It arrived at our household in today’s mail:

A Missouri AFL-CIO mailing on behalf of Gary Grigsby (D).

Two years ago there was no significant mail in support of Gary Grigsby (D) in the open seat race in the 51st Legislative District with Dean Dohrman (r).

Those veto override votes in the interim brought that into perspective, don’t you think?

Previously:

Dean Dohrman (r) thinks your stoopit (October 10, 2014)

Dean Dohrman (r) thinks your stoopit – part 2 (October 16, 2014)

Dean Dohrman (r) thinks your stoopit – part 3 (October 18, 2014)

Dean Dohrman (r) thinks your stoopit (so do his friends) – part 4 (October 24, 2014)

Dean Dohrman (r): the inconvenient truth of those votes for SB 509 (November 1, 2014)

We got a lot of mail today in the 51st Legislative District (November 1, 2014)

This was probably the last batch of campaign mail before Tuesday in the rematch between Gary Grigsby (D) and Dean Dohrman (r) in the 51st Legislative District.

Six pieces.

That’s a lot of clutter. Is anyone reading this stuff?

The right wingnut Club for Growth Missouri mailing with its “Keep us on the path to prosperity” tag line is particularly lame. Uh, we thought the evil Jay Nixon was preventing us from achieving the same level of prosperity as Kansas. Oh, wait…

Previously:

Dean Dohrman (r) thinks your stoopit (October 10, 2014)

Dean Dohrman (r) thinks your stoopit – part 2 (October 16, 2014)

Dean Dohrman (r) thinks your stoopit – part 3 (October 18, 2014)

Dean Dohrman (r) thinks your stoopit (so do his friends) – part 4 (October 24, 2014)

Dean Dohrman (r): the inconvenient truth of those votes for SB 509 (November 1, 2014)

Previously: This won’t be the last story on SB 509 (May 8, 2014)

No, it won’t.

What a difference two years can make. A lot of people are weighing in on the 51st Legislative District rematch between Dean Dohrman (r) and Gary Grigsby (D). We received this mail yesterday:

Paid for by The Committee to Protect Missouri Families.

[….]

The Warrensburg School Superintendent said the plan Dohrman voted for, “is something we don’t think is good for education.”

The UCM President said the plan Dohrman supported, “could disrupt funding for the University of central Missouri.” [….]

BUT DOHRMAN VOTED FOR IT ANYWAY.

Somehow republicans thought messing with the future of educational institutions in their districts wouldn’t be noticed around election time.

Heh. The piece also mentioned the billionaire by name.

The Committee to Protect Missouri Families is a brand new PAC (via the Missouri Ethics Commission):

C141549: The Committee To Protect Mo Families Pac Fund

Po Box 39368 Committee Type: Political Action

St Louis Mo 63139

[….] Established Date: 10/06/2014

[….]

[emphasis added]

And they’re associated with the Carpenters’ District Council of Greater St. Louis and Vicinity. Working people. And they remember those votes on SB 509 which screwed working people, public education, public services, and public infrastructure. They’re using the mail to remind voters in the 51st Legislative District of those inconvenient facts. What a difference two years can make.

Also, previously:

Dean Dohrman (r) thinks your stoopit (October 10, 2014)

Dean Dohrman (r) thinks your stoopit – part 2 (October 16, 2014)

Dean Dohrman (r) thinks your stoopit – part 3 (October 18, 2014)

Dean Dohrman (r) thinks your stoopit (so do his friends) – part 4 (October 24, 2014)

Fancy that, the billionaire who benefited from Dean Dohrman’s (r) votes on SB 509 paid for mail in support of Dean Dohrman (r).  

Our household received this campaign piece in yesterday’s mail:

As if Newsmax is credible for anything?

Yes, yes, let’s talk about Kansas.

Any bets on quotes taken out of context?

Improve Missouri education and healthcare? If you define that as gutting public education and keeping hundreds of thousands of people from affordable access to healthcare.

The twenty-something campaign consultants who spend Rex Sinquefield’s money think your stoopit (October 22, 2014)

Is there anyone left on the planet who seriously believes that right wingnut republicans want people to have greater access to healthcare? Any twenty-something campaign consultant who shovels this mail is either delusional or a sociopath.

Yes, it’s the PAC with the blimp that confuses supporters of legalization:

The Rex Sinquefield funded PAC Grow Missouri’s moving billboard at

the University of Central Missouri’s Skyhaven Airport near Warrensburg [file photo].

And the money comes from:

How “a broad based coalition” is now defined in Missouri and America (September 12, 2014)

[….]

The Grow Missouri PAC’s “broad based coalition” consists of $6,045,000.00 from Rex Sinquefield (in blue)

and $22,000.00 (in-kind) from Pelopidas LLC over the fourteen month existence of the PAC.

