Monthly Archives: March 2024

Campaign Finance: location, location, location

31 Sunday Mar 2024

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Yesterday at the Missouri Ethics Commission:

C242730 03/30/2024 Together Missouri PAC Kris Cook PO Box 298 Nixa MO 65714 James River Mechanical Owner 3/28/2024 $25,000.00

C242730 03/30/2024 Together Missouri PAC Robert Krischon 9S108 Granart Rd Big Rock IL 60511 Robert Krischon Construction 3/29/2023 $6,180.00

C242730 03/30/2024 Together Missouri PAC Abbott Properties 2552 W 118th Ter Leawood KS 66211 3/30/2024 $10,000.00

C242730 03/30/2024 Together Missouri PAC Chance Carlisle 1 Dr. M.L. King Jr. Avenue Suite 130 Memphis TN 38103 Carlisle CEO 3/28/2024 $15,000.00

[emphasis added]

Ironic, too.

Campaign Finance: The money in campaign, spent mainly on planes?

31 Sunday Mar 2024

Posted by in campaign finance, Missouri Governor

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Heh. Just asking.

Last year:

Pro-Parson PAC has spent $110K on private plane expenses so far in 2023
BY: JASON HANCOCK – APRIL 18, 2023 6:15 AM

Mike Parson has made it clear to anyone who will listen that he’s done with elected office when term limits force him from the Missouri governor’s mansion next year.

Yet the political action committee created by his supporters continues taking five-figure checks, with the lion’s share of that money spent on private plane travel.
[….]

In January at the Missouri Ethics Commission:

[image cropped]

Yesterday at the Missouri Ethics Commission, six figures:

C180490 03/30/2024 Uniting Missouri PAC Holland Law Firm LLC 211 N Broadway Ste 2625 St Louis MO 63102 3/30/2024 $250,000.00

[emphasis added]

What on Earth for?

Mike Parson (r) [2022 file photo}.

Missouri Democratic Party – Presidential Preference Primary – Results

30 Saturday Mar 2024

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The Missouri Democratic Party held the in-person portion of their presidential preference primary from 8:00 a.m. to noon on Saturday, March 23rd at polling locations across the state. Prior to in-person voting self-identified Democratic voters could change their voter registration, declaring Democratic Party affiliation, and request mail-in Democratic Party presidential party ballots.

The party run presidential primary process in Missouri was necessitated by legislation passed by the republican super majority in the Genral Assembly and signed by Missouri Governor Mike Parson (r).

Joe Biden (D) [2020 file photo].

From the Missouri Democratic Party:

[….]

…In spite of the attack on our voting rights by the Republican State Legislature, turnout in the Missouri Democratic Party’s party-run presidential primary exceeded that of the Republican caucus event, and Democrats used this election as an opportunity to start organizing early and generated grassroots enthusiasm across the state as we head into the 2024 election cycle. Over 450 Missouri Democrats volunteered to organize a statewide election with nearly 100 in-person voting locations to ensure as many of their neighbors could cast their vote for their preferred Democratic nominee for president as possible. Missouri Democrats are fired up and ready to fight in 2024…

[….]

…In 2022, the Republican-controlled legislature passed HB 1878, which eliminated Missouri’s state-run presidential preference primary election and designated a party-run system for choosing presidential nominees. This was another attack on free and fair Democratic elections that made it harder for people to exercise their voting rights. The Missouri Democratic Party adamantly opposed this change, and none of the Democrats serving in the Missouri State House or Senate at the time voted for this bill. 120 Republican members supported the measure…

[….]

The results of the voting, as released by the Missouri Democratic Party:

Statewide Total – Missouri Democratic Party Presidential Preference Primary – 2024

Biden – 16,295 – 85.3% – 61 national delegates – 1193 state delegates

Phillips – 178 – 0.9%

Lyons – 40 – 0.2%

Perez-Serrato – 21 – 0.1%

Williamson – 298 – 1.6%

Palmer – 36 – 0.2%

Uncommitted – 2,229 – 11.7% – 3 national delegates – 79 state delegates

Total – 19,100

For example:

4th Congressional District Total – Missouri Democratic Party Presidential Preference Primary – 2024

Biden – 1,969 – 90.6% – 4 national delegates – 133 state delegates

Phillips – 14 – 0.6%

Lyons – 1 – 0.0%

Perez-Serrato – 2 – 0.1%

Williamson – 27 – 1.2%

Palmer – 5 – 0.2%

Uncommitted – 156 – 7.2%

Total – 2,174

Delegate selection process rules for the party require a 15% threshold for allocation of delegates. These allocations are made at the statewide and congressional district level.

