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Tag Archives: ALEC

Calling out ALEC?

12 Monday Apr 2021

Posted by Michael Bersin in Josh Hawley, social media

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

ALEC, chutzpah, gaslighting, Hypocrisy, Josh Hawley, missouri, right wingnut, social media, Twitter

Finally, a republican with the courage to call out the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) for its undue corporatist influence in pushing legislation affecting all Americans. Oh, wait…

Josh Hawley (r) [2016 file photo].

…it’s Josh Hawley (r).

Last night:

Josh Hawley @HawleyMO
Oligarchy defined: The most powerful corporations in America get together to plan how to control legislation in dozens of states
[….]
8:10 PM · Apr 11, 2021

Some of the comments:

How many corporations decided they could no longer abide by states that allowed segregated public accommodations?
Think about how the MLB decided they would no longer abide by state laws that prevented Negros from playing together on baseball fields.
What are you going to do?

Yeah can’t they just let Republicans suppress voters in peace?

Oligarchy-
See January 6, 2021

Hmm it’s almost like corporate lobbyists have been up to this for years but u liked it then

I’m sure Josh is equally opposed to the work ALEC has been doing for many years (sarcasm)

Like corporations and Republicans never had a cup of coffee together? Nice try, Josh.

No dear, the most powerful co”s in the USA get together to discuss how to stop giving money to states, parties and politicians trying to keep minorities and people of color from voting. You scared? You should be!

Um, y’all are the ones trying to limit who can vote.

Sounds like you should make a stand and return all your corporate contributions.

That’s laugh-out-loud funny! Now tell us how you don’t accept corporate donations, campaign or otherwise, since it would create an appearance of impropriety or an outright conflict of interest.
What’s that? Speak up! We, the People, can’t seem to hear you.

GOP set all this in motion. “Corporations are people”. This was efforts to line the pockets of lawmakers through lobbyists and contributions to campaigns. And this is EXACTLY how it was predicted to play out. Funny how it’s not as cool when against you huh?

I thought Republican values reflected that corporations are like people? Seems like no man, woman, company would want to back such an obvious racist set of voting restrictions.

Oh, but then there’s the GOP!

Think about this, Biden is trying to raise corporate taxes and yet they are still against Republican attempts to limit voter rights. Let that sink in Josh, we’ll wait.

They’ve been doing it forever. They just used to do it behind closed doors and in ways you liked. Maybe if you actually listened to your constituents we wouldn’t have to count on corporations being more in touch with the national pulse.

Oligarchy defined means a small group of people having control of a country or organization.
This is for all the kids who have a history test tomorrow and have seen Josh Hawley’s tweet by mistake

Theocracy is a form of oligarchy…
Isn’t that what you’re going for?

Also, if that is suppose to be a definition you texted there, I think you better actually look up the definition this time.

That’s what they’ve been doing up to this point, now you don’t like it?

Republicans supported Corp. donations saying they deserved a voice too. So now they are speaking up. They listen to their customers and employees. Politicians like you do not listen.
Live with it.

“I love the free market, unless the free market does something that I don’t like”

Oligarchy defined. The people already with power and money in government try to fix the voting to disenfranchise fellow citizens so they can get or stay in govt office.

#StopVoterSuppression

It’s called listening to their consumers and being smart enough to know that all these voter bills are just voter supression under the guise of “integrity” nothing less.

Fascism defined: the will of the people takes a back seat to desires of those in power without popular consent.

Republicans complaining about corporate influence. That’s rich.

So it’s okay when they conspire with the GOP to weaken labor and environmental standards, but not when they want to protect voting rights? Hypocrisy is so confusing.

Corporations are people, according to Citizens United, so they have right to free speech, #SeditionBoy. Care to rescind that abomination to democracy?

Overturn Citizens United then

What corporations are funding YOU Joshy? Let’s not pretend you are doing this on $5 and $10 donations, m’okay?!

You are saying groups that want to encourage voting are wrong. How can you be in the US Congress and me against more participation in the republic? Did you EVER take any civics class in your life?

A more accurate definition of oligarchy: ALEC’s voter suppression legislation
template being rolled out by gop state legislator minions in dozens of states.

Well, corporations are people, aren’t they? Citizens United not looking so good now, is it?

Fecklessness defined: Josh Hawley seeing rampant voter suppression, doing nothing, then being angry that corporations are more patriotic than he is.

Just like how your GOP colleagues try to control and suppress voters in dozens of states

you know you’ve REALLY taken a wrong turn when even corporate America can see the GOP is a sinking ship.

Looks like you’ll have to do tricks for donations.

But enough about ALEC

You’re such a thin veil

Ever hear of ALEC?

Irony in josh the insurrectionist’s world is clearly dead

Chutzpah, on the other hand, is very much alive.

