Today in west central Missouri:
Oh, yes, it’s definitely Spring.
Yet another Spring day moment of Zen
22 Wednesday Apr 2015
Posted in Uncategorized
Monthly Archives: April 2015
Campaign Finance: a sense of proportion
22 Wednesday Apr 2015
Posted in Uncategorized
Because Peter Kinder (r) has made the office of Lieutenant Governor what it is today…
Yesterday at the Missouri Ethics Commission:
C141581 04/21/2015 MISSOURIANS FOR RANDLES Missourians for Tim Jones P.O. Box 434 Eureka MO 63025 4/21/2015 $25,000.00
[emphasis added]
Depending on what you compare that too it’s either a lot or nothing much.
From Bev Randles’ (r) April 15 quarterly campaign finance report:
C141581: Missourians For Randles
5823 North Cypress Ave Committee Type: Exploratory
Kansas City Mo64119
[….] Established Date: 12/08/2014
Termination Date:Information Reported On: 2015 – April Quarterly Report
Beginning Money on Hand $1,004,543.54
Monetary Receipts + $3,990.00
Monetary Expenditures – $55,233.62
Contributions Made – $0.00
Other Disbursements – $0.00
Subtotal ($51,243.62)
Ending Money On Hand $953,299.92
[emphasis added]
It wasn’t an overwhelming quarter. Then again, it didn’t need to be.
Up to March 31, 2015, since the formation of the committee, there was a total of thirty-nine contributions to the campaign from individuals and couple:
Sinquefield, Rex and Jean $1,000,000.00 12/8/2014
Splittgerber, Angela $2,500.00 12/11/2014
Bruce and Kathy Vancil $2,000.00 3/31/2015
Carson, Larry $1,000.00 12/16/2014
Jerry Caulder $500.00 2/19/2015
Flaire Ferrell $500.00 2/24/2015
Freedom Bonding $250.00 12/31/2014
Bart and Lara Cooper $250.00 12/31/2014
Carter, Kim $100.00 12/10/2014
Randles, Bill $100.00 12/5/2014
Late, Benny $100.00 12/22/2014
Reynolds, Wanda $100.00 12/19/2014
Terika Brown $100.00 3/18/2015
Kat Cunningham $100.00 3/23/2015
Robert Shults $100.00 3/23/2015
Billie Bell $100.00 3/23/2015
Allen Icet $100.00 3/31/2015
Glenn Andrews $100.00 3/30/2015
Larry Schuster $100.00 3/30/2015
Ashley Brown $75.00 3/25/2015
King, Frank $50.00 12/17/2014
King, Robin $50.00 12/24/2014
Brown, Johnny $50.00 12/22/2014
Barbara Brown $50.00 3/30/2015
Cheek Living Trust $30.00 12/19/2014
Lampton, Norman $25.00 12/9/2014
Pederson, Brenda $25.00 12/15/2014
Green, Reginald $25.00 12/16/2014
Green, Dana $25.00 12/16/2014
Rita McShea $25.00 3/8/2015
Charles Jack $25.00 3/21/2015
Jon Hopkins $25.00 3/23/2015
Pat Sullivan $25.00 3/30/2015
Tina Stufflebean-Bledsoe $25.00 3/30/2015
Tonya Bowman $20.00 3/30/2015
Spencer, Derek $10.00 12/9/2014
Amelung, Wade $10.00 12/30/2014
Waylon Arndt $10.00 3/30/2015
Sherry Kuttenkuler $10.00 3/30/2015
[emphasis added]
Put all that money in perspective:
The contributions up to March 31, 2015 to Bev Randles’ (r) exploratory 2016 Lieutenant Governor committee.
A contribution of $100.00 just looks like statistical noise.
Some of the expenditures this past quarter:
MISSOURI ETHICS COMMISSION
ITEMIZED EXPENDITURES OVER $100 SUPPLEMENTAL FORM
MISSOURIANS FOR RANDLES [pdf] 4/15/2015Turning Point Public Affairs, LLC
3458 Pestalozzi St
Saint Louis MO 63118
1/27/2015
Strategy & Communications Consulting $25,000.00Missouri Republican Party
P.O. Box 73
Jefferson City MO 65102
1/27/2015
State Lincoln Days $2,500.00Turning Point Public Affairs, LLC
3458 Pestalozzi St
Saint Louis MO 63118
2/23/2015
Strategy & Communications Consulting $12,500.00
Do you think the consultants will recommend the candidate sit behind a fake news desk for the campaign commercials? Just asking.
Previously:
Campaign Finance: Oh, hell, just buy the state already (December 8, 2014)
Campaign Finance: Exploring something. (January 13, 2015)
Campaign Finance: a December to really remember (January 18, 2015)
Our world in three Tweets
22 Wednesday Apr 2015
Posted in Uncategorized
Tags
2016, higher education, Jason Kander, missouri, Roy Blunt, Senate, social media, student debt, student loans, Twitter
Oh, there is a difference.
