Previously:

HRCC robocall in the 121st Legislative District: desperation and homophobia (October 27, 2010)

The Missouri HRCC steps in it with homophobic robocalls (October 28, 2010)

Tilley (r) on HRCC robocalls: Uh, that didn’t go very well, did it? (October 28, 2010)

Tilley (r) on HRCC robocalls: “But, but, the Democrats are mean to us…” (October 29, 2010)

In the United States Constitution:

Article. VI.

….The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.

[emphasis added]

In the Missouri Constitution:

Article I

BILL OF RIGHTS

Section 5

…that no person shall, on account of his religious persuasion or belief, be rendered ineligible to any public office or trust or profit in this state…

[emphasis added]

In the aftermath of the offensive robocalls presented across the state by the House republican Campaign Committee (HRCC) which were directed at Democratic Party candidates for the Missouri General Assembly no one in the old media appears to be asking Steve Tilley (r) and the HRCC how the message of the robocalls…

This is an urgent alert for all Christian families….clearly does not share our Christian family values….Paid for by House Republican Campaign Committee, Inc.

…a candidate meeting someone’s definition of “Christian family values” –  coincides with those constitutional clauses.

Well? We’re waiting. [sound of crickets]

Previously:

HRCC robocall in the 121st Legislative District: desperation and homophobia (October 27, 2010)

The Missouri HRCC steps in it with homophobic robocalls (October 28, 2010)

Tilley (r) on HRCC robocalls: Uh, that didn’t go very well, did it? (October 28, 2010)

Heh.

Campaign pulls calls following criticism

Robo-calls from GOP allege Norr had ties with pornography industry.

Roseann Moring • News-Leader • October 29, 2010

….Tilley, the 2011 House speaker-elect, also criticized House Democrats, saying they have run worse ads.

“These calls pale in comparison to the misleading and malicious attacks by the Missouri Democratic Party against Republican candidates across the state,” he said. “I call on my Democrat colleagues to apologize and to do as we have done by ending the negative personal attacks against Republicans contained in ads, calls and mailers in the closing days.”

Yeah, running those bogus robocalls about pornography and religious “family values” is equivalent to pointing out that republicans didn’t pay over $20,000.00 in taxes on time or that they happen to own a plane with a lobbyist. That seems to work really well for old media, you know, all things being equal.

Not enough people read these expense reports (heck, not enough people know how ridiculous the campaign finance laws are in Missouri), so i’ll try my best to make up for it.

As you read this stuff, remember one thing.. these are the people who want your vote because they claim to be fiscally responsible.

We’re gonna start with HRCC spending for Wednesday October 27th, the day the Republican robocalls invaded many Missouri homes.

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/27/2010 Media Buy-Hampton $907.50

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/27/2010 Media Buy-Shumake $15,092.00

Survey St. Louis, LLC PO Box 432 Saint Charles, MO 63302-0432 10/27/2010 IE Advocacy Call-Shumake $2,603.65

Survey St. Louis, LLC PO Box 432 Saint Charles, MO 63302-0432 10/27/2010 IE Advocacy Call-Houghton $2,410.40

Survey St. Louis, LLC PO Box 432 Saint Charles, MO 63302-0432 10/27/2010 IE Advocacy Call-Wyatt $2,135.25

Survey St. Louis, LLC PO Box 432 Saint Charles, MO 63302-0432 10/27/2010 IE Advocacy Call-Redmon $2,334.65

Survey St. Louis, LLC PO Box 432 Saint Charles, MO 63302-0432 10/27/2010 IE Advocacy Call-Cauthorn $2,021.25

Cauthorn’s opponent (Kelly Schultz) was hit by robocalls similar to what happened to Courtney Cole in the 121st. As was Redmon’s opponent (Keri Cottrell), as was Wyatt’s opponent (Rebecca McClanahan). McClanahan’s call was a CIA Black Propaganda call about electing her to help Obama. Cottrell was hit by the “porno” call and i’ve heard Schultz was hit by the same call as well. No reports on if that happened to Carl Thompson or Linda Witte on Wednesday as well. But having 3 of 5 focuses of “advocacy calls” wind up in the same cloud of calls is.. interesting. Right now, Survey St. Louis is my #1 suspect in regards to who put these calls out there.

Survey St. Louis does offer a sweet deal:

Win your Election!

Contact us TODAY, and we will curtail a phone program for your district. This could include; Full District ID, Phone polling, Automated Messages, Live Advocacy Calls, etc.

Do they charge per lie or will they be Ron Burgandy and read anything they give you? Apparently who ever cut the call on Keri Cottrell was too busy hiding behind the phone number for the Adair County Ambulance Service [uhhhh concealing your phone number like that isn’t illegal in Missouri yet?] to figure out how to pronounce Cottrell. Good thing they could handle Cole or Scavuzzo.