[….]

Welcome to Missouri and America in the 21st century.

But we repeat ourselves. So do they.

Previously:

Campaign Finance: how astroturf (the fake grassroots) works (August 1, 2013)

Campaign Finance: teachers are evil, except when they save kids from a tornado or a crazed gunman (May 24, 2013)

Campaign Finance: using a lot of money to beat up on teachers (May 28, 2012)

Campaign Finance: Bah, humbug! (December 25, 2013)

Campaign Finance: here’s $31,000.00, go beat up on public school teachers (February 26, 2014)

Campaign Finance: a contribution of only $20.00 is a stronger statement (April 25, 2014)

“…We smiled and waved, sittin’ there on that sack of seeds.” (September 20, 2014)

The only difference between men and boys is the price of their toys (October 1, 2014)

Follow the blimp, then check the area for concentrations of hot air… (October 11, 2014)

The twenty-something campaign consultants who spend Rex Sinquefield’s money think your stoopit (October 22, 2014)

Campaign Finance: maybe the blimp is running out of gas (October 24, 2014)

This says it all, in today’s St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

Editorial: For Congress in Missouri 2nd, Arthur Lieber shows up better

There’s a saying in politics that elections are won by those who show up. Perhaps that’s so for voters, but a key part of U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner’s strategy for re-election in Missouri’s 2nd Congressional District is to not show up.

She’s raised a lot of money – $2.19 million. She appears in controlled settings for photo-ops with friendly faces. She avoids going anywhere near her opponents.

Good luck asking about it: The contact number listed on her campaign’s website is not a working number. The email address for media inquiries gets you a 404 error message.

The 52-year-old Ballwin Republican knows the election is hers to lose….

….We had hoped for a more independent voice when we endorsed Ms. Wagner in 2012. This time around, we recommend that 2nd District voters choose Democrat Arthur Lieber of Creve Coeur….

….he’s right: Campaign money is the root of all evil in politics. Arthur Lieber is not afraid to show up and say so.

Maybe at some point in the future incumbents with access to unlimited funds won’t have to worry about those pesky voters. Oh, wait…  

This afternoon in west central Missouri:

Mailboxes in the 51st Legislative District are getting inundated with Dean Dohrman (r) campaign mail paid for by everybody but Dean Dohrman.

Dean Dohrman (r) spent his time in the General Assembly in Jefferson City voting to prevent an imaginary implementation of Sharia Law, voting to stop a right wingnut paranoid fantasy concocted out of the ether in the form of Agenda 21, and voting for nullification (which was settled 150 years ago). Nope, nothing on jobs.

Dean Dohrman (r) did vote to screw education (and the University of Central Missouri) in his district. School Boards across the state opposed that ill conceived cut to public education for the benefit of the wealthiest few.

Dean Dohrman (r) did vote to allow the state to intrude on an individual’s medical decisions.

With no record of legitimate legislative achievement to speak of Dean Dohrman’s (r) benefactors have to resort to mailers like these to prop him up.

This one is paid for by the Missouri republican party.

Uh, Dean Dohrman (r) ain’t no friend of educators or public education. Think for a moment about the delicious irony of the incumbent posing in front of the University of Central Missouri football stadium with young people wearing university gear after voting to screw the institution and its students in 2013, and again in the last session in 2014.

And for more delicious irony (or cluelessness, your choice) a mail piece paid for by a PAC largely funded by a right wingnut billionaire:

….Dean Dohrman listens to his constituents, not special interests!….

Who paid for that?:

Understatement (July 20, 2014)

[….]

MISSOURI ETHICS COMMISSION

CONTRIBUTIONS AND LOANS RECEIVED

MISSOURI CLUB FOR GROWTH POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE [pdf] 3/31/2014

Rex Sinquefield 244 Bent Walnut Westphalia MO 65085 Retired 3/27/2014 $973,000.00

12. TOTAL ANONYMOUS CONTRIBUTIONS RECEIVED FROM PERSON GIVING $25 OR LESS $0.00

13. TOTAL MONETARY CONTRIBUTIONS RECEIVED FROM PERSONS GIVING $100 OR LESS $0.00

[emphasis added]

[….]

Rex Sinquefield’s campaign contribution to the Missouri Club for Growth as reported to the Missouri Ethics Commission in 2014

– compared to those of seventeen other individuals and one business entity. That tiny slice is everyone else.

[….]

Uh, one person with a lot of money spending that money for a specific political agenda is a special interest.

Wait a minute. The second piece was paid for by an “independent” entity as an “independent” expenditure. Why is the candidate’s clothing in the respective glamor shots in different mailings by different entities identical?:

Paid for by the Missouri republican party (left) and Missouri Club for Growth PAC (right).