Our Senator Roy Blunt (r):
HuffPost College @HuffPostCollege
Senator blames college students for borrowing [….] 12:39 PM – 21 Apr 2015
The article:
David Halperin
Senator Blunt Blames College Students for Borrowing
Posted: 04/21/2015 12:28 pm EDTParroting a familiar talking point by bad actors in the for-profit college industry, Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO) appeared last week to blame students for their high student loan burdens. After questioning Secretary of Education Arne Duncan at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on Thursday about regulations aimed at for-profit colleges, Blunt, a member of the Senate GOP leadership, said (at the 1:38:00 mark in the linked video):
We ought to be talking about … the debt problem when you get out of school. How much of that related to the actual cost of going to school and how much it related to what you thought your living standards should be while you went to school, and I’m pretty confident over the years that the student expectations for their personal living standards in school have often increased where they would have been a few just years ago.
[….]
Secretary of State Jason Kander (D), who is challenging Senator Blunt (r) in 2016:
Jason Kander @JasonKander
I want to help middle class Missourians send their kids to college. Shaming those kids won’t be my approach. 3:25 PM – 21 Apr 2015
Social media is so immediate:
Jeff Mazur @jmaz
Can’t students just provide for their “living standards” with lavish lobbyist wedding gifts like normal people? 3:36 PM – 21 Apr 2015
Okay, that one left a mark.
June 17, 2004, in the Washington Post:
[….]
[….]
In the section of his report that is supposed to disclose gifts of more than $285, House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) pointed readers to attached correspondence concerning his wedding gifts. Blunt married Abigail Perlman, a lobbyist for Altria Corp., the parent company of Philip Morris, in October.
On Sept. 15, Blunt wrote to Rep. Joel Hefley (R-Colo.), chairman of the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, and noted his impending marriage. “I anticipate receiving wedding gifts in connection with this event and I would like to request a waiver of the limitations of the gift rule to allow me to accept gifts in connection with my wedding,” he wrote.
[….]
On Oct. 1, Blunt wrote Hefley requesting a reporting waiver “to prevent the paperwork of filing numerous disclosure forms for every gift my wife and I receive.”
Oct. 3, Hefley and Mollohan granted his request.
[….]
Must be nice.
Campaign Finance: not to be outdone
21 Tuesday Apr 2015
Posted in Uncategorized
Yesterday, for Eric Greitens’ (r) 2016 gubernatorial exploration, at the Missouri Ethics Commission:
C151053 04/20/2015 GREITENS FOR MISSOURI Terry Scariot 116 Sunningdale Dr Georgetown KY 40324 Remington Partners Partner 4/20/2015 $10,000.00
[emphasis added]
Nice, round numbers. No extra dollar needed.
Previously:
Campaign Finance: There is another? (February 25, 2015)
Campaign Finance: a little bit more (February 26, 2015)
Campaign Finance: A new bandwagon? (March 6, 2015)
Campaign Finance: but wait, there’s more (March 10, 2015)
Campaign Finance: that’ll help finance a whole lot of exploring (March 12, 2015)
Campaign Finance: it’s going to be a good quarter (March 16, 2015)
Campaign Finance: still exploring (March 17, 2015)
Campaign Finance: gone quiet (March 21, 2015)
Campaign Finance: not quiet at all (March 25, 2015)
Campaign Finance: eat mor chikin (March 26, 2015)
The stenographer: Ah, for the good old days… (March 28, 2015)
Campaign Finance: in under the wire (April 1, 2015)
Campaign Finance: all in today (April 9, 2015)
Campaign Finance: far afield (April 13, 2015)
Eric Greitens (r) – quarterly campaign finance report – April 15, 2015 (April 18, 2015)
Another Spring day moment of Zen
21 Tuesday Apr 2015
Posted in Uncategorized
On the wrong side of history and technology
20 Monday Apr 2015
Posted in Uncategorized
Tags
Attorney General, Chris Koster, General Assembly, missouri, Progress Missouri, Senate, Sunshine law
A press release from Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster:
Attorney General’s Office to defend Senate in Sunshine lawsuit
Apr 20, 2015, 16:04 PMJefferson City, Mo. – The Attorney General’s Office released the following statement:
“Last week, the Missouri Senate, three of its legislative committees, and their chairpersons were sued under the Missouri Sunshine Law for acts related to the administration of official proceedings of the Senate. The Attorney General’s Office has communicated to Senate President Pro Tem Tom Dempsey that the AGO will provide counsel to the General Assembly and vigorously defend the legislature in this matter.”
Because the Missouri Senate is a private club and the public has no business hearing about their business?
Because the Missouri Capitol News Association is another private club and they’ll know best which business to filter from the public view?
You know, this is the twenty-first century.
Previously:
Because asking politely for people to comply with the law always seems to work out so well (April 15, 2015)
Campaign Finance: still trickling in
20 Monday Apr 2015
Posted in Uncategorized
Today at the Missouri Ethics Commission:
C141055 04/20/2015 HANAWAY FOR GOVERNOR, INC Samuel Hais 312 N Brentwood Blvd Unit 5 Clayton MO 63105 Hais Hais & Goldberger PC Attorney 4/20/2015 $5,001.00
[emphasis added]
Not like it used to.
