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Tag Archives: Trent Skaggs

Is anybody else worried abut Brian Nieves?

17 Tuesday Aug 2010

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Brian Nieves, Dana Loesch, James Harris, Misouri, Republican Primaries, Richard Stratman, Shawn Bell, tea party, Trent Skaggs

By now most Missourians have probably read about Rep. Brian Nieves (R-Washington), Republican candidate for the the 26th District Senate Seat, who allegedly assaulted Shawn Bell, a campaign aide for his primary rival, Republican Richard Stratman. According to Bell, Nieves held him at gunpoint, forcing him to undress and humiliate himself while Nieves raved about his putative misdeeds during the primary.

Now Nieves has gone off again – this time blasting the state GOP at a “prayer vigil” held by supporters Monday night. He used the opportunity to  blame his legal troubles on  the “kingmakers and the powerbrokers in the state of Missouri” who want to keep him out of government because he “”won’t be a lap dog. … There is no way they will ever control Brian Nieves.”

As in his earlier emails to supporters concerning the Bell affair, he employed grandiose, self-inflating rhetoric to make the case that he is being persecuted by vague, corrupt powers – unnamed state GOP powerbrokers who want to halt his “ascension” to the Senate seat, although Nieves knows that he will prevail because no less than “God has his hand all over this situation.” Compare this to the over-the-top tone of one of the emails he has been sending out:

We all know that the ‘Old Guard’ is very much threatened by all of us who will NOT bow down to The Machine and they are willing to literally destroy a man’s life to make sure nobody else gets the bright idea of standing up to them!

The Machine! Really! Is he saying that the Machine manufactured the Shawn Bell ruckus? And as long as we’re talking about troubling behavior, both FiredUp! and the St. Louis Activist Hub have noted that Nieves rhetoric has shown disturbing tendencies in the past. There is also, if we want to stroll down memory lane in search of portents of trouble ahead, the incident between Nieves and Trent Skaggs (D-North Kansas City) on the House floor, which escalated into a physical tussle in which they had to be separated by other House members.

Doesn’t all this hair-trigger rage, paranoia and overblown bombast strike you as an almost incomprehensible overreaction – on the part of the winner yet – a primary winner with big margins who will probably dance all over the Democratic opponent, “Boots” Webber – if he doesn’t blow it with his extreme behavior? Nieves is a politician after all; how can he continue to function if he is so easily aggravated by the “politics ain’t beanbag” facts of a tiny, little state political campaign? It’s difficult not to conclude that somebody ought to be looking out for this guy.

And it is clear that that somebody won’t be the Missouri Republican party which seems to have drawn a rather oblique lesson from the Bell affair. Instead of expressing concern about Nieves, they are instead calling for new intra-Party, primary only campaign rules that will proscribe the dirty tricks that seems to characterize their particular brand of go-for-the jugular campaigning. Which would, of course, be laudatory in a more neutral situation, but in this instance it does seem to be a case of blaming the victim – no matter how sleazy the victim may be.

As for the Tea Party? Certainly we know that there is no real concern for Nieves health in the rantings of Tea Party publicity hound Dana Loesch.  Loesch’s only contribution so far is to declare that Shawn Bell, a well-established Republican political figure, is a “dishonest Democratic operative,” coupled with a little of the usual entertaining dreck that she is so good at manufacturing. However it’s difficult not to worry be disturbed by Nieves’ rank-and-file Tea Party supporters who respond to his ravings with applause, and have no hesitation in cheering his over-the-top assertions, and even in naming the names he hesitates to mention:

Nieves declined to identify who the state “kingmakers” were, but asserted, “I know who they are, and they probably know I’m about to ‘out’ them.”

The emcee of the event, Cindy McGee — chairwoman of Show-Me Patriots, a conservative group aligned with the Tea Party movement — was not so reticent.

“James Harris and Jeff Roe are going down!” shouted McGee, referring to two top Republican consultants who had worked for Stratman… .

These are the people that the GOP is trying to keep worked up so that they will turn out and sweep them back into power – people who seem ready to haul out the torches and pitchforks on cue – anybody’s cue*. One has to ask, how is that responsible politics?

One can only feel sympathy for Nieves when we learn that the main reaction on the part of the above-mentioned James Harris was to remark that he and Nieves share the same goal – to keep the seat in Republican hands.  Apparently, Harris and the other malevolent “kingmakers”  don’t care just how shaky those hands are as long as they carry the same partisan banner.

* Edited to clarify meaning in the next to last paragraph; two typos elsewhere were corrected.



 

Rep. Denny Hoskins (r): a short fuse on the floor of the House, part 2

18 Tuesday May 2010

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

121st Legislative District, Courtney Cole, Daily Star-Journal, Denny Hoskins, General Assembly, John Burnett, media criticism, Michael Frame, missouri, Tim Flook, Trent Skaggs, Warrensburg

Previously: Rep. Denny Hoskins (r): a short fuse on the floor of the House (May 15, 2010)

Representative Michael Frame (D):….And when looked up, when I turned up again he was almost nose to nose with me. And asking me if, if I had a, a problem, with some few other cuss words thrown in there as well, too. And, and do I have a problem, do I have problem. I told him he was, you know, to paraphrase, was, was way out of line. He really needs to step back…

“…with some few other cuss words thrown in there as well…”

The Warrensburg Daily Star-Journal printed the story in today’s edition, quoting Representative Tim Flook (r):

5/17/2010 1:26:00 PM

A Dust-Up for Denny?

