Rex’s right wingnut seven.

This past weekend at the Missouri Ethics’s Commission:

C121090 06/29/2012 CITIZENS FOR ED EMERY Missouri Club for Growth P O Box 2068 St Louis MO 63158 6/29/2012 $40,000.00

C111070 06/29/2012 SATER FOR SENATE Missouri Club for Growth Board PAC P O Box 2068 St Louis MO 63158 6/29/2012 $10,000.00

C111154 06/30/2012 DOUG LIBLA FOR SENATE Missouri Club for Growth P O Box 2068 St Louis MO 63158 5/29/2012 $10,000.00

C010450 06/30/2012 LEMBKE FOR SENATE Missouri Club for Growth PO Box 2068 St Louis MO 63158 6/29/2012 $10,000.00

C051254 06/30/2012 MCGHEE FOR SENATE Missouri Club for Growth P.O. Box 2068 St Louis MO 63158 6/29/2012 $40,000.00

C051162 07/01/2012 FRIENDS OF ELLEN BRANDOM Missouri Club for Growth PO Box 2068 StLouis MO 63158 6/29/2012 $40,000.00

C041065 07/01/2012 FRIENDS OF WARD FRANZ Missouri Club For Growth P.O. Box 2068 Saint Louis MO 63158 6/30/2012 $10,000.00

[emphasis added]

That’s $160,000.00.

What about Gary Romine (r)? Well, it’s possible that the check is in the mail.

Previously: Campaign Finance: somebody doesn’t like Sen. David Pearce (r) (June 30, 2012)  

Today, at the Missouri Ethics Commission:

C051162 05/23/2012 FRIENDS OF ELLEN BRANDOM Ellen Brandom 115 Greenbriar Drive Sikeston MO 63801 Missouri State Representative 5/23/2012 $25,000.00

[emphasis added]

Oh, wait…

Sometimes things get complicated.

State Representative Ellen Brandom (r), one of the Missouri General Assembly’s greats when it comes to tobacco legislation, from Sikeston (the northern part of the city, in Scott County) isn’t term limited out in 2012 but her campaign finance reports indicate that she’s a candidate for the 27th Senate District seat:

COMMITTEE: MECID:C051162

FRIENDS OF ELLEN BRANDOM

OFFICE SOUGHT: STATE SENATOR DISTRICT 27

Date of Election:8/7/2012

Political Party:REPUBLICAN

The 27th Senate District seat is currently held by Senator Jason Crowell (r) who is term limited out in 2012:

COMMITTEE: MECID:C031110

MISSOURIANS FOR CROWELL

OFFICE SOUGHT: STATEWIDE OFFICE

Date of Election:8/5/2014

Political Party:REPUBLICAN

Statewide office? There is a dark side when it comes to term limits:

Lebisch: Is there a proper blessing… for the Tsar?

Rabbi: A blessing for the Tsar? Of course! May God bless and keep the Tsar… far away from us!

Why do we care? Okay, bad question. Why did we notice? Better question. It’s those 48 hour reports at the Missouri Ethics Commission:

C051162 03/28/2011 FRIENDS OF ELLEN BRANDOM SEMO Leadership Committee 526 Tanglewood Sikeston MO 63801 3/28/2011 $14,172.00

C051162 03/30/2011 FRIENDS OF ELLEN BRANDOM Howard Wood 203 NE Main St Bonne Terre MO 63628 Cequel III 3/29/2011 $2,500.00

C051162 03/31/2011 FRIENDS OF ELLEN BRANDOM Missouri Health Care Association PAC 236 Metro Dr Jefferson City MO 65109 3/31/2011 $1,000.00

C051162 03/31/2011 FRIENDS OF ELLEN BRANDOM Randol York PO Box 827 Sikeston MO 63801 Retired 3/31/2011 $2,500.00

C051162 04/01/2011 FRIENDS OF ELLEN BRANDOM Mo Society of Anesthesiologists PO Box 1402 Jefferson City MO 65102 3/31/2011 $2,000.00

