The folks opposed to the initiative to raise Missouri’s least in the nation tobacco tax got another large infusion of cash. Today, at the Missouri Ethics Commission:

C000639 10/30/2012 MO PETROLEUM MARKETERS + CONVENIENCE STORE ASSOC PAC U-Gas 895 Bolger Court Fenton MO 63026 10/30/2012 $10,000.00

C000639 10/30/2012 MO PETROLEUM MARKETERS + CONVENIENCE STORE ASSOC PAC Cheyenne International LLC 701 S Battleground Ave Grover NC 28073 10/30/2012 $166,000.00

C000639 10/30/2012 MO PETROLEUM MARKETERS + CONVENIENCE STORE ASSOC PAC XCaliber International LTD, LLC One Tobacco Road Pryor OK 74361 10/29/2012 $166,000.00

[emphasis added]

Do people sit around a table in a smoke filled room (cough, cough, hack, hack) and say things like, “I’ll cut a check for $166,000.00 more, but I’ll be damned if I do it alone…”? just asking.

Previously:

Campaign Finance: one last drag… (October 26, 2012)

Campaign Finance: take that, you hackers (October 24, 2012)

Campaign Finance: “such sheets of fire [cough, cough], such bursts of horrid thunder” (October 23, 2012)

Campaign Finance – October 2012 quarterly reports – cough, cough, hack, hack (October 15, 2012)

Signs (cough) of the times (October 3, 2012)

Campaign Finance: What’s up in (cough) Fenton? (October 2, 2012)

Campaign Finance: the empire strikes back (September 27, 2012)

Campaign Finance: not just blowin’ smoke (September 26, 2012)

Campaign Finance: put that in your pipe and smoke it (September 24, 2012)

Campaign Finance: in the old days everyone would notice (August 9, 2012)

Campaign Finance: take that (cough, cough, hack, hack) (June 15, 2012)

Campaign Finance: when the smoke clears (May 29, 2012)

Campaign Finance: stepping up to clear the air (May 25, 2012)

Campaign Finance: smoke gets in our eyes… (April 26, 2012)

Campaign Finance: up in a cloud of smoke (April 20, 2012)

Campaign Finance: cough, cough, hack, hack (April 10, 2012)

Campaign Finance: Initiative petitions on raising the tobacco tax (February 15, 2012)

Initiative petitions on raising the tobacco tax (February 14, 2012)

Probably not.

Today, at the Missouri Ethics Commission, from the folks who want to preserve Missouri’s least in the nation status for tobacco taxes:

C000639 10/26/2012 MO PETROLEUM MARKETERS + CONVENIENCE STORE ASSOC PAC LPC Inc 91 Larkin Williams Ind Ct Fenton MO 63026 10/26/2012 $50,000.00

[emphasis added]

I sense a little less enthusiasm (cough, cough, hack, hack). Probably not.

Previously:

Campaign Finance: take that, you hackers (October 24, 2012)

Campaign Finance: “such sheets of fire [cough, cough], such bursts of horrid thunder” (October 23, 2012)

Campaign Finance – October 2012 quarterly reports – cough, cough, hack, hack (October 15, 2012)

Signs (cough) of the times (October 3, 2012)

Campaign Finance: What’s up in (cough) Fenton? (October 2, 2012)

Campaign Finance: the empire strikes back (September 27, 2012)

Campaign Finance: not just blowin’ smoke (September 26, 2012)

Campaign Finance: put that in your pipe and smoke it (September 24, 2012)

Campaign Finance: in the old days everyone would notice (August 9, 2012)

Campaign Finance: take that (cough, cough, hack, hack) (June 15, 2012)

Campaign Finance: when the smoke clears (May 29, 2012)

Campaign Finance: stepping up to clear the air (May 25, 2012)

Campaign Finance: smoke gets in our eyes… (April 26, 2012)

Campaign Finance: up in a cloud of smoke (April 20, 2012)

Campaign Finance: cough, cough, hack, hack (April 10, 2012)

Campaign Finance: Initiative petitions on raising the tobacco tax (February 15, 2012)

Initiative petitions on raising the tobacco tax (February 14, 2012)

Today, the folks supporting Proposition B, the initiative to raise Missouri’s last in the nation tobacco tax, scored a significant amount of in state money. At the Missouri Ethics Commission:

C121042 10/24/2012 MISSOURIANS FOR HEALTH AND EDUCATION Health Care Foundation of Greater KC 2700 East 18th Street #220 Kansas City MO 64127 10/23/2012 $400,000.00

[emphasis added]

Fancy that.

