David Humphreys PO Box 4050 Joplin MO 64803 Tamko Building Products President & CEO 5/13/2014 $111,111.00

[emphasis added]

Okay, now they’re just mocking everyone and the system.

Then again, that is nothing new.

Previously:

Spending toward plutocracy (January 23, 2011)

Ah, for the good old days:

Campaign Finance: it’s nice to have friends who write checks in round numbers (November 25, 2013)

Steve Benen notes that many of the most ardent supporters of Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion don’t belong to constituencies that sway Republican lawmakers:

When we watch the debates unfold over Medicaid expansion, we expect to see folks like the uninsured, family advocates, religious leaders, and progressive activists pushing for conservative policymakers to do the right thing. For many Republicans, however, these aren’t constituencies with meaningful political capital.

But here in Missouri, GOP disregard towards any opinion that doesn’t reflect the most radical rightwing biases or, alternatively, the preferences of the GOP big-money backers seems to have morphed into outright hostility. Witness the response of Rep. Myron Neth (R-17) to the recent protest by 300 Missouri religious leaders who interrupted House proceedings. Some of the pastors sang hymns and there was chanting. The capital police were summoned and twenty three clergymen were peaceably arrested. The protest was clearly a last-ditch effort to do something to change the hardcore GOP determination to deny insurance coverage to poor Missourians – a life and death issue for many. Here is how the petulant Neth, who seems to have been expressing the emotions of many of his GOP colleagues as well, reacted to what the Kansas City Star characterized as “couple dozen pastors singing ‘Amazing Grace'” :

Well, I can almost definitively say that we will not be expanding Medicaid this year. It was just derailed by the very people that want it to happen. The large number of Medicaid supporters, many clergy included, started a protest in the Senate gallery and had to be forcibly removed. I even believe some of the clergy were taken into custody.

There have been several Republicans, Sen. Silvey and Rep. Torpey to name a few, leading the charge behind the scenes to possibly get something done and they were making some strides in doing so. However, now I am sure that the Senators and others who have traditionally opposed it will now really dig in their heels on our efforts to get something done.

But Neth wasn’t finished expressing his pique with Missourians who exercise their right to freedom of expression. When people responded to the snitty little statement above with what seems to have been heated indignation, letting him know that that they didn’t appreciate a lawmaker treating principled individuals motivated by the common good as if they were rowdy high schoolers who would now have to forgo prom because they made too much noise, he dug in deeper:

I was surprised at a number of negative responses I got from my mid-week report. By no means am I surprised that some people disagree with me on certain issues. However, the tone and content of many of the responses were extremely rude and disrespectful. I do not see how people expect me to respond or seriously consider feedback when it is delivered in such a poor manner. I understand one’s passion on a given issue and that, at times, there might be disappointment, but sending an abrasive message dilutes anything that might be said and carries much less weight than a cordial and well stated response.

Doesn’t it leave a foul odour in the vicinity of the capital when a lawmaker thinks it’s reasonable to imply that something of such life-and-death importance as insurance coverage should be withheld because Mr. Big Poohbah Legislator Neth doesn’t think its supporters were properly deferential? What’s worse, of course, is that Neth and his GOP colleagues didn’t have the slightest intention of extending Medicaid – certainly not without privatizing or otherwise weakening the program. But, of course, when it becomes time to take responsibility for his actions, it’ll be so much easier to blame the folks who cried for help because they didn’t conform to his ideas of decorum. The Kansas City Star editorial gets it just right:

Missouri lawmakers are big on free speech. Unlimited campaign contributions, we are told, are a form of free speech. There are no limits on lobbyist gifts because, hey, lobbyists and their clients have the right to free speech.

Surely these free-speech champions will support the right of the pastors to make their voices heard. At the very least, don’t use them as an excuse for denying health coverage to 300,000 people.

Today, at the Missouri Ethics Commission:

C081356 05/12/2014 MISSOURIANS AGAINST UNFAIR TAXES Clayton St Louis Property LLC 100 Carondelet Plaza Saint Louis MO 63105 5/12/2014 $5,334.00

[emphasis added]

And, earlier:

C121477 05/09/2014 MISSOURIANS FOR FAIR TAXATION Missouri Association of REALTORS 2601 Bernadette Pl Columbia MO 65205 5/8/2014 $30,000.00

[emphasis added]

The unfairness of it all.