Previously:

Senator Claire McCaskill (D) – town hall in Warrensburg – Press Q and A – August 17, 2017 (August 17, 2017)

What passes for a flatbed truck at “…Yale, I think, or Harvard, one of those, one of those fancy ones…” (August 16, 2018)

Josh Hawley (r): throwing shit against the wall to see if anything sticks (December 30, 2020)

Josh Hawley (r): ladders and rakes (December 30, 2020)

Ladder Climbing 101: by the book (December 31, 2020)

Burning bridges (December 31, 2020)

Sedition, sedition…sedition (January 2, 2021)

What it is, is sedition… (January 3, 2021)

If you can’t stand the heat, trample people on your way to a live mic (January 3, 2021)

Nothing much going on. Why do you ask? (January 3, 2021)

The third Senator from Virginia (January 5, 2021)

Fascist pig (January 6, 2021)

What hath Josh Hawley (r) wrought? (January 6, 2021)

Josh Hawley (r): Dumbass (January 7, 2021)

Sedition is bad for business (January 11, 2021)

HCR 10 and HCR 11 (January 12, 2021)

Josh Hawley (r): “I no mye misoori constitutents our reely stoopit.” (January 14, 2021)

Ignite (January 15, 2021)

Campaign Finance: Dayam (January 16, 2021)

Penrose on Politics: Taps Closed to Insurrectionists (January 17, 2021)

Josh Hawley (r): Why not add “obstructionist asshole” to the list, it’s just one more thing, right? (January 21, 2021)

Penrose on Politics: Hawley’s Hallmark Moment (January 23, 2021)

Josh Hawley (r): looking ahead to 2024 (January 23, 2021)

After 17 days of silence (January 24, 2021)

Yeah, but those seven Senators didn’t pump their fists at insurrectionists immediately before the breach of the Capitol (January 25, 2021)

A shooting star elbow drop from the ropes (January 28, 2021)

Josh Hawley (r): you got your wish (January 31, 2021)

If Josh Hawley (r) steps in front of a microphone today we get six more weeks of sedition. (February 2, 2021)

On the wrong side of everything (February 3, 2021)

Penrose On Politics: Hawley’s Crybaby Tour (February 6, 2021)

You got that one right (February 8, 2021)

Senator “Raise My Fist in Sedition” (r) has an opinion (February 10, 2021)

Working on the galley proofs for that right wingnut welfare vanity press book? (February 10, 2021)

Penrose On Politics: Hawley’s Indifference (February 13, 2021)

Eric Greitens (r) is on line one… (February 13, 2021)

Penrose On Politics: Hawley’s Mail (February 20, 2021)

What is Josh Hawley’s (r) favorite whine? (February 23, 2021)

Again, we already knew that (February 26, 2021)

Offered without comment (March 2, 2021)

The people you pay $174,000.00 a year believe that all billionaires are in desperate need of their help and that you haven’t suffered enough (March 6, 2021)

Home every night (March 7, 2021)

Penrose On Politics: Huckster Hawley (March 13, 2021)

“They could never do more damage than you have already done.” (March 17, 2021)

Anybody see Josh Hawley (r)? (March 17, 2021)

SB 528: Wolverines! (March 24, 2021)

Long term memory loss (March 30, 2021)

A voice in the wilderness (March 31, 2021)

Secretly wants to join the “minutemen of the state” so he can wear a brown shirt (April 8, 2021)

Sue Allen: No longer under the radar

03 Sunday Apr 2016

Posted by willykay in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

ALEC, campaign finance, corruption, earnings tax, HJR 104, Kurt Schaefer, Maryland v. Wynne, missouri, Missouri Ethics Commission, Rex Sinquefield, Sue Allen

I first encountered GOP state Rep. Sue Allen a few years ago when, along with fellow GOP Reps. Cole McNary and Andrew Koenig, she “co-hosted,” a showing of the film, “Not evil, just wrong.” The film is a cleverly made compendium of many of the distortions and lies that have emanated from the climate change denialist right over the past few years. When I questioned some of its contentions in the Q & A session that followed, Allen became visibly annoyed and told me that this was an informational meeting for constituents and implied that I should shut-up if not get-out.  I explained that I was, in fact, a constituent of her co-host Andrew Koenig, and she retreated – without responding to my question – but visibly discombobulated. I refrained from asking her what she thought the word “constituent” meant.

I bring this up because the encounter helped form my impression of Allen who, a few years later, thanks to redistricting, became my representative in the people’s house of the state of Missouri. My image was of a crass Tea Party darling, willing to use intimidation and lies to sell the party-line. Imagine my surprise when Allen’s frequent email Capitol Reports rarely presented me with anything more controversial than accounts of visits from girl scouts to the capital or  descriptions of neutral legislative initiatives. Or if they weren’t neutral they were consistently  described as if they were. For instance, she recently noted that the House continued to work on “voter fraud”  – but she left it at that, not a word about the contentious hearings on the matter, while the crucial words “voter ID’ were nowhere to be found. Her conservative colors do show through, but any hint of the GOP radicalism that has been on display in the lege over the past few years has only rarely surfaced.

My impression that Allen was one of those blood-red-state types trying to pose as a less threatening soft pink was reinforced when I learned that she was one of three Missouri lawmakers identified by the Missouri Ethics Commission for being lavishly wined and dined by corporate lobbyists “with interests before the General Assembly” during a 2014 American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) junket in Dallas. At issue were efforts to hide the identity of the three recipients of the lobbyist largesse in subsequent mandatory reports. It wasn’t just the hint of corruption that hit home , but the fact that keeping the hardcore stuff under the radar, a longtime hallmark of ALEC and its legislative acolytes, also seemed to be Allen’s modus operandi.

