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Chris Koster’s campaign issued the following press release today:

Missourians for Koster Statement on Missouri Ethics Commission Ruling

ST. LOUIS-In response to the Missouri Ethics Commission ruling that political candidates who received contributions in excess of current contribution limits must either return the contributions or file a claim of hardship, the Koster campaign released the following statement:

“Today, Missourians for Koster notified the Missouri Ethics Commission that they intend to begin the process of returning contributions from individuals in excess of current contribution limits.”

In the Senate (both in the US Senate and here in Missouri), the senators debate a bill until there’s an agreement that the debate’s over. Only then a final vote can be taken. The vote to end debate (called a cloture vote) requires a supermajority, while a final vote generally requires only a simple majority to pass. A filibuster is an attempt to prevent a bill from passing by keeping it from ever coming to a vote.

Jimmy Stewart’s character in “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” made the filibuster famous by singlehandedly stalling the entire Senate. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you view the bills being passed) the movie is misleading; a single Senator can’t hold up a bill that way. S/he needs 39 accomplices in the US Senate to go along – otherwise, the rest of the Senate would vote for cloture, bringing the debate to an end.

Nowadays, a full-fledged filibuster hardly ever happens, with all the images it conjures up of talking to all hours of the night reading from the Federalist Papers, recipe books, the Bible, and letters from home. The filibustering side threatens, and if they have the votes, the bill is usually withdrawn without so much as a cloture vote.

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Ed Appelbaum loses to Tom Dempsey 56% – 44%.

 
• The Missouri Senate voted to pass the development bill late last night. The entire Missouri Legislature has now passed the bill. h/t Pub Def

 

• Blunt has withdrawn Rick Sullivan and Derio Gambaro as recess appointments. Sullivan had been appointed to be CEO of the St. Louis School District, and Gambaro was on the state Board of Education. Both were blocked by their home district senators, Joan Bray and Jeff Smith, respectively. Gambaro was Smith’s rival in last year’s 4th District race. h/t Pub Def (again!)

 

• Via green rising, Ameren UE has launched a voluntary Pure Power program. Customers can pay slightly more (1.5 cents more per kWh) to have their energy produced entirely by wind and other renewable sources. I’m signing up right now.

 

• McCaskill would support Talent as US Attorney General? Whaaaa? In fairness, she said Talent wouldn’t be her preference, because he has no background in law enforcement. Still…

Missouri state senator Chris Koster attended a Johnson County Democratic Club event in Warrensburg on Saturday, August 11th. MoDem wrote about attending the event and posted his account on Kos.

In the interest of full disclosure – I am currently a member of and the elected chair of the 31st Senate District Democratic Committee (the district Chris Koster represents). As a party committee we work to elect Democratic candidates in the district – including our state senator. I have spoken at some length with Senator Koster and will do so in the future.

We had a decent size crowd of 50 to 60 people – for a very hot Saturday afternoon in August. Senator Koster made the rounds visiting with groups of individuals sitting at tables. Gary Grigsby, president of the Democratic club introduced office holders who were in attendance.

Koster was introduced to the crowd by Gary Grigsby. He spoke at length on the reasons for his change to the Democratic Party – focusing on continuing republican opposition to stem cell research. He also made reference to his belief in collective bargaining – there were various labor members in attendance.

After his remarks there was an in depth discussion of the Missouri non-partisan court plan. Several members of the bar in attendance contributed to the discussion, as did Senator Koster. I spoke of the exchange of letters between Chief Justice Stith and the Blunt administration.

The crowd responded positively to Chris Koster. People asked him questions and seemed genuinely pleased that he was there and responsive.

Former Senator Harold Caskey, who represented the district for 28 years, was in attendance and visited at length with Senator Koster.

I was also present at Koster’s press conference on August 1st announcing his switch to the Democratic Party. The Kansas City Star has a video of that press conference at the Cass County Justice Center in Harrisonville, Missouri.

Two prominent Democrats in my area have worked with Chris Koster for years in his previous capacity of Cass County Prosecuting Attorney. Both speak very highly of his beliefs (“he’s a Democrat”) and both have told me that they had been talking to him for years about making the switch. This was not an overnight deal – it is my perception that the concerted republican assault on the Missouri judiciary finally pushed him over the edge.

At his press conference Chris Koster stated the following as reasons for his switch (in the context of “extremist” republican orthodoxy): republican opposition to stem cell research, republican opposition to raising the minimum wage, continued republican opposition to workers rights – collective bargaining, continued republican opposition to family planning, and the republican failure to promote economic development, particularly in bio tech and life sciences.

In particular Koster emphasized that the republicans in Missouri were moving to criminalize stem cell research stating, “go to Boston for your Nobel Prize, come to Missouri for your leg irons.”

Koster spent quite a bit of time on the republican assault on the Missouri non-partisan judicial plan, calling the “baby” Blunt administration’s attacks on the Missouri judiciary “vituperative.” When asked by a media reporter if he was blaming Blunt, Koster replied, “The [Blunt] administration could make it stop [go away] if they wanted to.”

Koster stated “republican moderates are all but extinct” and that his decision was “a break with the party that has gone too far to the right.”

In the two public events I have attended I have been impressed by Senator Koster. I believe he is sincere in his reasons for leaving the republican party. I am very much aware of his considerable political talents – especially in reaching out to individuals. He should not be underestimated nor should his change in party affiliation be reduced just to the current circulating republican sound bite “political opportunism”.

( – promoted by Clark)

David Pearce (republican, 121st Legislative District) announced to the media today that he was a candidate for the 31st Senatorial District race in 2008 – a seat currently held by newly minted Democrat Chris Koster.

Pearce’s press release appeared in today’s Warrensburg Daily Star Journal [no link, this dead tree media is still in the early twentieth century, though they sometime have color photos], front page, above the fold.

Pearce’s press release stated that his past legislative agenda included bills to “prohibit sexually oriented billboards, bar the operation of private treatment centers for convicted sex offenders and protect Second Amendment rights…[and] also …co-sponsored pro-life legislation…” There was no mention in the article of deer deductibles.

The announcement came as no surprise to anyone who read Pearce’s latest quarterly campaign finance report, showing over $20,000 cash on hand, filed with the Missouri Ethics Commission. The cash on hand was much greater then his previous reports this far out to the election. In what amounted to the worst kept secret of his political career he changed the name of his campaign committee to “Pearce [20]08” [correction] on his last quarterly report.

He is apparently running to represent banking political action committees:

MBA State PAC 207 E. Capitol Ave Jefferson City, MO 65101 06/12/2007 $650.00

MBA Pony Express Region PAC 207 E. Capitol Ave Jefferson City, MO 65101 06/12/2007 $650.00

MBA Mark Twain Region PAC 207 E. Capitol Ave Jefferson City, MO 65101 06/12/2007 $650.00

MBA Truman Region PAC 207 E. Capitol Ave Jefferson City, MO 65101 06/12/2007 $650.00

MBA Capitol Region PAC 207 E. Capitol Ave. Jefferson City, MO 65101 06/12/2007 $650.00

MBA Gateway Region PAC 207 E. Capitol Ave. Jefferson City, MO 65101 06/12/2007 $650.00

MBA River Heritage PAC 207 E. Capitol Ave Jefferson City, MO 65101 06/12/2007 $650.00

MBA Ozark Region PAC 207 E. Capitol Ave Jefferson City, MO 65101 06/12/2007 $650.00

The next quarterly campaign finance report should make for interesting reading.