How about a look into the HRCC to Victory Enterprises pipeline? Here’s the 8 Day Report.

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/13/2010 Media Buy-Marshall $30,350.00

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/14/2010 TV Production Set-up Fee $10,867.83

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/13/2010 Media Buy-Solon $30,004.50

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/13/2010 IE Radio Buy-Hampton $21,774.50

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/13/2010 IE Radio Buy-Hoskins $21,098.74

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/18/2010 IE Radio Buy-Fitzwater $22,384.91

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/13/2010 Media Buy-Lauer $30,004.50

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/21/2010 Media Buy-Schieber $10,000.00

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/19/2010 IE Radio Buy-Higdon $14,106.00

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/21/2010 Media Buy-C. Brown $23,899.00

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/21/2010 Media Buy-Wieland $25,128.25

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/21/2010 Media Buy-Schneider $23,389.00

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/21/2010 Media Buy-Torpey $14,892.50

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/21/2010 Media Buy-McCaherty $12,488.25

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/21/2010 Media Buy-Cross $14,892.50

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/13/2010 Media Buy-Brattin $20,510.00

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/19/2010 Media Buy-Higdon $19,835.00

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/13/2010 Media Buy-Shumake $9,950.00

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/13/2010 Media Buy-Schneider $10,810.00

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/13/2010 Media Buy-Schieber $7,710.00

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/11/2010 Media Buy-Sellars $8,050.00

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/13/2010 IE Radio Buy-Cookson $7,029.00

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/05/2010 IE Radio Buy-Fitzwater $9,350.31

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/11/2010 IE Radio Buy-Sellars $7,069.50

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/05/2010 Direct Mail/Media Strateg $7,000.00

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/13/2010 Media Buy-Zerr $10,810.00

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/13/2010 IE Radio Buy-Shumake $16,133.55

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/13/2010 IE Radio Buy-Houghton $18,352.00

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/13/2010 Media Buy-Torpey $15,140.00

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/13/2010 Media Buy-Cross $15,140.00

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/13/2010 IE Media Buy-Hoskins $19,576.00

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/13/2010 Media Buy-Hampton $13,050.00

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/13/2010 Media Buy-C. Brown $13,051.00

Victory Enterprises 5200 30th St SW Davenport, IA 52802-3039 10/13/2010 Media Buy-Haefner $13,051.00

In the span of SIXTEEN DAYS, The HRCC gave Victory Enterprises $546,897.84.

Victory netted $111,506.50 from the HRCC on Tuesday alone. ($35,550 for the “TV Production Setup Fee”, $40,050 for a Sellars media buy [running against Sara Lampe], $19,881.50 for Kent Hampton [running against Tom Todd in Kennett], $14,635 for Leach [running against Charlie Norr] and the rest on a poll, and on radio production setup)

Essentially the HRCC hauls trucks of money to Victory every day to do the motherlode of the work for their effort to surf the rumored wave coming up on November 2nd.

Survey St. Louis got $8,802.68 for a “Voter Research Call” on October 13th, 2010 as well. No specification on if it was a robocall, poll, or where it was located. The total of the Wednesday spending was $11505.20 for five districts, so if it was concealed spending on robocalling, it may have went to four districts. So a Missouri firm with no identified leader may be the likely source of the troubles covered in-depth on this site and on Fired Up! Missouri. Although it is worth keeping in mind that there’s a gap where spending is not going to be reported until after the election.

The HRCC also gave $80000 to Public Opinion Strategies for polling. $24500 to Public Pulse Research for candidate research. $107373.65 to Pure Marketing (Including $100881.34 for media for Zack Wyatt in the 2nd and John Cauthorn in the 21st).

The one missing piece that we’re not likely to see before the election.. the details for the “advocacy calls” in the 121st, 137th (Norr/Leach), 17th (Biermann/Schneider), and 124th (Scavuzzo/Brattin). Those are the missing pieces right now. I wouldn’t totally count Victory out, since I’m sure that amongst the hundreds of thousands of dollars sent from Jeff City to Davenport, some of it was used on robocalls. But the shear oddity that three beneficiaries of the calls on Wednesday had “advocacy calls” paid for them on that day is intriguing.

Then again, will the HRCC get their money back from Survey STL for the Robocalls being halted? Victory Enterprises needs more money to build a fort in their offices and $100K from the HRCC should be enough to help them in that endeavor.

Heh.

…I ran out of gas. I, I had a flat tire. I didn’t have enough money for cab fare. My tux didn’t come back from the cleaners. An old friend came in from out of town. Someone stole my car. There was an earthquake. A terrible flood. Locusts. it wasn’t my fault, I swear to God….