Previously:
Campaign Finance: making a choice (October 15, 2014)
Every time Rex Sinquefield signs a check a twenty-something campaign consultant gets their wings… (October 22, 2014)
Campaign Finance: Oh, there is a difference… (February 20, 2015)
Campaign Finance: gone quiet (March 21, 2015)
Campaign Finance: back in business (April 5, 2015)
Campaign Finance: all in today (April 9, 2015)
Campaign Finance: trickling in (April 14, 2015)
Steve Swyers Resigns as Director of Monarch Fire Protection District
20 Monday Apr 2015
Posted in Uncategorized
By Steve Swyers – Chesterfield, Missouri – April 20, 2015
Effective immediately, I resign as a member of the Monarch Fire Protection District Board of Directors, a position to which I was elected in April 2011.
My decision to resign today is rooted in the falsehoods, half truths, misinformation, creation of an unhealthy work environment, and what I believe to be misuse of public funds by Monarch Board President Robin Harris and Board Secretary Jane Cunningham.
For these reasons, I have considered resigning from the Board for more than a year. Recently, I read the Monarch district newsletter distributed by U.S. mail on April 3, 2015. It was essentially a campaign promotion for Robin Harris, who was running for re-election to the Board in the April 7 election. That same day I read a newspaper advertisement placed by Monarch Fire Chief Chuck Marsonette that berated Monarch firefighters and paramedics. It was the last straw.
I had no hand in preparing these communications as a member of the Board. I heard Robin Harris admit on KMOX Radio that the newsletter cost taxpayers $20,000. Later, I learned that the newspaper advertisement cost nearly $1,900. This is just wrong!
I no longer wish to be associated with their business style and their political rhetoric, as it has only created an environment of distrust and negativity.
For example, in print and website communications paid for with taxpayer dollars, Harris and Cunningham lied to or spoke half truths to Monarch citizens by claiming that Monarch firefighters and paramedics are calling for a $33 million bond issue.
As a member of the Monarch Board since April 2011 until my resignation today, I can assert with assurance that this claim is false. There is no movement for a $33 million bond issue by the firefighters or anybody else at Monarch — and there never was such a movement in my Board tenure.
Harris also said, “The Monarch budget is balanced, as required by state law. We…are maintaining a 40 percent reserve.”
That statement does not represent all the facts. It is correct that budgets must be balanced, but when expenses exceed revenues a budget is balanced by making “budget adjustments,” which means borrowing from reserves created by prior generations of taxpayers.
Since 2012 the Monarch Board has tapped reserves by $851,000, causing reserves to decline to their current level of 40 percent. This is not sustainable!
Harris also said that Monarch firefighters and paramedics are:
· “Already among the highest paid in the country”
· “(Filed lawsuits) in an attempt to control the operations” and that “The District has been successful in most cases”
· “Use tactics to frighten people”
Those statements by Mr. Harris are simply not true.
Harris’ and Cunningham’s falsehoods and constant degradation and ridicule of Monarch firefighters and paramedics are damaging morale. It is impossible to maintain trust in such an environment.
In my opinion, Harris and Cunningham are using Monarch firefighters and paramedics as reasons for all the problems that exist in the Monarch fire protection district. I believe that Harris and Cunningham need only to look in a mirror to see the root cause for many of the existing problems.
The environment of false claims, misinformation, misuse of public funds and negativity perpetuated by Harris and Cunningham throughout the fire department is counter-productive for the Monarch Fire Protection District.
Steve Swyers – Chesterfield, Missouri – April 20, 2015
Campaign Finance: But wait, there’s even more…
20 Monday Apr 2015
Posted in Uncategorized
Sometimes it seems that there are almost as many Missouri republican gubernatorial candidates with big dollar donors as there are republican presidential candidates…
Also yesterday at the Missouri Ethics Commission:
C151077 04/19/2015 MISSOURIANS FOR JOHN BRUNNER Jesse Bodine 50 Creekwood Lane St Louis MO 63124 Retired 4/17/2015 $35,000.00
[emphasis added]
That’s at least $325,280.00 for John Brunner’s (r) “exploratory” campaign in just eighteen days.
Pass the popcorn.
Previously:
Campaign Finance: all in today (April 9, 2015)
Campaign Finance: passing the torch… (April 10, 2015)
Campaign Finance: The republican establishment has another gubernatorial favorite? (April 11, 2015)
Campaign Finance: very interesting (April 16, 2015)
Campaign Finance: To which establishment are you referring? (April 19, 2015)
Campaign Finance: To which establishment are you referring?
19 Sunday Apr 2015
Posted in Uncategorized
The Missouri republican gubernatorial primary is going to be very, very watchable.
Yesterday at the Missouri Ethics Commission:
C151077 04/18/2015 MISSOURIANS FOR JOHN BRUNNER Don Kelley Contractor Inc. 299 NW Outer Rd Norwood MO 65717 4/17/2015 $5,001.00
[emphasis added]
That extra dollar really helps.
Previously:
Campaign Finance: all in today (April 9, 2015)
Campaign Finance: passing the torch… (April 10, 2015)
Campaign Finance: The republican establishment has another gubernatorial favorite? (April 11, 2015)
Campaign Finance: very interesting (April 16, 2015)