Allen’s latest Capital Report (3/31), however, does attempt to deal openly if not very  honestly with a controversial issue: a bill filed by Allen, HJR 104, which would allow the entire state to vote on a purely municipal issue, abolishing city earnings taxes. Allen’s bill calls for a constitutional amendment which  would go directly to the state’s voters, bypassing the Governor’s desk and his potential veto.

I suspect that this move resulted in lots of unwelcome publicity for Allen.  Which is not surprising: when asked why she filed the bill, she responded that “the measure ‘is not something I’m spending a lot of time on so I’d rather you not address this with me’ […] Additionally, she said she filed the bill because someone asked her to, but she would not identify the individual who did so.” Might excite a little constituent outrage perhaps?

Allen’s newsletter screed seems desperate to justify this favor for an unnamed beneficiary. And what better excuse than the Constitution, as represented in a Supreme Court ruling in Maryland v. Wynne (May 1915) .  The ruling found that “disallowing local income tax credit for taxes paid in other states is unconstitutional.”  Or, as Allen put it:

House Joint Resolution 104 calls for a state-wide vote on requiring the earnings tax to be replaced by January 1, 2030 or 14 years. A recent Supreme Court ruling could require both Kansas City and St. Louis to give up large portions of their revenues, as gathered by the earnings taxes, in credits to other states. In addition, there could potentially be a requirement to refund millions to those taxed under this system. If either of these scenarios happen, both cities will have an immediate, large reduction in revenue with no apparent plan in place to replace the earnings tax. HJR 104 provides up to 14 years for a reasonable replacement plan to be put in place. This resolution is a proactive step toward lessening the potential impact a ruling from the Supreme Court could inflict on St. Louis revenues and will give local governments and voter’s time to come up with REAL solutions.

In the recent case of Comptroller of the Treasury of Maryland v. Wynne, the U.S. Supreme Court held that an individual’s resident state cannot tax an income without ensuring that income is not being double taxed. Currently, St. Louis does not give ANY tax credits for taxes paid to other areas which can result in taxes being levied from two authorities on the same income, which is unconstitutional under the U.S. Constitution’s commerce clause. For example, if you live in St. Louis but work in Illinois, your income could be taxed by Illinois and Missouri under the current law.

It is not actually true that, as Allen claims above, the ruling would “require both Kansas City and St. Louis to give up large portions of their revenues, as gathered by the earnings taxes, in credits to other states.” The Wynne ruling is complex, but the gist seems to be that there must be an accommodation that conforms to tests of internal and external consistency vis-a-vis interstate commerce to avoid double taxation on personal income subject to taxation in more than one jurisdiction. Both cities believe that they meet the tests.

Kansas City actually has a credit arrangement with  Kansas that ensures its compliance with the ruling – which probably  accounts for the fact that it was recently removed from Senator Kurt Schaefer’s (R-19) legislation to abolish Missouri earnings taxes. Nor is St. Louis Mayor Slay concerned by the constitutional issues; as he explained to  the members of the House, St. Louis passed a law in February that brought them into compliance with  Wynne – I guess Allen wasn’t at work that day. As far as residents of other Missouri jurisdictions, such as St. Louis County who work in St. Louis and pay  taxes there, I notice that the Missouri tax code allows them to deduct earning taxes if they so choose.

The constitutional argument belatedly pushed front and center by Senator Kurt Schaeffer (R-19) and, most recently, by Sue Allen, isn’t likely to hold water. An article published in the Pitch last January observed:

Schaefer’s argument about the constitutionality of the tax is a new tactic for him. He didn’t raise constitutional questions last summer, when he first broached the idea of ridding Kansas City and St. Louis of the earnings tax. Rather, he proposed the move as a punitive measure for those cities seeking to increase their minimum wage beyond the state-proscribed $7.65 an hour. In a June 12 letter to his colleagues, Schaefer proposed eliminating the earnings tax as a means of giving money back to employers and employees.

Along with punishing cities that don’t go along with GOP orthodoxy, there is very convincing speculation that big gifts from billionaire Rex Sinquefield, who has fought long and hard to eliminate the earnings tax, may explain some of Schaefer’s animus. Sinquefield made a direct gift of $750,000 to support of Schaefer’s candidacy for Attorney  General – along with”thousands more indirectly from Sinquefield through Grow Missouri, a free-economy political action committee that is funded in large part by Sinquefield.”

Which brings us back to Sue Allen.  Remember the unnamed individual who asked her to file a bill that would let rabidly conservative out-staters vote on St. Louis’ earnings tax?  Wonder who she’s so eager to do favors for? Guess what? According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “since December 2014, Allen has received $4,500 from Grow Missouri, a Sinquefield-backed group.”

So what can we infer from all this? When it comes to legislative “favors,” one hand greases the other, as they say. And although Allen herself is term-limited and will leave the legislature, her husband, Mike Allen, plans to run for her seat. It’s always worthwhile to keep those family hands well-greased and if it gets out that you have a taste for the oily stuff, if you possibly can, putting a constitutional label on  your grease pot will hide a multitude of sins.

Slightly edited for clarity.