Roseanne Mooring (Springfield News Leader) via Twitter:

Robo call update: Rep. @TeamTilley pulled calls, apologized, criticized Dem ad tactics. Read about it in tomorrow’s @springfieldNL.    33 minutes ago  via web  

Previously:

HRCC robocall in the 121st Legislative District: desperation and homophobia (October 27, 2010)

The Missouri HRCC steps in it with homophobic robocalls (October 28, 2010)

The irony impaired opponent of the Missouri Court Plan, Better Courts for Missouri,  doesn’t disclose on their web site who has been funding their opposition to the current appellate judicial selection plan in Missouri. They have been paying for robocalls to get people to pressure the Missouri Senate to change the judicial selection process that has been in effect since 1940. This phone call arrived yesterday:

The transcript:

It’s political manipulation of the Missouri court system. Hand picking judges behind closed doors in almost absolute secrecy. Big city trial lawyers who contribute millions of dollars to politicians are trying to buy power and hand pick our judges. It’s time to stop the trial lawyers’ back room deals. Call XXX-XXX-XXXX and tell your senators to support selecting our judges out in the open, not behind closed doors. Call XXX-XXX-XXXX today. Paid for by Better Courts for Missouri.

Irony of ironies. They criticize alleged non-transparency while being non-transparent.

They would rather pressure the judicial selection process by ginning up astroturf (fake grassroots) opposition to candidates under consideration by the commission. If you like the current way we select United States Supreme Court justices, you’ll love their hopes for the process in Missouri.

Some of our previous coverage:

The irony impaired opponent of the “Missouri Court Plan”

Attack on the Non-Partisan Court Plan

The Missouri Plan: In Plain English

The Missouri Court Plan

The enablers of Peter Kinder (r – “mr. personality”), the incumbent in the Lieutenant Governor race, are certainly relentless when it comes to producing robocalls attacking Sam Page (D).

We’ve previously covered the robocalls and other attacks:

Robocalls against Sam Page (D)

Robocalls against Sam Page (D), parts 2 and 3

Fake Democrat mail targetting Sam Page (D)

Here’s another:

Sam Page has a secret. He’s accepted a large contribution from a Canadian company, breaking a Federal law in the process. In fact, Sam Page admitted it came from a Canadian address. Now, after having been caught Sam Page has all kinds of excuses. The bottom line? Sam Page doesn’t want you to know that he broke the law. Sam Page’s choices are risky for Missouri. On November 4th say “No” to Sam Page. Paid for by Citizens Taking Charge, Patrick Wilson, treasurer.

Typical old school style republican campaign tactics. I figure their “…was found to have voted with Vito Marcantonio” robocall will be out any day now.  

Two postings at Kos focus on Missouri, specifically on the difference in the two presidential campaigns here.

The first explains the difference in robocall strategies. Yeah, I’ve gotten that McCain robocall–twice–informing me that Obama consorts with William Ayers … blah de dee blah blah blah. But Devilstower tells us that the media says Obama has been playing dirty too:

Of course, NPR points out that the Obama campaign is also using robocalls. Except it’s not the national campaign, it’s the the Democratic Party. Except it’s not the national party, it’s the Missouri state party making calls only in Missouri.

“I’m calling to make sure you received something in the mail recently describing John McCain’s plans to give tax cuts for companies that ship jobs overseas.”

Ah ha! A message from a state party attacking McCain’s tax policy. That’s completely equivalent to the McCain campaign running a massive national program to say that Obama is a terrorist dupe. At least it is for the media, who uses examples like this to say that Obama is also running “negative ads.”

The second Kos posting analyzes the crowds Obama and McCain drew in Missouri last weekend.

Obama drew 100,000 and 75,000 while McCain drew “dozens of supporters”–3,000 in St. Charles and 15 whole people in Columbia. In the interest of fairness, did the McCain campaign require that people get tickets in advance? Surely that would lower the attendance–though … not by 97,000.

I’ve received two more robocalls from “Citizens Taking Charge” (Of what? Mud?) attacking Sam Page, the Democratic Party candidate for Lt. Governor.

Our previous coverage:

Robocalls against Sam Page (D)

Here’s the first call:

Dr. Sam Page has the wrong prescription for Missouri’s children. Sam Page says he’s concerned about Missouri’s children, but it doesn’t show. Sam Page voted against background checks for foster parents, putting thousands of Missouri children at risk. Sam Page also voted to allow an investigation of child abuse to close if the child dies during the investigation. Sam Page’s choices are risky for Missouri. On November 4th say “No” to Sam Page. Paid for by Citizens Taking Charge, Patrick Wilson, treasurer.

The beginning of the next phone call was cut of by the answering machine:

…[sup]ports public education, but it doesn’t show. Sam Page voted against funding Missouri’s education budget eleven times. Sam Page voted against three hundred and twenty five million dollars in new funding for Missouri’s public schools. Sam Page’s choices are risky for Missouri. On November 4th say “No” to Sam Page. Paid for by Citizens Taking Charge, Patrick Wilson, treasurer.

