After reading what David Atkins has to say about Donald Trump’s current ascendancy among GOP presidential candidates and what it suggests about the nature of the GOP base, it occurred to me that his speculation about what puts the red in all that GOP red meat could explain why, out of all Governor Nixon’s vetoes of GOP legislation, the lege failed to override only Right to Work, HB116. Atkins asserts that:

Trump’s extremist positions on immigration and foreign policy, combined with his vulgar, racist and sexist remarks, are so obviously appalling that for him to continuously lead the GOP field not only proves the Mann/Ornstein thesis that the Republican Party has grown uniquely extreme, but also shows that problem extends beyond Republican Party leadership to the actual voters themselves. Even more, the fact that Trump’s apostasy on taxes and healthcare has not significantly damaged him is a demonstration that GOP voters are not actually so committed to the libertarian supply-side economics of the Republican Party as they are to using the power of government to benefit traditionally powerful whites at the expense of women and minorities.

So how does right to work fit into this picture? Of the several bills that will potentially have a real impact on the  lives of working families, only HB116 has a hardcore white working class constituency that understood how the issues affected them and, consequently, opposed the bill. There’s no way that standing against right to work can be spun as giveaway to minorities in the time-honored Republican way.  

Just consider the contrast between the response to the veto of HB150 as opposed to HB116.  GOP lawmakers overrode the veto of HB150, which ties the duration of unemployment benefits to the state’s unemployment rate, with alacrity. Consider further that the group likely to be most out of sync with the state’s official unemployment rate are African-Americans. African-Americans experience significantly higher unemployment than any other group. The out-state GOPers that dominate Jefferson City evidently don’t anticipate any serious disaffection among their predominantly white constituency if they are perceived as denying “special” unemployment benefits to “those” people.

The same principle likely applies to the override of the veto of SB224 which denies the state’s A+ scholarships to non-citizens, that is to say, the foreign born children of undocumented immigrants who otherwise meet all the requirements of the program. I’m sure I don’t have to explain the motivation behind this piece of cruel pandering to white privilege. If you’re not sure what I’m getting at, just consider the immigration bonanza Donald Trump is currently mining and the anti-immigrant gold rush it has started among his rivals for the GOP presidential nomination.

It has to be significant that of all the GOP-sponsored bills that would increase income inequality and hurt working families, only the right-to-work bill – with an appreciable white constituency – wasn’t resuscitated by our GOP-dominated legislature’s veto override session. Of course, I’m grateful that right to work for less went down no matter the reason, but it does imply that Atkins’ theory about the the racism and ideological vacuity of today’s GOP base – what’s good for me, is not for thee if you’re brown, Muslim or female – may provide us with the correct platform from which to regard our political adversaries.

A detail from the Thomas Hart Benton painting in the House Lounge on the third floor of the Missouri capitol [Show Me Progress file photo].

David Marner posted a photograph of two individuals exchanging phone numbers using a panel of the priceless Thomas Hart Benton mural in the Missouri capitol House Lounge as a convenient writing surface. Apparently this happened at pro “right to work” media event hosted/attended by a number of republicans.

It’s not necessarily stupidity. Ignorance? Personal exceptionalism? Notwithstanding the inability to contemplate the damage done to a work of art by one individual behaving in that manner, what of the damage done if the thousands of visitors who go to see that work every year acted in the same way?

We can understand, though not excuse, stupidity or ignorance. Personal exceptionalism is neither understandable nor excusable and is much more destructive.

There’s not this much sustained action from the other republican candidates.

In the past few days at the Missouri Ethics Commission for Eric Greitens’ (r) 2016 exploratory gubernatorial campaign:

C151053 09/17/2015 GREITENS FOR MISSOURI Jeffrey C Hutchens 215 N. Patterson Springfield MO 65802 President/CEO Hutchens Industries 9/17/2015 $25,000.00

C151053 09/17/2015 GREITENS FOR MISSOURI Jerry Jared 2870 S. Ingram Mill Rd. Suite A Springfield MO 65804 Jared Enterprises Chairman of the Board 9/17/2015 $5,001.00

C151053 09/18/2015 GREITENS FOR MISSOURI Jonathan Crystal 141 E. 88th Street Apt. 6A New York NY 10128 Crystal & Company Insurance Brokerage 9/18/2015 $5,001.00

C151053 09/18/2015 GREITENS FOR MISSOURI Richard R Arnoldy 418 Yorkshire Pl St Louis MO 63119 Retired Retired 9/18/2015 $10,000.00

[emphasis added]

Every little bit helps.