The tie, the shirt, and the jacket are identical. The haircut is exactly the same, too. What are the odds?

Just asking. Maybe there are paparazzi prowling the 51st Legislative District capturing images of candidates while they stand around outside smiling in their suits. Nah.

And the next mailing, an attack piece paid for by the Missouri republican party, extolls the virtues of SB 509:

And who really, really, really wanted SB 509? You guessed it, a right wingnut billionaire.

Here’s the thing for candidate Dean Dohrman (r), he can’t cheerily benefit from insipid mailings (with no substance) like the first piece paid for by the Missouri republican party and at the same time escape accepting responsibility for the nasty attack pieces on his behalf paid for by that same Missouri republican party – all mailed to the same households in the district.

Previously:

Dean Dohrman (r) thinks your stoopit (October 10, 2014)

Dean Dohrman (r) thinks your stoopit – part 2 (October 16, 2014)

Dean Dohrman (r) thinks your stoopit – part 3 (October 18, 2014)

Our household received this campaign piece in today’s mail:

Because Kansas is doing so well? Right.

Conservative candidates need your help to make Missouri’s Economy strong again. Liberals and special interests are relentlessly trying to make it harder to run a business; they want to raise taxes to fund government, create unnecessary red tape and drive up costs that slow success.* They are counting on low voter turnout to make it happen. It’s your civic duty to vote on November 4th.

Go tell it to Kansas.

Yeah, irony of ironies, they refer to the travesty that is SB 509.

And this is particularly rich (pun intended):

….WHAT ARE WE VOTING FOR?: [….] Greater Access to Healthcare….

Is there anyone left on the planet who seriously believes that right wingnut republicans want people to have greater access to healthcare? Any twenty-something campaign consultant who shovels this mail is either delusional or a sociopath.

Yes, it’s the PAC with the blimp that confuses supporters of legalization:

The Rex Sinquefield funded PAC Grow Missouri’s moving billboard at

the University of Central Missouri’s Skyhaven Airport near Warrensburg [file photo].

And the money comes from:

How “a broad based coalition” is now defined in Missouri and America (September 12, 2014)

[….]

The Grow Missouri PAC’s “broad based coalition” consists of $6,045,000.00 from Rex Sinquefield (in blue)

and $22,000.00 (in-kind) from Pelopidas LLC over the fourteen month existence of the PAC.

[….]

Welcome to Missouri and America in the 21st century.

Today, at the Missouri Ethics Commission:

C141258 10/22/2014 COMMITTEE IN SUPPORT OF PUBLIC EDUCATION MO National Education Association 1810 E Elm Street Jefferson City MO 65107 10/21/2014 $250,000.00

[emphasis added]

The worst nightmare for rightwingnuts is that teachers, their families, and friends turn out and vote in the November general election. You all know what to do.

Previously:

Campaign Finance: “…nuke the entire site from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.” (September 5, 2014)

Campaign Finance: there is no tomorrow (August 31, 2014)

Campaign Finance: they’re serious (August 29, 2014)

Campaign Finance: pawn to queen’s bishop $125,000.00 (August 27, 2014)

Understatement (July 20, 2014)

Campaign Finance: even more in (July 15, 2014)

Campaign Finance: all in (July 9, 2014)

Campaign Finance: Nope, the boat’s still not big enough. (June 4, 2014)

Campaign Finance: still need a much bigger boat (May 28, 2014)

Campaign Finance: schooling (May 19, 2014)

A campaign mail piece from Dean Dohrman (r), the incumbent in the 51st Legislative District race:

Dean Dohrman’s (r) first 2014 campaign mailing.

So, apparently, Dean Dohrman (r) is running against Barrack Obama. Interestingly, he spends his time in Jefferson City voting against Sharia Law, voting against Agenda 21, and voting for nullification (which was settled 150 years ago). Nope, nothing about jobs in all of that.

Dean Dohrman (r) did vote to screw education (and the University of Central Missouri) in his district.

Dean Dohrman (r) did vote to allow the state to intrude on an individual’s medical decisions.

Let’s see. It’s paid for by the Missouri republican party (they’ve been getting a lot of cash recently from the HRCC), and there are endorsement logos from Missouri Right to Life, the NRA, the National Federation of Independent Businesses, and the Missouri Chamber – all functionally republican front organizations.

There’s irony everywhere. Consider this: Gary Grigsby, the Democratic Party candidate in the 51st Legislative District, is an independent businessman. And a former Marine. And a former school teacher. And he serves on the Warrensburg school board.

Oh, by the way, the photography on this particular mailer sucks.