Who are the AFP BFFs in the Missouri legislature?

16 Friday Oct 2015

Posted by willykay in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

ALEC, Americans for Prosperity, Andrew Koenig, Delus Johnson, Jared Taylor, Kirk Mathews, Koch brothers, Mark Parkinson

Yesterday I wrote about the Americans for Prosperity (AFP) efforts to scare Missouri GOP legislators into complete submission to its kill-the-income-tax and death-to-all-regulation goals. It strikes me today that it would be worthwhile to list the folks who voted the AFP party line 99% of the time, thus earning an “A+” rating – and probably earning a nice little campaign stash from the Koch brothers who are the AFP’s daddies.

So in short order find below an annotated list of those who want to make Missouri into a Kochestan disaster area similar to that in Kansas. These are the folks whose “lifetime” voting scores agree 99% of the time with AFP druthers; some have only earned a straight “A” for 2015 legislative session while some of those who have slightly lower lifetime scores earned “A+” for the 2015 year, but are not listed below. Individual votes on the legislation that the AFP chose as benchmarks can be found on the scorecard. And the lifetime A+ers are:

Rep. Justin Hill (R-108): Hill, whose first served in the 2015 session, ran in 2014 on campaign themes of no-taxes, lots of guns, and making abortion harder; these themes, especially the tax rhetoric, are reflected in much the legislation he has sponsored, resulting, I assume, in the the AFP high marks he earned during his legislative novitiate.

Rep. Delus Johnson (R-009): Johnson, who in his role as House Majority Whip is a member of the GOP leadership, is a useful ally for the AFP. He keeps a low profile, votes the party line, particularly when it comes to lowering corporate taxes, although he seems to have a real animus against laws requiring motor-cycle helmets. He couches it as deference to Missouri motorcycle tourists from states without such laws, but it probably also reflects the general right-wing “nanny-state” silliness. I gotta admit though, when it comes to his more eccentric interests, he’s got me when it comes to his crusade against the yearly time-shifting caused by daylight saving time. But that’s just me.

Rep. Andrew Koenig (R-099): This piece of work, and I say this with some authority since before the recent redistricting Koenig was my Representative, is running for the State Senate next year. Poor Missouri. For the last several years I’ve followed his never-ending crusade to enact a regressive fair- or flat-tax, and his all-out war against reproductive health choice with great interest (he’s also big on stopping the teaching of evolution in public schools). He really impressed me by literally almost running out of my yard when he was canvassing door-to-door for votes and I responded to his question about choice. I never knew that I was that scary – nobody else runs away.

Rep. Kirk Mathews (R-101): Mathews has served in the lege only since 2014 and seems to have done little of note apart from voting a good anti-tax, anti union line. He ran unopposed in a heavily Republican district and identified “state sovereignty and protection of family values” as his big issues. in other words he’s a tenther, anti-abortion, anti-woman, and anti-gay. He claims to have had lots of experience with Medicaid in his business career, but since none of the key votes identified by the AFP this time around dealt with the Obamacare Medicaid expansion to any real extent, it remains to be seen how this knowledge will pan out in his policy positions.

Rep. Mark Parkinson (R-105): Parkinson has served in the lege since 2008 and apart from his tweeting propensities – he “accidentally shared” a photo of oversized male genitalia last year – he is notable for legislation clamping down on undocumented immigrants; he modeled his legislation on the draconian Arizona laws which according to Parkinson was meant to satisfy the demands of “95% of my constituents” in St. Charles.

Rep. Jared Taylor (R-139): Taylor has served since 2014 and got busy right away trying to cut benefits to children and Missouri’s poor. He has declared that “our state has to balance its budget otherwise we would be in debt, not because we don’t tax enough, but because we spend too much.” But it is his primary sponsorship of HB1285, a right-to-work bill, that likely gilded the Taylor lilly for the AFP. Otherwise, his anti-(women, common-core, union) and pro-guns stance fit the standard rightwing GOP profile.

Rob Veccovo (R-112): Like many of the A+ representatives, Vescovo has only served in the 2015 session so he has had little time to offend the sensibilities of the AFP – but he seems to be on course to keep a high rating, professing the ideology of “of smaller government, less regulations, less taxes, less intrusions and more self-reliance” all of which helps to make a healthy and happy Koch industries corporation as well as jollying up lots of other corporate CEOs.

The folks described above are the superstars of the most recent AFP scorecard. There are a few other high-achievers; I counted seven upon whom a lifetime “A” grade had been bestowed and seven with an “A-” grade. And of course there are lots of “B” grades – AFP seems to grade on the curve.

The State Senate, however, where folks are a bit more responsible, and where they usually have more legislative experience produced no “A” grades other than the three “A-” marks assigned to Senators Ed Emery (R-31), Rob Schaaf (R-34), and Eric Schmitt (R-15). But hey, an A- still represents lots of respectable effort devoted to smoothing the course for Missouri’s annexation to Kochestan.

If you care to cross-check, I think you’ll find lots of the AFP high-achievers are also members of or associated with the corporate front organization, The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) – also a Koch enterprise. Ed Emery, ALEC’s man in Missouri, actually boasts of his association with the organization. Any way you look at it, the desires of the emerging American oligarchy as represented by Koch inspired front organizations is well-represented in the Missouri legislature.