Previously:

Campaign Finance: “such sheets of fire [cough, cough], such bursts of horrid thunder” (October 23, 2012)

Campaign Finance – October 2012 quarterly reports – cough, cough, hack, hack (October 15, 2012)

Signs (cough) of the times (October 3, 2012)

Campaign Finance: What’s up in (cough) Fenton? (October 2, 2012)

Campaign Finance: the empire strikes back (September 27, 2012)

Campaign Finance: not just blowin’ smoke (September 26, 2012)

Campaign Finance: put that in your pipe and smoke it (September 24, 2012)

Campaign Finance: in the old days everyone would notice (August 9, 2012)

Campaign Finance: take that (cough, cough, hack, hack) (June 15, 2012)

Campaign Finance: when the smoke clears (May 29, 2012)

Campaign Finance: stepping up to clear the air (May 25, 2012)

Campaign Finance: smoke gets in our eyes… (April 26, 2012)

Campaign Finance: up in a cloud of smoke (April 20, 2012)

Campaign Finance: cough, cough, hack, hack (April 10, 2012)

Campaign Finance: Initiative petitions on raising the tobacco tax (February 15, 2012)

Initiative petitions on raising the tobacco tax (February 14, 2012)

The folks opposed to raising Missouri’s last in the nation tobacco tax raked it from out of state today. At the Missouri Ethics Commission:

C000639 10/23/2012 MO PETROLEUM MARKETERS + CONVENIENCE STORE ASSOC PAC XCaliber International LTD One Tobacco Road Pryor OK 74361 10/23/2012 $125,000.00

C000639 10/23/2012 MO PETROLEUM MARKETERS + CONVENIENCE STORE ASSOC PAC Cheyenne International, LLC 701 South Battleground Ave Grover NC 28073 10/23/2012 $275,000.00

C000639 10/23/2012 MO PETROLEUM MARKETERS + CONVENIENCE STORE ASSOC PAC Amcon Distributing Company PO Box 641940 Omaha NE 68164 10/23/2012 $10,000.00

[emphasis added]

Go figure.

Previously:

Campaign Finance – October 2012 quarterly reports – cough, cough, hack, hack (October 15, 2012)

Signs (cough) of the times (October 3, 2012)

Campaign Finance: What’s up in (cough) Fenton? (October 2, 2012)

Campaign Finance: the empire strikes back (September 27, 2012)

Campaign Finance: not just blowin’ smoke (September 26, 2012)

Campaign Finance: put that in your pipe and smoke it (September 24, 2012)

Campaign Finance: in the old days everyone would notice (August 9, 2012)

Campaign Finance: take that (cough, cough, hack, hack) (June 15, 2012)

Campaign Finance: when the smoke clears (May 29, 2012)

Campaign Finance: stepping up to clear the air (May 25, 2012)

Campaign Finance: smoke gets in our eyes… (April 26, 2012)

Campaign Finance: up in a cloud of smoke (April 20, 2012)

Campaign Finance: cough, cough, hack, hack (April 10, 2012)

Campaign Finance: Initiative petitions on raising the tobacco tax (February 15, 2012)

Initiative petitions on raising the tobacco tax (February 14, 2012)

The opponents to raising Missouri’s last in the nation tobacco tax showed us a few very interesting details in their October quarterly report filed today at the Missouri Ethics Commission:

INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR EXPENDITURE

MO PETROLEUM MARKETERS + CONVENIENCE STORE ASSOC PAC [pdf] 10/11/2012

Joseph Haslag 5403 W Tayside Cir Columbia MO 65203 9/18/2012 update of fiscal and economic impact of prop b, the Missouri 2012 Tobacco Tax $900.00

Axion Strategies, LLC 1251 NW Briarcliff Pkwy, Ste 85 Kansas City MO 64116 9/13/2012 focus groups on Prop B $15,198.68

[emphasis added]

Well, isn’t that special?