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)

Campaign Finance: not to be outdone (April 21, 2015)

Campaign Finance: not exactly spare change (April 23, 2015)

Campaign Finance: also in increments of $5,001.00 (April 23, 2015)

Campaign Finance: That’s Entertainment! (April 27, 2015)

Campaign Finance: still more (May 2, 2015)

Campaign Finance: just another harbinger of a populist awakening in Missouri (May 5, 2015)

Campaign Finance: You were expecting anything less? (May 19, 2015)

Campaign Finance: still exploring (June 6, 2015)

Campaign Finance: running for Governor, may run for Governor, exploring a run for Governor (June 13, 2015)

Campaign Finance: alrighty then (June 16, 2015)

Campaign Finance: we’d venture to say that’s a lot of capital (June 23, 2015)

Campaign Finance: pretty soon you’re talkin’ serious money (June 24, 2015)

Campaign Finance: you don’t need to play chess when you have friends like this (June 25, 2015)

Campaign Finance: fast approaching that first million (June 26, 2015)

Campaign Finance: getting closer… (June 26, 2015)

Campaign Finance: ever so close… (June 29, 2015)

Campaign Finance: blow right by it (June 30, 2015)

Campaign Finance: there is no end to it July 1, 2015)

Campaign Finance: also inexorable (July 11, 2015)

Campaign Finance: a talent for raising money (July 13, 2015)

Eric Greitens (r) – July 2015 Quarterly Campaign Finance Report (July 15, 2015)

Campaign Finance: it’s getting boring… (July 20, 2015)

Campaign Finance: Who’s buying the beer? (July 24, 2015)

Campaign Finance: branching out (July 29, 2015)

Campaign Finance: Is this a trend? (July 31, 2015)

Campaign Finance: Ah, Springfield (August 17, 2015)

Campaign Finance: What else is new? (August 25, 2015)

But, but, Missouri’s centrifuge manufacturers are counting on the business (August 27, 2015)

Campaign Finance: a flurry, and it’s still Summer (August 28, 2015)

Campaign Finance: it’ll never end (September 1, 2015)

Campaign Finance: there goes the whole “it’s a populist grassroots campaign” ad package (September 3, 2015)

Campaign Finance: it’s like a campaign contribution, only smaller (September 9, 2015)

Campaign Finance: it’s like a campaign contribution, only smaller – part 2 (September 11, 2015)

Campaign Finance: it’s like a campaign contribution, only smaller – part 3 (September 15, 2015)

…just wait a minute.

At 8:02 p.m. in west central Missouri:

F8, 13.4 seconds, ISO 100, 70 mm.

That’s because in politics one should never coast.

Attorney General Chris Koster (D) [August 2015 file photo].

In the past few days at the Missouri Ethics Commission for Chris Koster’s (D) probable 2016 gubernatorial campaign:

C031159 09/17/2015 KOSTER FOR MISSOURI Simmons Hanly Conroy One Court Street Alton IL 62002 9/17/2015 $50,000.00

C031159 09/17/2015 KOSTER FOR MISSOURI Robert Blitz 61 Portland Drive Frontenac MO 63131 Blitz, Bardgett & Deutsch Attorney 9/17/2015 $12,500.00

[emphasis added]

C031159 09/18/2015 KOSTER FOR MISSOURI Missouri Hospital Association PAC PO Box 60 Jefferson City MO 65102 9/17/2015 $25,000.00

C031159 09/18/2015 KOSTER FOR MISSOURI Andrew O Brien 815 Geyer Ave Saint Louis MO 63104 O’Brien Law Firm, P.C. Attorney 9/18/2015 $10,000.00

[emphasis added]

C031159 09/18/2015 KOSTER FOR MISSOURI CHIPP Political Account 1401 Hampton Ave 3rd Floor Saint Louis MO 63139 9/18/2015 $20,000.00

[emphasis added]

That’s quite a mix. That’s quite a haul.