Right to get paid less and have fewer benefits

03 Wednesday Jun 2015

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

ALEC, General Assembly, governor, Jay Nixon, labor, missouri, veto

A television commercial running this evening in the Kansas City media market:

Right to work. It has nothing to do with rights or work. It’s about greed. It’s about CEOs who make around three hundred and sixty times what the average worker makes getting more. And it’s about politicians overreaching to give big out of state corporations who fill their campaign coffers more power to cut wages and benefits. Right to work isn’t right and it doesn’t work. Call Governor Nixon. Thank him for protecting our workers and opposing so called right to work law.

[Call Governor Nixon

855-463-8386

Thank him for

opposing

right to work]

[MiddleclassMO.org

Paid for by Preserve Middle Class America]

Previously:

HB 116 & 569: great moments in legislative prognostication (February 11, 2015)

Not so smart ALECs (May 12, 2015)

A reminder (May 12, 2015)

A reminder

13 Wednesday May 2015

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

ALEC, General Assembly, Keith English, missouri, Right to work

Today the republican controlled Missouri Senate shutdown a filibuster to pass ALEC promoted anti-labor legislation:

Alex Stuckey ‏@alexdstuckey

There are only 14 known previous questions raised in @MissouriSenate since 1867 #moleg #RightToWork 6:25 PM – 12 May 2015

Scott Sifton ‏@ScottSifton

Today the lines were drawn between those who stand with working families and those who stand against them. 8:20 PM – 12 May 2015

A year ago:

Dude, you’ve got bigger problems than an out of the way blog with dozens of readers (May 6, 2014)

We just received this Facebook message from someone identified as [Representative] Keith English. We have no idea if it really is him.

A Facebook message from Representative Keith English? Really?

Keith English

Thanks

RIGHT TO WORK AND

PAYCHECK IS GONE FOR 2

YEARS.. THANKS

Sent from Jefferson City, MO

[….]

It’s in the republicans’ nature.

That nice office location ain’t lookin’ so good anymore, eh?

Previously:

HB 116 & 569: great moments in legislative prognostication (February 11, 2015)

Not so smart ALECs (May 12, 2015)

Wrongway Hanaway makes a list and checks it off

06 Friday Mar 2015

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

ALEC, Ann Dickinson, Ann Wagner, Catherine Hanaway, Ed Emery, elections, John Hancock, Kit Bond, missouri, republicans, Rex Sinquefield, Todd Akin, Tom Schweich

From Catherine Hanaway’s “How to become Governor of Missouri” checklist:

1. Goal: Find a simpatico billionaire to pave the roads with gold.

Achievements to date:

— Nearly $1 million dollars from one donor, megabucks political meddler, Rex Sinquefield.

Next steps:

— Ask Rex what he wants; submit bill.

2. Goal: Make nice with GOP crazy wing.

Achievements to date:

— Channeled the spirit of Todd Akin; attributed poverty, depravity and pedophilia to female sexual autonomy.

— Kudos from Constitutional Party, holly-rollier-than-thou, Cynthia Davis who responds to the Akin imitation with thanks to “brave women, like Catherine Hanaway, for having the courage and moral fortitude to speak the truth” about the sluts who “who have been beguiled into making their bodies available to men outside of Holy Matrimony.”

Next steps:

— Continue talking about keeping the sluts barefoot, pregnant and under Big Daddy’s thumb.

— With the understanding, of course, none of that talk applies to educated, rich Republican women who run for office.

3. Goal: Make nice with Missouri GOP power-brokers.

Achievements to date:

Endorsements:

— Former Missouri Governor and U.S. Senator Kit Bond – will put loyalty to former employees and friends over policy differences.  

— Former GOP National Committee Missouri member Ann Dickinson – goes where Kit Bond leads.

— Very connected U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner – all in for Hanaway – and why not since she’s the GOPs A-1 talent scout for women who can mouth the Republican anti-women line without retching.

— State Rep. Ed Emery, ALEC’s main man in Missouri.

Next Steps:

— Take a loyalty oath to ALEC.

— Hit the country club circuit.

4. Goal: Squash the other main GOP primary contender, Tom Schweich, like a bug.

Achievements to date:

— Long Version: Read former U.S. Sen. John C. Danforth’s eulogy for Tom Schweich to get the whole story.

— Short Version: Read TPM’s description of the way the old, political one-two works – or what Hanaway supporters and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Bill McCellan want to call politics as usual.

— Issued statement after announcement of Schweich’s suicide about what a mensch he was … oops! Make that what an “extraordinary man with an extraordinary record of service to our state and nation.”

Next Steps:

— Suspend campaign, lie low and maybe State GOP Chair and former Hanaway oppo researcher John Hancock will take all the heat.

* Edited slightly; inadvertently omitted text added back under achievements on 4th point.

Do we have good ethics now? Go ask ALEC

06 Friday Feb 2015

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

ALEC, corruption, Courtney Curtis, Eric Burlison, HB116, HB569, Lobbyists, missouri, political ethics, Ron Richard, SB11

It seems that the State Senate is doing something to try to put the kibosh on all the recent talk about corruption in the Missouri legislature. Wednesday they approved a bill (SB11) that would close a loophole that allows lobbyists to “wine and dine” groups of legislators without reporting the individuals who drank and dined on their dime. If the bill makes it to and through the House in its present form, it would also prohibit legislators from going to work as lobbyists until after a two-year “cooling” off period.