Tempers or politics flare in final hours of session

Jack Miles

Editor

….”All Denny did was walk over and say, ‘Hey, what’s the problem with the bill? He had his hands in his pockets,” Flook said, adding, “The whole thing was a joke.”

Well, that sounds totally innocent, doesn’t it?

Okay, the Star-Journal also quotes Representatives Frame (D), Burnett (D), and Skaggs (D), the latter relating the use of “curse words”.

Old media presents equal and opposing viewpoints. I suppose all we can do for them is hope that someone caught the confrontation on audio and/or video.

You’d think someone would ask Representative Flook (r), when you were actually interviewing him, about how he managed to get across the floor of the House to so closely and definitively witness the exchange on the Democratic side of the chamber and how he could characterize the incident so differently from those three Democratic representatives. You’d think.

It’s time to convene another panel on blogger ethics.

Update: Representative Denny Hoskins (r – noun, verb, CPA) via Facebook:

Wow, only in Warrensburg can two legislators disagree and it makes the news. Since my side of the story was not printed, I’ll elaborate more here. Rep. Frame and others were yelling, making noises and snide comments from the back of the House Chamber during my presentation of SCR 31. As I prefer to talk face-to-face… with someone versus shouting and hiding in the “peanut gallery”, I finished my closing remarks, went over to Rep. Frame and asked him if he had a problem with my bill as I could not help but hear shouting and yelling from the back of the chamber. Rep. Frame responded “Don’t you square up to me!” to which I responded, “I’ve got my hands in my pockets, I’m just asking you a question.” Rep. Skaggs and Rep. Burnett then jumped in and tried to escalate the situation by yelling remarks at me.

If Mr. Miles, Editor of the DSJ, was not friends with Rep. Skaggs this would have never even made the news.

I will continue to advocate for legislation important to my constituents and not be bullied by Rep. Frame or his accomplices.

[emphasis added]

A quote from the Warrensburg Daily Star-Journal:

…Hoskins said, “I had a disagreement and didn’t appreciate some of the disrespectful comments from the peanut gallery…”

Maybe the paper doesn’t print some of the stuff it doesn’t find credible.

And using the term “peanut gallery” is respectful? Just asking.  

Rep. Denny Hoskins (r): a short fuse on the floor of the House

15 Saturday May 2010

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

121st Legislative District, Courtney Cole, Denny Hoskins, General Assembly, John Burnett, Michael Frame, missouri, Trent Skaggs

Yesterday, while in the side gallery of the House covering the close of the legislative session I was made aware of a confrontation on the floor of the House during the previous day between Representative Denny Hoskins (r – noun, verb, CPA) and Representative Michael Frame (D-105).

On Thursday the House was considering SCR 31 on international education. Representative Hoskins (r) was the handler for the bill. From the bill summary:

SCR 31 – This resolution encourages students and faculty in Missouri to promote international education as part of curricular and extracurricular life at Missouri’s colleges and universities.

This resolution is substantially similar to SCR 13 (2009) and to HCR 7 (2008).

[emphasis added]

Representative Michael Frame (D) at his desk on the floor of the House

on May 14, 2010 at the far side and back of the Democratic side of the aisle.

I interviewed Representative Frame yesterday:

Show Me Progress: Could you describe what happened with, Representative Hoskins on the floor yesterday?

Representative Michael Frame (D):  Sure…and, yesterday there was a, a House, a resolution, for international students or international studies. We spent a great deal of time on it, which I found a bit odd with this time of the year, spending so much time on a, on a, you know, for a non-binding resolution. When he finished, when he, when he closed he said that, this is a very good resolution and I turned to one of my, colleagues and said, it’s the best resolution in the universe, kind of making fun of what Representative [Bryan] Pratt [r] had claimed about the ethics bill, a day or two earlier. I didn’t intend for him to hear that, but I guess he had heard it and, and there’s a lot of this talking going on the floor. And while he was still on mic he said, come on over here and say that. Or something like that and, and I didn’t, I just kind of ignored his, his invitation and began to reach down, and actually, I was going to vote in favor of it. And as I was looking at, at my screen I heard my colleague Representative [Trent] Skaggs say, “He’s coming over here, he’s coming over here.” And I really didn’t know, you know, what he was referring to, I did hear him say those words. And when looked up, when I turned up again he was almost nose to nose with me. And asking me if, if I had a, a problem, with some few other cuss words thrown in there as well, too. And, and do I have a problem, do I have problem. I told him he was, you know, to paraphrase, was, was way out of line. He really needs to step back. And Representative Skaggs and Representative [John] Burnett physically got between the two of us. And again informed him you really need to return to your other side. Burnett, there was a bit of an exchange there, Burnett said you [inaudible], you, you charged over here in a very physical way that was, you know, a bit intimidating and, and a little bit threatening. And you just need to back off. And, and I didn’t see him charge over here, I’ll take their word for it he did. I was looking at my monitor. But, informing him he needed to back off, back off. At that point some of his Republican colleagues came over and, and encouraged him to return to his side of the aisle…

Representative Denny Hoskins (r) in conversation on the floor of the House on May 14, 2010.