Previously:

Missouri Democratic Party – Presidential Preference Primary – Knob Noster, Missouri – March 23, 2024 (March 23, 2024)

Campaign Finance: they get by with a little help from their friends

29 Friday Mar 2024

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Today at the Missouri Ethics Commission:

C180684 03/29/2024 American Dream PAC Rex Sinquefield 244 Bent Walnut Lane Westphalia MO 65085 N/A Retired 3/29/2024 $100,000.00

C222296 03/29/2024 Liberty and Justice PAC Rex and Jeanne Sinquefield 224 Bent Walnut Ln Westphalia MO 65085 Retired Retired 3/29/2024 $100,000.00

[emphasis added]

Must be nice.

Campaign Finance: Who gets what?

28 Thursday Mar 2024

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It’s their world, the rest of us only get to live in it.

We Don’t Talk About Leonard: The Man Behind the Right’s Supreme Court Supermajority
The inside story of how Leonard Leo built a machine that remade the American legal system — and what he plans to do next.
by Andy Kroll, Andrea Bernstein and Ilya Marritz, illustrations by Nate Sweitzer for ProPublica
Oct. 11, 2023, 5 a.m. EDT

THE PARTY GUESTS who arrived on the evening of June 23, 2022, at the Tudor-style mansion on the coast of Maine were a special group in a special place enjoying a special time. The attendees included some two dozen federal and state judges — a gathering that required U.S. marshals with earpieces to stand watch while a Coast Guard boat idled in a nearby cove.

Caterers served guests Pol Roger reserve, Winston Churchill’s favorite Champagne, a fitting choice for a group of conservative legal luminaries who had much to celebrate. The Supreme Court’s most recent term had delivered a series of huge victories with the possibility of a crowning one still to come. The decadeslong campaign to overturn Roe v. Wade, which a leaked draft opinion had said was “egregiously wrong from the start,” could come to fruition within days, if not hours.

Over dinner courses paired with wines chosen by the former food and beverage director of the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., the 70 or so attendees jockeyed for a word with the man who had done as much as anyone to make this moment possible: their host, Leonard Leo.

Short and thick-bodied, dressed in a bespoke suit and round, owlish glasses, Leo looked like a character from an Agatha Christie mystery. Unlike the judges in attendance, Leo had never served a day on the bench. Unlike the other lawyers, he had never argued a case in court. He had never held elected office or run a law school. On paper, he was less important than almost all of his guests.

If Americans had heard of Leo at all, it was for his role in building the conservative supermajority on the Supreme Court. He drew up the lists of potential justices that Donald Trump released during the 2016 campaign. He advised Trump on the nominations of Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. Before that, he’d helped pick or confirm the court’s three other conservative justices — Clarence Thomas, John Roberts and Samuel Alito. But the guests who gathered that night under a tent in Leo’s backyard included key players in a less-understood effort, one aimed at transforming the entire judiciary.

[….]

Today at the Missouri Ethics Commission:

C232453 03/28/2024 Club for Growth Action – Missouri Federal Committee Club for Growth Action 2001 L Street Suite 600 Washington DC 20036 3/27/2024 $500,000.00

C232453 03/28/2024 Club for Growth Action – Missouri Federal Committee Leonard Leo 2760 Eisenhower Ave Alexandria VA 22101 CRC Advisors Chairman 3/28/2024 $1,000,000.00

C232453 03/28/2024 Club for Growth Action – Missouri Federal Committee The Concorn Fund 8300 Boone Blvd Suite 500 Vienna VA 22182 3/28/2024 $1,000,000.00

[emphasis added]

Cui bono?

Previously:

Forced birth (September 10, 2023)

Everybody talks about the weather, nobody does anything about it

28 Thursday Mar 2024

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Mother Nature giveth and Mother Nature taketh away.

On Monday, April 8, 2024 there will be a total solar eclipse across North America from Mexico, across Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, through to Canada.

At this point there’s good news and bad news. The bad news is that the weather forecasts are predicting cloud cover and rain for a significant radius from us. The good news is that weather forecasts this far out aren’t very accurate. We’re crossing our fingers.

Meanwhile, we practice. The Sun this afternoon:

Canon 5D III, Tamron 150-600 mm, 1.4x.
SolarLite Film,/Silver-Black Polymer Film (580-630 nm)
F 11.0, 1/60, ISO 400, 840 mm.

Canon 5D III, Tamron 150-600 mm, 1.4x.
SolarLite Film,/Silver-Black Polymer Film (580-630 nm)
F 9.0, 1/80, ISO 200, 840 mm.

Canon 5D III, Tamron 150-600 mm, 1.4x.
SolarLite Film,/Silver-Black Polymer Film (580-630 nm)
F 9.0, 1/100, ISO 400, 840 mm.

Canon 5D III, Tamron 150-600 mm, 1.4x.
SolarLite Film,/Silver-Black Polymer Film (580-630 nm)
F 9.0, 1/100, ISO 400, 840 mm.

Canon 5D III, Tamron 150-600 mm, 1.4x.
SolarLite Film,/Silver-Black Polymer Film (580-630 nm)
F 11.0, 1/80, ISO 400, 840 mm.

Canon 5D III, 2.8 70-200 mm, 2x III.
NiSi Neutral Density Filter ND100000(5.0) 16.6 stops UV/IR Cut
F 8.0, 1/4000, ISO 400, 400 mm.