Previously:

Campaign Finance: inexorable (July 7, 2015)

Campaign Finance: I’ll see your managed care and raise you a home health service… (July 14, 2015)

Chris Koster (D) – July 2015 Campaign Finance Report (July 18, 2015)

Campaign Finance: no surprise here (July 21, 2015)

Campaign Finance: a different constituency (July 29, 2015)

Campaign Finance: no rest (August 3, 2015)

PPP Missouri Poll: 2016 U.S. Senate and Governor – August 11, 2015 (August 11, 2015)

Campaign Finance: rolling in (August 15, 2015)

Campaign Finance: hoist one or two (August 22, 2015)

Campaign Finance: on the phone (August 27, 2015)

Campaign Finance: If this keeps up (and it will) we’re gonna run out of snappy headlines… (August 28, 2015)

Which citizens matter in Missouri? (August 29, 2015)

Campaign Finance: there’s no place like homes (August 31, 2015)

Campaign Finance: Which side are you on? (September 8, 2015)

Campaign Finance: in the mix (September 15, 2015)

This morning in west central Missouri:

To the east.

In the past two days at the Missouri Ethics Commission for the two 2016 republican Secretary of State candidates:

C151004 09/16/2015 ASHCROFT FOR MISSOURI CNS Corporation 500 E. 9th Street Kansas City MO 64106 9/15/2015 $10,000.00

[emphasis added]

C041029 09/17/2015 CITIZENS FOR WILL KRAUS August Bush III 1 Mid Rivers Mall Dr. #100 St Peters MO 63376 Retired 9/17/2015 $10,000.00

[emphasis added]

What’s with that amount?

The candidate from eastern part of the state received a contribution from an entity in the western part of the state. The candidate from the western part of the state received a contribution from an individual in the eastern part of the state. Got it? The amounts are the same. Go figure.

Seems like Jason Kander’s qualifications and persistence have struck a larger Democratic nerve as he runs to take the the Senate seat currently occupied by GOPer Roy Blunt. Roll Call speculates that Kander is one of:

… two other Democratic recruits who could forge paths to victory in the right political environment: Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick in Arizona and Secretary of State Jason Kander in Missouri. Both are adept politicians who face strong GOP incumbents in states that lean Republican in presidential years, but could swing the Democrats’ way in the event of unforced Republican errors.

The Roll Call writers, Emily Cahn and former Missourian Eli Yokley, also discuss the potential of the presidential race to influence the outcome for candidates like Kander:

An unpalatable GOP presidential nominee could also shift the tide towards Democrats, giving them an opening down the ballot. With businessman Donald Trump – who has broken nearly every convention in running a presidential campaign as he’s offended significant segments of the electorate – as the Republican front-runner, there’s a chance that could happen.

There’s even more evidence that Kander is getting some serious attention. Even though the Daily Kos analysis of the potential outcome of the 2015-16 Senate races lists the Kander/Blunt race as “likely Republican,” they define that category as a race in which the GOP has “a strong advantage and is likely to win, though the race has the potential to become more competitive.”

That’s relatively good news given how entrenched Blunt has become over the years. Missouri voters (and the Kander campaign) just have to activate that potential.  And of course, given the  current polling results, as Cahn and Yokley suggest, it’s possible the GOP base itself just might take care of the whole Trump issue in a way that would help Kander and maybe free us from Blunt’s version of pay-to-play legislating.

Just to give you an idea about what a Kander victory could mean to us, here’s the text of an email he send out to his supporters today:

Did you watch last night’s Republican presidential debate?

For a good portion of the proceedings, the candidates were all attempting to outdo each other over who would shutdown the government fastest in an effort to deny women health care needs like mammograms, Pap tests, and STD screenings.

And the truth is, our dysfunctional U.S. Senate is steamrolling straight toward this fight. It’s going to happen.

But there are a few people who can stop this travesty by publicly standing up to bombasts in the chamber like Ted Cruz, and one of them is my opponent, a member of Republican leadership, Senator Roy Blunt.

Call on Senator Roy Blunt to tell Ted Cruz to stop his crusade to shutdown the government over women’s health care.

A government shutdown would cost our country billions of dollars, cut the paychecks of millions of workers, and possibly cause delays for many veterans who rely on disability pay and education benefits.

Senator Blunt has the power to stop the Ted Cruz wing of the Republican Party. If you make your voice heard, I am hopeful that he will.