Efforts to amend the bill to eliminate or control lobbyists gifts and to cap campaign donations were discarded via procedural means or defeated through voice votes, both mechanisms that allow lawmakers to avoid going on the record in support of corrupt practices. So essentially, the Missouri Senate voted only for “transparency,” which is Missouri legislative speak for saying that now we will probably get to know more about who has bought our politicians although we can’t do much about it. Whoopeee! Oh, and special interests have to wait to buy statehouse influence in the form of ex-pols.

There is, though, one more provision that is especially interesting. The bill, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Ron Richard, would prohibit out-of-state travel paid for by lobbyists with the exception of “a nonprofit organization hosting an educational event.” Sounds benign, doesn’t it? But think again.

I suspect entities like the corporate funded American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) qualify as such a nonprofit organization. But ALEC also offers a “corporate-funded scholarship program” that flies “politicians across the country for ALEC conferences at luxury hotels, where they are wined and dined by lobbyists.” These meetings are often justified as “educational.” Would ALEC’s non-profit status protect the relationship it has with many Missouri legislators?  The organization claims it has ties to at least 57 Missouri lawmakers. According to NPR:

ALEC is sort of almost a dating service between politicians at the state level, local elected politicians, and many of America’s biggest companies. It brings them together much as a dating service would do. It sits them in rooms behind closed doors where three times a year they come together to think about what should be the next wave of state-based legislation and they have presentations from the companies that say what they would like to see done legislatively in states right across America. Then they have a vote and the legislators begin. Hundreds of state legislators across America belong to ALEC and come to these meetings.

ALEC pays for legislators to attend meetings where, as Progress Missouri puts it, “corporations hand Missouri legislators wish lists in the form of ‘model’ legislation that often directly benefit their bottom line at the expense of Missouri families,”  and  our representatives then “pass-off the bills as their own ideas and important public policy innovations without disclosing that corporations crafted and pre-voted on the bills at closed-door meetings with legislators who are part of ALEC.”

Two such ALEC-type bills have just been introduced into the Missouri House. Rep. Eric Burlison (R-133) and Rep. Courtney Curtis (D-073) are fronting classic ALEC right-to-work bills. Both bills would “disallow labor unions from charging non-union members fees for representing them when workers collectively bargain.”

Burlison mouths the standard ALEC line; he claims that he’s interested in saving “jobs” and contends that asking non-union workers to pay their share for their union-secured benefits scares off those elusive and fragile job-creators conservatives keep telling us about. He does  have a novel if somewhat logic-challenged response to the charge that right-to-work depresses wages: he asserts that his right-to-work  “might cut those wages that are ‘artificially inflated’ by unions, but denied the policy might hurt an employee’s bottom line.” Hnnnh? Curtis, on the other hand, claims that his interest in right-to-work stems from concerns about racial discrimination by unions – in spite of the fact that in hearings on the bill African-American labor union members contested his assertions.

Neither of the sponsors acknowledge a debt to ALEC. However, Progress Missouri analyzed both bills, HB116 and HB569, along with similar ALEC model legislation and the resemblance is notable. Burlison has been explicitly identified as one of the Missouri ALEC acolytes.

If my reading of the provision concerning out-of-state travel is correct in regard to corporate-funded entities such as ALEC, the legislation that the Missouri Senate just passed would do nothing discourage lawmakers like Burlison who are willing to shill ALEC wares in our statehouse. The 47-57 Missouri lawmakers with ALEC ties will continue to attend ALEC meetings, often on the ALEC dime, and bring home ALEC’s wishlist which they will then visit on the unsuspecting citizens of the state.

Apropos of the efforts to amend his legislation to make it strong enough to be meaningful, Senator Richard asserted that “ethics bills had died for the last four years because they attempted to cover too many issues.” If that is the case then his bill should pass easily since it does practically nothing except possibly, in some cases, shine a little more light on who’s making it big at the corporate swap-meet in Jefferson City.

*Paragraph beak added between 2nd and 3rd paragraph from the bottom.

   

Henry Grubb (D) in the 53rd Legislative District

07 Thursday Aug 2014

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

53rd Legislative District, ALEC, Glen Kolkmeyer, Henry Grubb, missouri, Rex Sinquefield

“…We have to understand that right now the corporate interests are running this place. You have ALEC, you have the Koch brothers, you have Sinquefield, and they are throwing huge amounts of money and the common folk are getting lost…”

Henry Grubb, the Democratic Party candidate in the 53rd Legislative District, spoke at a meeting of Johnson County Democrats last night:

Henry Grubb (D): Um, I’m gonna tell you a story about why I ran, uh, and I’ve told this and I think the Democratic club down here heard it, but there are a lot of people that didn’t.