…Show Me Progress: Do you think that this is a symptom, one of the symptoms of, maybe, the environment?

Representative Frame: Yes. And, I, I think he’s a frustrated legislator. I’m not sure about that. I, I’m not sure what it was. I don’t know if he was having a really bad day or, or why it was. I, I really didn’t think what I said, and again, it wasn’t directed at him, but I don’t know why he took such great offence to me calling his resolution the best resolution in the universe. I thought that would actually be a compliment, but, to tell you the truth, it wasn’t directed at him, it was really more directed at Representative Pratt. But wasn’t even talking with representative, I was actually talking with Representative Skaggs, but my comment was, was more directed at Pratt and just making a bit of fun. And he, he became very angry though and, and charged over at me. And like I said, when I looked up, it was nose to nose. I got to think that there was something else behind it. That it was a pretty, I won’t say innocent, but, but a very casual statement that I made. I don’t think it was any way majorly offensive enough that you would actually enter into some type of physical violence because of it.

Show Me Progress: All right, well thank you.

Representative Frame: Okay, thanks.

The vote on the bill, at the time of the incident (from the Journal of the House, May 13, 2010):

SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTIONS

           SCR 31, relating to international education, was again taken up by Representative Hoskins (121).

           On motion of Representative Hoskins (121), SCR 31 was adopted by the following vote:

AYES: 137

NOES: 012

Biermann

Bringer

Calloway

Frame

Hodges

Kuessner

LeVota

McClanahan

Newman

Quinn

Skaggs

Still

[emphasis added]

Maybe behavior on the floor can influence a few votes.

A non-binding resolution takes up a chunk of floor time on the House during the second to last day of the session. Does anyone think it’s possible that the majority leadership was throwing one of their members a public relations bone?

HCR 69: the republicans have no clothes!

05 Friday Mar 2010

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

General Assembly, HCR 69, missouri, Trent Skaggs

Uh, yeah.

Representative Trent Skaggs (D) and a few other members of the House, including a few in the Democratic leadership, have taken the opportunity to tweak the republican majority’s propensity for foisting non-binding resolutions with no practical meaning on the House membership.

…Whereas, the majority leadership of the Missouri House of Representatives finds that criticizing Congress is, like, totally easy and great fun as well – way more easy and fun than doing real work…

HCR 69 Declares that nonbinding resolutions to Congress are a complete waste of time and pledges that the General Assembly will focus on meaningul legislation to solve problems in this state

Sponsor: Skaggs, Trent (31) Proposed Effective Date: 00/00/0000

CoSponsor: Harris, Belinda (110) ……….etal. LR Number: 5317L.02I

Last Action: 03/03/2010 – Offered (H)

HCR69

Next Hearing: Hearing not scheduled

Calendar: Bill currently not on a calendar

The Democratic resolution:

SECOND REGULAR SESSION

House Concurrent Resolution No. 69

95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVES SKAGGS (Sponsor), BURNETT, LeVOTA, TALBOY, JONES (63), DOUGHERTY AND STILL (Co-sponsors).

5317L.02I

           Whereas, the majority leadership of the Missouri House of Representatives believes that seeking solutions to the serious problems facing Missouri is way too difficult; and

           Whereas, the majority leadership of the Missouri House of Representatives finds that criticizing Congress is, like, totally easy and great fun as well – way more easy and fun than doing real work; and

           Whereas, the Missouri House of Representatives recently passed several nonbinding resolutions futilely seeking to tell Congress how to do its job; and

           Whereas, these frivolous entreaties to Congress accomplish nothing and are merely diversions from solving Missouri’s budget crisis, improving ethics and accountability in state government, and other vital matters facing the state:

           Now, therefore, be it resolved that the members of the House of Representatives of the Ninety-fifth General Assembly, Second Regular Session, the Senate concurring therein, hereby declare that nonbinding resolutions to Congress are a complete waste of time; and

           Be it further resolved that the Missouri General Assembly requests that the United States Congress ignore all nonbinding resolutions passed by the Missouri General Assembly, which – let’s be honest with ourselves here – it is so going to do anyway; and

           Be it further resolved that the Missouri General Assembly hereby pledges to stop wasting time on frivolous resolutions and instead focus on meaningful legislation to solve the difficult problems facing the people of Missouri; and

           Be it further resolved that the Chief Clerk of the Missouri House of Representatives be instructed to prepare properly inscribed copies of this resolution for the Majority and Minority Leaders of the United States Senate and House of Representatives and each member of the Missouri Congressional delegation.

I imagine the republicans would be, like, totally bummed if this passed.  

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