They spent a lot of money on billboards and $23,870.69 on yard signs.

Previously:

Signs (cough) of the times (October 3, 2012)

Campaign Finance: What’s up in (cough) Fenton? (October 2, 2012)

Campaign Finance: the empire strikes back (September 27, 2012)

Campaign Finance: not just blowin’ smoke (September 26, 2012)

Campaign Finance: put that in your pipe and smoke it (September 24, 2012)

Campaign Finance: in the old days everyone would notice (August 9, 2012)

Campaign Finance: take that (cough, cough, hack, hack) (June 15, 2012)

Campaign Finance: when the smoke clears (May 29, 2012)

Campaign Finance: stepping up to clear the air (May 25, 2012)

Campaign Finance: smoke gets in our eyes… (April 26, 2012)

Campaign Finance: up in a cloud of smoke (April 20, 2012)

Campaign Finance: cough, cough, hack, hack (April 10, 2012)

Campaign Finance: Initiative petitions on raising the tobacco tax (February 15, 2012)

Initiative petitions on raising the tobacco tax (February 14, 2012)

Yard signs for the folks opposed to increasing Missouri’s least in the nation tobacco tax – spotted in front of the right of way at a convenience store in west central Missouri:

When is too little next to nothing?

Paid for by the Missouri Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association PAC. What, people won’t patronize

establishments if they can’t get the cheapest smokes? As if spicy jerky isn’t enough?

I dunno, it just seems so grassrootsie. From a corporate point of view.

Previously:

Campaign Finance: What’s up in (cough) Fenton? (October 2, 2012)

Campaign Finance: the empire strikes back (September 27, 2012)

Campaign Finance: not just blowin’ smoke (September 26, 2012)

Campaign Finance: put that in your pipe and smoke it (September 24, 2012)

Campaign Finance: in the old days everyone would notice (August 9, 2012)

Campaign Finance: take that (cough, cough, hack, hack) (June 15, 2012)

Campaign Finance: when the smoke clears (May 29, 2012)

Campaign Finance: stepping up to clear the air (May 25, 2012)

Campaign Finance: smoke gets in our eyes… (April 26, 2012)

Campaign Finance: up in a cloud of smoke (April 20, 2012)

Campaign Finance: cough, cough, hack, hack (April 10, 2012)

Campaign Finance: Initiative petitions on raising the tobacco tax (February 15, 2012)

Initiative petitions on raising the tobacco tax (February 14, 2012)

Previously: Campaign Finance: Voter Protection Alliance (April 14, 2011)

Yesterday, at the Missouri Ethics Commission:

CONTRIBUTION OF MORE THAN $5,000.00 RECEIVED BY ANY COMMITTEE FROM ANY SINGLE DONOR – TO BE FILED WITHIN 48 HOURS OF RECEIVING THE CONTRIBUTION

C111073 YOUR VOTE COUNTS! 5/26/2011

The Humane Society of the United States

700 Professional Drive

Gaithersburg, MD 20879

5/26/2011

$25,000.00

[emphasis added]

Apparently the “Voter Protection Alliance” which was formed in March to promote a constitutional amendment to make it more difficult for the General Assembly to overturn the results of ballot initiatives, this in reaction to the puppy mill initiative, has changed its name to Your Vote Counts!

As I wrote in April:

….However sympathetic to the original cause we may be, there is significant concern that an increasing reliance on governing by initiative petition institutionalizes this cumbersome process at the expense of direct representation. Just ask everyone in California how that’s worked out over the past few decades.

Maybe it’s a symptom of our collective laziness that we can’t be bothered to pay enough attention to what out representatives and senators do and how they vote in the General Assembly, but we’ll get outraged at the end result while still reelecting them anyway….

While it could be more difficult to individually go after the legislators who voted against the wishes of the voters in their districts I much prefer that political strategy over the proffered constitutional super majority. The potential for unintended consequences in the latter is too great.