• About
  • The Poetry of Protest

Show Me Progress

~ covering government and politics in Missouri – since 2007

Show Me Progress

Monthly Archives: September 2018

Who pulls Ann Wagner’s strings?

30 Sunday Sep 2018

Posted by willykay in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Ann Wagner, campaign finance, corruption, Leadership Pacs

Who pulls Rep. Ann Wagner’s strings? Not the voters in Missouri’s 2nd district for sure, who have been complaining for some time that she’s missing in action. She’s held no town hall meetings with constituents apart from some hilariously stage-managed “telephone” events – characterized by pre-selected participants and questions – and appearances before employees at friendly business venues that often offer no chance for questions. In fact, she’s so allergic to demands for direct accountability that, according the St. Louis Post-Dispatch‘s Todd Robberson, she has “repeatedly” refused to meet with the paper’s editorial staff in order to secure its endorsement.

Rep. Wagner does frequently send out an email “newsletter’ filled with treacly PR, news about her photo-ops and questionable claims that conform to GOP talking points. Claims, for instance, that the GOP tax cut for the rich has actually benefited working-class Missourians, which she put forward in her email newsletter of Sept. 3, are debatable – although we’re not likely to get the chance to debate them with the congresswoman herself.

So if Rep. Wagner is more interested in constructing a smoke screen than in finding out how her constituents really think about what she is doing in Washington, they can’t be blamed for wondering for whom she’s actually working when she’s in D.C. And it’s not too hard to figure out.

We all know about her huge campaign war-chest, currently ca. $3 million, made up of cash donated by “private donors hoping to influence or advance the people who do the public’s business.” And the cash rewards are not limited to “getting the message out.” The Post-Dispatch reported recently that “members of Congress use ‘leadership PACs’ – separate campaign fundraising entities from their regular political committees – to buy everything from rounds of golf to trips to posh resorts to tickets to Broadway shows.” These so-called “life-style enhancements” are on the pricey side, as indicated by some of the particulars pertaining to Wagner:

Wagner’s “leadership PAC, Ann PAC, spent $21,831 from 2015 through 2017 for event expenses, lodging, catering, and travel at various locations in Las Vegas, including the Venetian/Palazzo Hotel and expenses from Tao Restaurant Vegas, an ‘unparalleled Asian-inspired restaurant’ that is the sister to the ‘trendsetting’ Tao in New York. The payments to the Venetian/Palazzo in 2015 correspond with the Republican Jewish Coalition Spring Leadership Meeting.” Spokespersons for Wagner did not respond to a request for comment.

Who pulls Rep. Wagner’s strings? Tell me who is it who keeps Wagner in D.C. and shows her a good time while she’s there and I’ll show you who has her ear.

Out and about

30 Sunday Sep 2018

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

4th Congressional District, missouri, PAC, Renee Hoagenson, Rural Progress, Vicky Hartzler, yard sign

A yard sign:

Alrighty then.

Campaign Finance: it’s fair

29 Saturday Sep 2018

Posted by Michael Bersin in campaign finance

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

campaign finance, initiative, Minimum wage, missouri, Missouri Ethics Commission, Proposition B

Today at the Missouri Ethics Commission for the initiative campaign (Proposition B) to raise the minimum wage:

171196 09/29/2018 Raise Up Missouri The Fairness Project 1348 Florida Ave. NE Washington DC 20009 9/28/2018 $100,000.00

[emphasis added]

Definitely Fair.

Previously:

Campaign Finance: about raising that minimum wage (September 22, 2018)

Fall weather brings Fall festivals

29 Saturday Sep 2018

Posted by Michael Bersin in Claire McCaskill, US Senate

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Claire McCaskill, Fall, missouri, U.S. Senate, Warrensburg

This afternoon, in Warrensburg:

Sarah Kendzior is from Missouri

28 Friday Sep 2018

Posted by Michael Bersin in Resist

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

#resist, Donald Trump, missouri, Sarah Kendzior

Today:

Opinion
The resistance to Donald Trump is not what you think
There is no unified, hierarchical group on the periphery trying to overthrow the U.S. government. There are only regular people, in every city, hoping for better, and trying to rescue the America they once knew

Sarah Kendzior
Special to The Globe and Mail
Published September 28, 2018

[….]

“How do you maintain hope?” an audience member asked me at the end of the talk. This is another question I get asked everywhere I go. I told her that I don’t believe in hope and I don’t believe in hopelessness; I believe in compassion and pragmatism. Hope can be lethal when you are fighting an autocracy. Hope is inextricable from time, and as anyone who has studied the entrenchment of dictators knows, the longer they stay in, the harder it is to get them out. Every day passed is damage done.

And there is probably no one who knows that more than the migrant parents who lost their children to the Trump administration, who spend every day wondering how their child is growing and changing without them – if their child is even alive. Time has always been the enemy, and hope its cruel accomplice. Learn from the past, fight for the future, but live the present not with hope, but with rage. Rage, unlike hope, knows no timeline.