I went down to the, uh, to the veto session last September and I was not in favor of the tax cuts and I was standing up in the stands, I was up in the gallery. And there was a young, well, there was, the legislator that stood up and she was opposed to the tax cuts and she had been an elementary teacher, obviously in her previous career. And she said, we have to, uh, not have these tax cuts because it’ll hurt the children. And people started laughing all around. There’s some pretty rough people in the crowd that day and they started laughing at her. And I was like, oh, this isn’t good. And about three legislators later a gentleman, using the term loosely, got up and spoke and he was, uh, he was in favor of the tax cuts. And he used her voice, with his male adult voice, and he mocked her. And he did, we shouldn’t do this because. And everybody in the place started laughing. Speaker Jones didn’t, didn’t cut them off very quickly, kind of let it roll. And I was like, Oh my god. I was, I was disgusted at how, it wasn’t really mean, but it was snarky. It was snide like you get from sophomores, all right.

And I taught high school for thirty-one years, I’m on the Odessa School Board, and I’ve been on board for fourteen years, not consecutively, took time off for a while, uh, and I left there going, why would anybody, Gary [Grigsby] or I, in our right mind really want to be down there? And about Thanksgiving some people in the Odessa area and the Lexington area came to me and they asked me to run. And my first reaction was, why? Why would I want to run? And, turns out that a very good friend of mine who served on the Odessa School Board, he’s also the head of a labor organization in Kansas City, said, Henry, if you don’t run your just gonna leave it to the people like that who are down there. And I went, guilt trip city here we come. And so, that’s why I’m running,

And, and I can tell you all about the things that I’m for. Uh, I could probably roll over on Gary and say I’m for everything that Gary’s for and I think that’s pretty good.

We have to understand that right now the corporate interests are running this place. You have ALEC, you have the Koch brothers, you have Sinquefield, and they are throwing huge amounts of money and the common folk are getting lost. Did you know that the biggest economic class in America now are the working poor? Now think about that for while. When people that are my age graduated from high school there were all those good, good paying jobs. You didn’t need a high school education. Well, you know what? They’re not there anymore. And the Republicans don’t care. The Democrats do.

And you have to send people like Gary and myself down to Jeff City to try and make a difference.

And that’s the kind of person we all want representing us in Jefferson City.

Susan Cunningham offers citizens of the 119th district a real choice

30 Wednesday Jul 2014

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

119th district, 2014 elections, ALEC, David Hinson, economic inequality, missouri, Susan Cunningham

In 2012 GOP Rep. David Hinson ran unopposed for his 119th district seat in the Missouri House. just as he did in the general election for his first term in 2010. He’s since shown himself to be one of those Republicans who’s got the 21st century GOP looney tunes down chapter and verse. Name almost any one of the divisive, radical, right-wing issues that have come up in the Missouri House, tax cuts for rich folks, lame-brained, faux-constitutional gun legislation, stopping the Obamacare Medicaid expansion, or any of the reams of anti-women, anti-choice legislation to hit the lege, Hinson’s likely been a sure vote for it. This summer he’s been keeping busy stumping for Amendment 7, the regressive sales tax that he and his colleagues are pushing to pay for transportation infrastructure – after they deigned and delivered a hefty income tax-cut for businesses and wealthy Missourians. Send enough like Hinson to Jefferson City and Missouri will soon be in the same sad shape as Kansas.

Poor 119th you may be saying, and, by extension, poor Missouri. However, unlike in the past, folks in the 119th will have a real choice this year. An active cadre of local Democrats got together to try to identify and draft good, progressive candidates and managed to persuade one of their number, local activist Susan Cunningham, along with some other great progressives, to step up.

At this point I need to let you know that Cunningham, who is running for Hinson’s state rep seat, has in the past posted on the front page here at SMP – remember Sarah Jo? If you are worried about bias, though, let me remind you that we at SMP make no secret about our preference for progressive politicians and so it shouldn’t be a surprise that I support Cunningham’s candidacy and am eager to share what I have learned about it during a recent phone conversation with her.

When asked why she’s running, Cunningham honed in on the damage being done by the brand of politics espoused by her opponent – although she was far more polite and considered than such a statement implies. She cited changes in the Republican Party to explain her personal journey from the politics of the old-time, pragmatic “business” Republicans she once embraced to her current home in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. She described her growing awareness of the economic and social wreckage that has resulted as the Republican party she once knew morphed into the radical entity that has been slowly evolving since the time of Ronald Reagan, a process which she characterized as “culminating in a dangerous flirtation with anarchy.”

According to Cunningham, the most important issue facing Missouri as well as the nation in general is that of growing economic inequality, an inequality that is fed by proponents of free-market rhetoric employed as a tool of corporate interests. However, she does not approach greater inequality and the corresponding decline of the middle class as an intellectual abstraction. She is disturbed by the deterioration she sees in the quality of life for real people in Missouri. It is the failure of rigid conservative ideology to deal with the actual problems that face the people of her district that motivates her candidacy. She points out that in her relatively poor, semi-rural district, 13-15% of the population lacks health insurance. Nevertheless, David Hinson has gone along with the relentless GOP efforts to derail the law in Missouri while offering no alternatives to help the uninsured. She also points to the outsize influence of ALEC in Missouri GOP politics as one of the obstacles to resolving the problems of growing inequality (see some of her past writing on ALEC here, here and here).