Canon 5D III, 2.8 70-200 mm, 2x III.
NiSi Neutral DensityFilter ND100000(5.0) 16.6 stops UV/IR Cut
F 9.0, 1/4000, ISO 200, 400 mm.

Canon 5D III, 2.8 70-200 mm, 2x III.
NiSi Neutral Density Filter ND100000(5.0) 16.6 stops UV/IR Cut
F 10.0, 1/4000, ISO 200, 400 mm.

Previously:

Behold, the Sun (February 23, 2024)

Sunspots (March 20, 2024)

Afternoon Sun (March 23, 2024)

Campaign Finance: Apparently, the pool of out-of-state retired marks has done dried up…

28 Thursday Mar 2024

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Or not.

Last Fall:

Out-of-state donors fuel pair of GOP candidates running for Missouri governor, AG
Bill Eigel has faced accusations that his gubernatorial campaign used deceptive fundraising tactics, drawing a rebuke from former President Trump’s lawyers. The firm behind that strategy also raised cash for attorney general hopeful Will Scharf
BY: RUDI KELLER – OCTOBER 2, 2023 5:55 AM

Becoming a registered Republican was the worst decision B.J. Adams says he ever made.

Adams, a resident of Burlington, North Carolina, isn’t upset with GOP policies. And he loves former President Donald Trump.

But when the 87-year-old conservative who grew up a Democrat finally switched his party registration, he said it unleashed a torrent of fundraising pleas that on one day this year included 66 emails asking for money.

“Definitely my advice would be don’t do it,” Adams said in an interview with The Independent, “because all you’ll do is get a bunch of dumb-ass requests for donations.”

Some solicitations Adams received – and responded to – were from Missouri, though that wasn’t always clear.

His name is among 33,408 donations from individuals reported to the Missouri Ethics Commission this year by Believe in Life and Liberty, or BILL PAC, which is backing state Sen. Bill Eigel’s campaign for the Republican gubernatorial nomination. He also shows up on the report for Eigel’s official campaign committee, which lists 6,914 individual donations this year.

[….]

Yesterday at the Missouri Ethics Commission:

C190784 03/27/2024 Believe in Life and Liberty – BILL PAC DM Law Kansas City 4600 Madison Ave Suite 1200 Kansas City MO 64112 3/27/2024 $40,000.00

C190784 03/27/2024 Believe in Life and Liberty – BILL PAC Langdon & Emison LLC 911 Main Street Lexington MO 64067 3/27/2024 $25,000.00

C190784 03/27/2024 Believe in Life and Liberty – BILL PAC Dollar Burns Becker & Hershewe LLC 1100 Main Street Suite 2600 Kansas City MO 64105 3/27/2024 $25,000.00

C190784 03/27/2024 Believe in Life and Liberty – BILL PAC Brown & Crouppen PC 211 N Broadway Suite 1600 Saint Louis MO 63102 3/27/2024 $25,000.00

C190784 03/27/2024 Believe in Life and Liberty – BILL PAC The Simon Law Firm 800 Market Street Suite 1700 Saint Louis MO 63101 3/27/2024 $20,000.00

C190784 03/27/2024 Believe in Life and Liberty – BILL PAC Strong Law 901 E Saint Louis St #1800 Springfield MO 65806 3/27/2024 $10,000.00

C190784 03/27/2024 Believe in Life and Liberty – BILL PAC Gorny Dandurand 4330 Belleview Ave Suite 200 Kansas City MO 64111 3/27/2024 $10,000.00

C190784 03/27/2024 Believe in Life and Liberty – BILL PAC Shamberg Johnson & Bergman 2600 Grand Blvd Suite 550 Kansas City MO 64108 3/27/2024 $10,000.00

C190784 03/27/2024 Believe in Life and Liberty – BILL PAC Goldblatt & Singer 8182 Maryland Ave Suite 801 Saint Louis MO 63105 3/27/2024 $10,000.00

C190784 03/27/2024 Believe in Life and Liberty – BILL PAC M Blake Heath 5933 Oak Street Kansas City MO 64113 Heath Injury Law 3/27/2024 $7,750.00

C190784 03/27/2024 Believe in Life and Liberty – BILL PAC Michael Campbell 1707 Labrador Drive Columbia MO 65203 Thomas Law Offices 3/27/2024 $7,500.00

[emphasis added]

Nature abhors a vacuum.

Campaign Finance: $1,000,000.00 here, $1,000,000.00 there, pretty soon you’re talking about some serious money

27 Wednesday Mar 2024

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Today at the Missouri Ethics Commission for a PAC that has spent a lot of money on Missouri republicans:

C232436 03/27/2024 Missouri Law Enforcement for Good Government Mike Rayner 167 Lamp and Lantern Village Ste 216 Town and Country MO 63017 Retired 3/27/2024 $1,000,000.00

[emphasis added]

Must be nice.