[….]

Go. Read the whole thing.

Definitely nobody’s fool

28 Friday Sep 2018

Posted by Michael Bersin in Claire McCaskill, US Senate

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Brett Kavanaugh, Christine Ford, Claire McCaskill, missouri, Rachel Mitchell, U.S. Senate, U.S. Supreme Court

That’s our Claire.

Senator Claire McCaskill (D) [2017 file photo].

On the questioning of Christine Ford by Prosecutor Rachel Mitchell on behalf of the republican majority on the Senate Judiciary Committee:

Lindsay Wise @lindsaywise
Sen. Claire McCaskill, a former prosecutor, has sympathy for Mitchell:

“I can’t imagine doing either a direct examination or a cross-examination in five-minute increments. And she’s not used to cross-examining people who are telling the truth.”
[….]
5:16 PM – 27 Sep 2018

“Sympathy for Mitchell.” That’s interesting old media spin.

“…she’s not used to cross-examining people who are telling the truth.”

And who did Rachel Mitchell question at the hearing? Christine Ford.

Rachel Mitchell did get to ask a few questions of Brett Kavanaugh (r), but was apparently yanked after the “I like beer” exchange.

Telling

27 Thursday Sep 2018

Posted by Michael Bersin in social media, US Senate

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Brett Kavanaugh, Donald Trump, Kamala Harris, social media, Twitter, U.S. Senate, U.S. Supreme Court

From Senator Kamala Harris (D):

Kamala Harris @SenKamalaHarris
My final question for Judge Kavanaugh: Did you watch Dr. Ford’s testimony?

His answer: “I did not.”
5:59 PM – 27 Sep 2018

“I did not.”

That’s all you need to know.

Remember in November.

Predictable

27 Thursday Sep 2018

Posted by Michael Bersin in social media

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Brett Kavanaugh, Donald Trump, social media, Twitter, U.S. Supreme Court

Bad combover. Check. Too long red tie. Check. Orange spray tan. Check. Tiny hands. Check. Cluelessness. Check…

He breaks his silence as the hearing ends:

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump
Judge Kavanaugh showed America exactly why I nominated him. His testimony was powerful, honest, and riveting. Democrats’ search and destroy strategy is disgraceful and this process has been a total sham and effort to delay, obstruct, and resist. The Senate must vote!
5:46 PM – 27 Sep 2018

There’s a call on line one, from Merrick Garland.

There’ll be a long line on November 6th, of women.

Is anything happening today?

27 Thursday Sep 2018

Posted by Michael Bersin in media criticism, meta

≈ 1 Comment

Just asking. I haven’t turned on my TV machine yet.

Nobody’s fool

26 Wednesday Sep 2018

Posted by Michael Bersin in Claire McCaskill, US Senate

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Brett Kavanaugh, Claire McCaskill, Donald Trump, Josh Hawley, missouri, U.. Supreme Court, U.S. Senate

Timing is everything.

Senator Claire McCaskill (D) [2018 file photo].

Now the storm swirls.

Senator Claire McCaskill (D), one week ago:

I will vote no on Judge Kavanaugh.

I have been thorough in examining Judge Kavanaugh’s record. And while the recent allegations against him are troubling and deserve a thorough and fair examination by the Senate Judiciary Committee, my decision is not based on those allegations but rather on his positions on several key issues, most importantly the avalanche of dark, anonymous money that is crushing our democracy.

[….]

While I am also uncomfortable about his view on Presidential power as it relates to the rule of law, and his position that corporations are people, it is his allegiance to the position that unlimited donation and dark anonymous money, even from foreign interests, should be allowed to swamp the voices of individuals that has been the determining factor in my decision to vote no on his nomination.

Perfect timing.

← Older posts

Subscribe

  • Entries (RSS)
  • Comments (RSS)

Archives

  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008
  • January 2008
  • December 2007
  • November 2007
  • October 2007
  • September 2007
  • August 2007

Categories

  • campaign finance
  • Claire McCaskill
  • Congress
  • Democratic Party News
  • Eric Schmitt
  • Healthcare
  • Hillary Clinton
  • Interview
  • Jason Smith
  • Josh Hawley
  • Mark Alford
  • media criticism
  • meta
  • Missouri General Assembly
  • Missouri Governor
  • Missouri House
  • Missouri Senate
  • Resist
  • Roy Blunt
  • social media
  • Standing Rock
  • Town Hall
  • Uncategorized
  • US Senate

Meta

  • Log in

Blogroll

  • Balloon Juice
  • Crooks and Liars
  • Digby
  • I Spy With My Little Eye
  • Lawyers, Guns, and Money
  • No More Mister Nice Blog
  • The Great Orange Satan
  • Washington Monthly
  • Yael Abouhalkah

Donate to Show Me Progress via PayPal

Your modest support helps keep the lights on. Click on the button:

Blog Stats

  • 771,805 hits

Powered by WordPress.com.

 

Loading Comments...