Although Blunt has been one of the leaders of the effort to defund Planned Parenthood and has shown a willingness in the past to attach unrelated partisan legislation to must-pass appropriation bills, he has already spoken out against using the Planned Parenthood fracus as an excuse to shutdown the government. He might, as Kander suggests, be open to constituent opinion. His most recent statements indicate that he is trying to have his metaphorical cake (pandering to anti-abortion Republicans) and eat it too (stopping short of a shutdown throwdown):

Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt, a member of GOP leadership who also faces voters next year in his conservative state, said it makes sense to try to push a provision in a spending bill to defund Planned Parenthood on the Senate floor, even if there’s little chance of success.

“Sometimes, you have to go through an exercise in futility a time or two to truly prove it is an exercise in futility,” Blunt said.

But Blunt cautioned: “What I wouldn’t want to do is change the topic here from focusing on the conduct of Planned Parenthood to focusing on a shutdown … If we made a strategic mistake here, it would be changing the topic.”

This strategy is dangerous and could easily backfire. Kander is to be commended for using his candidacy to urge Blunt’s constituents to call upon the Senator to back away from the  extremists in his party. Kander should especially be commended for his civil and conciliatory tone toward his rival for office. It is clear that Kander cares more for the outcome than reaping political advantage by sliming the eminently slimeable Blunt.

It is also clear which of these two has the potential to be a real statesman, a man worthy of representing Missourians. And it isn’t the guy who’s trying to balance craziness against common sense and in the process risking the well-being of the country. Speaking of “unforced errors, maybe it’s Blunt’s participation in the GOP shutdown stunts that will help shift the balance in Missouri – and Jason Kander’s “I think I can” will become “Yes, I did it.”

* Last sentence edited for clarity.

Tuesday the Ferguson Commission, a body convened by Governor Jay Nixon in response to the protests engendered by the police shooting of teenager Michael Brown, released its report. The priorities identified by the Commission have been admirably summarized by the St. Louis Post Dispatch. The Commisson expects to continue meeting to move these priorities forward.

That the Commission will stay involved now that their report has been tendered is good news. Especially since the question that seems to be on every commentator’s mind is whether or not there is any chance that the report will really result in significant action. I have to say that to my mind the list of “accountable bodies” that the Commission members identified for each priority augers poorly for the possibility of real change.

For many of the nineteen points summarized by the Post-Dispatch, several accountable bodies are named. I can only wonder just how these bodies are going to respond to often very specific goals that seem to be based on underlying assumptions that I’m not sure are universally shared. Actually, I wonder just how many of these bodies, even if they agreed with the underpinnings of the report, will manage to coordinate effectively. I haven’t seen too much during the thirteen years that I have lived in this area that encourages optimism. Many of the accountable bodies listed have shown themselves in the past to be especially wedded to the status quo, others are notoriously contentious. Some, especially state agencies, are already underfunded and may resent new or reformulated tasks.

The real bugaboo, though, lies in the fact that for ten of the priorities listed in the Post-Dispatch, the state legislature is among the accountable bodies. In the case of expanding Medicaid, the lege is the sole accountable body. Now I ask you, do you see the GOP-dominated legislature doing anything about Medicaid expansion anytime soon?

If we concede that that goal is unlikely in the immediate future, how eager do you think our GOP lawmakers will be to end predatory lending by that ever-ready source of campaign cash, the pay-day loan industry? Or do you think that folks who currently won’t fund schools adequately will see their way clear to establishing universal prekindergarten for children 3-4 years old? I thought not. And what’s worse is that I would probably get the same answer for most action points if I worked my way through the whole list.

Let me ask another, related question: do you see the make-up of the Republican legislature changing anytime soon? I agree that anything is possible, but possible doesn’t really speak to probable, and probability says we’ll be  saddled with the Mean Party in control in Jefferson City for a considerable while yet. So are we talking pie in the sky when we praise the report?

Will the Commission be satisfied with a few successes? Will making just a few of the changes suggested in the report really make a difference? The virtue of the Commission’s report, after all, is that it views the situation that erupted after Michael Brown’s death in broadly systematic terms and, although it articulates laudably specific goals, it does so within an equally systematic framework.

I’m feeling pessimistic, but I’m willing to wait and see what the Commission members propose to do to hold those accountable bodies accountable. I’m also waiting to see how a polarized, and to my mind, deeply racist region supports their efforts. But no matter what happens, I have to admit, that despite my misgivings and my earlier admonition that the Commission go small, the St. Louis region is better off because the Commission has unequivocally, officially identified some of the stress points that have weakened our community as well as offering potential solutions. It only remains to see if we can find the will to support real change,even if it hurts.