Cunningham points out that while the free-market theology espoused by so many current Missouri Republicans frequently serves corporate interests, it has actually had a negative effect on overall economic growth and prosperity. She returned to the example offered by the ideologically motivated opposition of almost all Missouri Republican lawmakers to the Obamacare Medicaid expansion, which, she points out, would utilize federal funds to create jobs as an offshoot of offering healthcare to uninsured Missourians, jobs that the state will forfeit if the legislature persists in its obstinacy.

What Cunningham proposes to take the place of government by “corporate water carriers” is one which relies on “citizens having a fair shot at the kind of success that builds a strong economic foundation.” This, she claims, is what patriotism should be all about. She offers as an example that it is not patriotic to evade taxes. She cites the failure of tax-cuts to create prosperity in states such as Kansas and the need for revenue to restore Missouri’s diminishing quality of life. Real patriotism, she says, is exemplified by all citizens paying their fair share, to which end she proclaims that she is a “proud, patriotic, American taxpayer.”

Cunningham understands that the Missouri legislature is likely to remain in GOP hands. Consequently, should she take the 119th seat from Hinson, she would see one of her main tasks to be shedding a little light on what our government is actually doing. She noted that she would not be shy about calling press conferences when necessary. She believes that her background as an educator will permit her to effectively explain the consequences of bad policy and make it clear “why 99% of voters do their own families a disservice when they choose Republican candidates.”  

Even if Cunningham does not win in November, she believes her campaign will have justified itself by helping educate the citizens of her district about issues that have up to now been presented to them mostly from a one-sided, right-wing perspective. But she is, nevertheless, optimistic about her chances in what many view as a heavily red district. She points out that the Democratic performance index, or D.P.I., defined as the “percentage of the vote an average Dem can expect in an average election based on voting history,” is 43-47% for the 119th district. What these numbers imply is that the election could come down to issues of party turn-out, which means that Cunningham has lots of work to do.

Fortunately, Cunningham won’t have to do it alone. She reports that in a departure from elections in the recent past, the state Democratic party apparatus has offered guidance and continues to assist her – guess I wasn’t too wrong when I speculated earlier that Roy Temple might make a difference when it comes to rebuilding the Missouri Democratic party. But that’s not all. Cunningham’s also garnered a respectable set of significant endorsements:

–American Federation of Teachers

–Franklin County Democratic Club

–Franklin County Labor Club

–Molli’s List

–National Women’s Political Caucus

–Planned Parenthood

–Sierra Club

If you want to learn more about Susan Cunningham, take a look at her campaign homepage where you can find links to campaign information, her blog and campaign newsletters. Here is the link to her campaign Facebook page; it’ll give you a good idea about what Cunningham’s all about. If you’re so inclined after reading this post, you can go directly to her ActBlue page and leave a donation to make sure that everyone in the 119th district learns that they really have a chance to chose something other than the radical Republican candidate come November.  

SB 508: caught with their hands in the ALEC jar

07 Monday Jul 2014

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

ACA, ALEC, General Assembly, governor, health care, Jay Nixon, missouri, Obamacare, SB 508, veto

Oopsie.

Governor Jay Nixon vetoed SB 508 today. In his veto message [pdf] he pointedly made reference to a major error in the bill due to its cut and paste origins from a right wingnut American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) template:

Governor of Missouri

[….]

July 7, 2014

TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE OF THE STATE OF MISSOURI

Herewith I return to you House Committee Substitute for Senate Bill No. 508 entitled:

[….]

I disapprove of House Committee Substitute for Senate Bill No. 508. My reasons for disapproval are as follows:

House Committee Substitute for Senate Bill No. 508 contains a number of worthwhile provisions that can become law with my action on other legislation. However, this legislation does not receive my approval due to a significant drafting error.

House Committee Substitute for Senate Bill No. 508 would impose additional restrictions on the licensure of an individual as a “navigator,” one who provides information or services in connection with eligibility, enrollment, or the program certification of any health benefit exchange operating pursuant to the Affordable care Act. Section 376.2004.6 of the bill would require an applicant for a navigator license to submit two full sets of fingerprints to the Missouri Highway patrol “for the purpose of obtaining a state and federal criminal records check under section 43.540 and Public Law 92-554 [sic].”

The bill’s reference to Public Law 92-554 should be to Public Law 92-544. This mistaken reference to Public Law 92-554, which deals with alcohol abuse and prevention, instead of to Public Law 92-544, which deals with federal criminal records, was included in model legislation developed by the American legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) entitled the “Navigator Background Check Act,”….

[….]

It appears that in copying and pasting from the ALEC model act, the General Assembly failed to correct this incorrect reference to Public Law 92-554.[….] While some may believe that such an error is “close enough” for a model act, it cannot be allowed to become the law of this State. Particularly in an area of the law that is subject of ongoing litigation, a glaring defect such as this cannot simply be ignored. Accordingly, this measure does not receive my approval.

In accordance with the above-stated reasons for disapproval, I am returning House Committee Substitute for Senate Bill No. 508 without my approval.

Respectfully submitted,

s/

Jeremiah W. (Jay) Nixon

Governor

Heh. If they were in junior high school the General Assembly would get an “F” on the assignment. Come to think of it, they are still in junior high school. And they deserve the grade.

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