Why, that’s enough to make you want you to take Sam Page out back and beat the crap out of him. At least that’s what they want voters to think.

We’ll have this kind of negative campaign tactics for as long as they work. We can do our part to make sure these tactics don’t work this election cycle. Get out and vote a straight Democratic Party ballot on November 4th (remember, you’ve got to mark the Democrat for each race since the republican controlled General Assembly got rid of the straight party check off on the ballot).

Sam Page’s campaign is answering Peter Kinder’s direct (non-surrogate) attacks in an e-mail to supporters:

…By now you may have seen or heard the attacks of my opponent, Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder.  His negative advertisements confirm two facts we’ve known for some time 1) He’s behind in the polls 2) He doesn’t even recognize that a moral/ethical line exists.

Beginning a TV presence with negative advertising is a tell tale sign of an incumbent who’s behind.  His distortions go beyond twisting the truth; they are just down right lies.

In one of his disgraceful attacks, my opponent says I voted to increase Medicaid reimbursements so I could make myself and my friends more wealthy.  Those of us in the medical field know that no body makes money on Medicaid.   Many medical practices serving Medicaid populations can hardly make ends meet and are in danger of having to close their doors.

In another, Lt. Gov. Kinder attacks me for voting against a bill that would have made it more difficult for the state to investigate cases of physical and sexual abuse against children.  Twice in the media, he has attacked me for this, and twice third parties have provided verification that my position was right.

From the KY3 Political Blog: “In voting against house bills 679 and 396 in 2003, Sam Page was defending children in foster care,” says Lori Burns-Bucklew, attorney and member of the Kansas City Prevention Roundtable.  “There were so many reasons to vote against this bill. For example, it required addresses of foster homes to be disclosed which put the foster kids’ safety in jeopardy, and it would have put children at risk by making it more difficult to prosecute cases of child abuse. Sam Page did the right thing,” she adds…

In defending this legislation, Lt. Gov. Kinder is saying he favors legislation to make it more difficult to investigate and prosecute cases of physical and sexual abuse against children.  I’ve challenged Lt. Gov. Kinder to find one reputable child care advocate who agrees with his position.

The Kansas City Star Editorial Board also agreed with my position in 2003: In July, Holden vetoed the bill, which would make numerous changes in Missouri’s child-protection system.  His reasons were sound: It would have limited the state’s power to supoena witnesses in abuse and neglect cases, taking away an important tool in finding out the truth. It would also have required law enforcement officials to videotape child witnesses. Experts say that could be frightening to the children and could discourage them from talking…

From Sam Page’s campaign:

“No” to seat belts on school buses? The Lt. Governor’s race between incumbent Peter Kinder (r) and Sam Page (D) has reached a point of absurdity.

On Thursday (at some point) I received a robocall. It left a message on my answering machine.

[male voice – recorded] Doctor Same Page has the wrong prescription for Missouri’s children. Sam Page supports forcing our children to wear seat belts on school buses. Despite study after study that proves school buses are safer without seat belts, Sam Page thinks he has the better answer. Sam Page wants to take another decision out of the hands of parents and local school districts and put it into the hands of state government. Sam Page’s choices are risky for Missouri. On November 4th say “No” to Sam Page. Paid for by Citizens Taking Charge, Patrick Wilson, treasurer.

In the hierarchy of wedge issues I’m wondering where this fits in. Are they telling us they’ve run out of gas on God, gays, and guns? Wow.

Where did this come from?:

A PAC [pdf] which hasn’t filed much yet.

This has really got to be a hot button issue. I wonder if our current Lt. Governor has taken the lead on keeping our kids out of seat belts?

I checked out Peter Kinder’s campaign web site to see if there was anything on the issue of seat belts on school buses.

Nope. Nothing there. Nothing about putting them in seat belts either. I called Peter Kinder’s campaign office. Apparently there was no one in on a Saturday.

Sam Page, on the other hand, appears to be concerned about the safety of children:

I think I have this straight. The republicans and their surrogates don’t want children wearing seat belts. That’s it? Is this the issue that republicans have been reduced to running on?

I called Sam Page’s campaign office today. They answered the phone. Sam Page’s campaign has released a statement about Peter Kinder’s (r) campaign tactics:

“It is shameful but not surprising that Lt. Gov. Kinder can’t find enough positive accomplishments during his term to fill a 30 second commercial,” Page said.  “He has picked up right where he left off in the primary, distorting my record because he is unable to defend his own record of slashing health services to 400,000 Missourians and siding with insurance companies instead of protecting seniors from investment fraud.

“Missouri voters won’t be fooled by the attacks of a desperate campaign.”