C051162 04/06/2011 FRIENDS OF ELLEN BRANDOM MO Ambulatory Surgery Ctr Assn PAC PO Box 6966 Lees Summit MO 64064 4/6/2011 $1,000.00

C051162 05/01/2011 FRIENDS OF ELLEN BRANDOM RightCHOICE Managed Care,Inc. PO Box 68086 Cincinnati OH 45206 4/30/2011 $1,000.00

C051162 05/19/2011 FRIENDS OF ELLEN BRANDOM James Buck 910 N Kingshighway Sikeston MO 63801 SEMO State University 5/19/2011 $1,000.00

C051162 05/19/2011 FRIENDS OF ELLEN BRANDOM Scott Matthews Jr PO Box 506 Sikeston MO 63801 Dentist 5/19/2011 $1,000.00

C051162 05/23/2011 FRIENDS OF ELLEN BRANDOM Flaire Ferrell 111 Wickerwood Sikeston MO 63801 Retired 5/22/2011 $1,000.00

C051162 05/24/2011 FRIENDS OF ELLEN BRANDOM David Strom 80 N Ridge Rd Sikeston MO 63801 Self-employed Real Estate 5/24/2011 $1,000.00

C051162 05/24/2011 FRIENDS OF ELLEN BRANDOM Raymond Glaus Jr 112 Greenbrier Dr Sikeston MO 63801 Sonny’s Solid Waste Owner 5/24/2011 $1,000.00

C051162 05/24/2011 FRIENDS OF ELLEN BRANDOM Janice Matthews 1 Cotton Trace St Sikeston MO 63801 Self-employed Investments 5/24/2011 $1,000.00

C051162 05/24/2011 FRIENDS OF ELLEN BRANDOM Fred Schuerenberg 1009 Westview Dr Sikeston MO 63801 Land Owner 5/24/2011 $1,000.00

[emphasis added]

That’s a lot of fundraising.

The complication? Redistricting.

The “Initial Senate District Map” in the current redistricting process places Sikeston (the northern part of the city, in Scott County) in the 18th Senate District.

Tevye: As the good book says, when a poor man eats a chicken, one of them is sick.

Mendel: Where does the book say that?

Tevye: Well, it doesn’t say that exactly, but somewhere there is something about a chicken.

Ham or chicken, it’s still complicated.

Latest in the ongoing effort to compel welfare recipients to undergo mandatory drug-testing is HB1377, introduced by Rep. Ellen Brandom (R-160). Such legislation is politically popular with Republicans – especially, one would suspect, with the rampaging Tea-Party hordes – who believe that all welfare recipients are moral degenerates who have no right to expect anything other than abject debasement and humiliation in return for that greatest of boons, the tax-payer dollar.

Of course no good Republican ever apologizes for addressing complex social issues with a sledge hammer, especially if it cuts costs even nominally while permitting a satisfying display of sanctimony. However, in the interests of making a gesture toward comity, one of the main rationales put forward for this legislation is to make welfare consistent with private sector employment practices:

Because many private industries require drug testing of their employees, Rep. Larry Wilson, R-Flemington, said, state government should too of those receiving benefits.

Evidently Rep. Maria Chappelle-Nadal (D-72) has taken that argument to heart so much that she has just introduced HB 1754, which would require that all state lawmakers, statewide elected officials and all top state aides undergo drug-testing. In the best tradition of canary-eating-cat, Chappelle-Nadal notes:

Most businesses these days require their workers to undergo pre-employment drug screening,… . There is no reason elected officials and their staff should be treated differently.

Chappelle-Nadal adds for good measure that:

There has been much talk this year about raising ethical standards in state government and making elected officials more accountable,… . Ensuring that lawmakers and other elected officials aren’t using illegal drug is consistent with those goals.

This legislation will surely be a snap to pass – we all know how committed to fairness and transparent government ethics our Missouri Repubican lawmakers are … don’t we?