Photo of David Pearce from ony of his numerous 2008 campaign mailings. He never did change that tie.

David Pearce (r – advocate of automotive deer hunting), newly minted senator representing the 31st District, is shocked, I tell you, shocked, that the money for capital building projects at universities appropriated by raiding the resources of MOHELA isn’t really there.

1/29/2009 11:49:00 AM

Red ink could sink UCM renovations

Jack Miles

Editor

…Pearce said the news came “as a total shock,” but he has a clear idea where to go from here.

“Obviously, where I go is to try to convince the governor it was a bad decision,” he said…

Uh, the bad decision was the one you made when you voted to gut MOHELA as a back bencher in the House despite the warnings from then Attorney General Jay Nixon and the Democratic minority in the General Assembly:

Attorney General Jay Nixon’s Statement on MOHELA’s Elimination of Student Benefit Programs [5/27/08]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

…In response, Attorney General Jay Nixon released the following statement:

“During these difficult economic times, too many middle-class families are getting squeezed out of a college education.  Unfortunately, these Missouri families were delivered yet another crushing blow last week, and now students will be forced to pay higher monthly loan payments.  With tuition skyrocketing at our colleges and universities, this was a major step in the wrong direction.  

“When Gov. Blunt raided MOHELA’s assets, the one thing he assured us was that it would cause no harm to Missouri students.  It was obvious — at least to those of us who fought the MOHELA raid from the beginning — that Missouri students would end up paying the price.  And now they are.

“I believe a college education is a key to achieving the American Dream, and I am more committed than ever to creating a pathway to a four-year degree for every Missourian who is willing to work hard and play by the rules.  We must put the dream of a college degree within reach for every Missouri family…”

A retired banker and member of the MOHELA board from 1993 to 2007 tried to warn the General Assembly:

They can’t say they weren’t warned

By John Greer

04/10/2008

…Finally, I tried to bring at least some measure of reality to the proceedings – based on my more than 30 years as a banker and more than 13 years as a member of MOHELA’s board. I told the committee that stripping $350 million out of MOHELA would put the institution immediately into the red. I said that MOHELA would lose millions of dollars the very first year after the plan was approved – and every year after that. I believed that the plan would divert assets from MOHELA’s core mission of enhancing access to higher education for all eligible Missouri students and, worse, that it would threaten MOHELA’s very existence.

No one listened…

And they didn’t listen, David Pearce included:

Journal of the House

First Regular Session, 94th General Assembly

SIXTY-NINTH DAY, Monday, May 7, 2007…

…THIRD READING OF SENATE BILL

SS#6 SCS SB 389, relating to higher education, was taken up by Representative Bearden…

On motion of Representative Bearden, SS#6 SCS SB 389 was truly agreed to and finally passed by the following vote:

AYES: 091

Avery

Baker 123

Bearden

Bivins

Brandom

Brown 30

Bruns

Cooper 120

Cooper 155

Cooper 158

Cox

Cunningham 145

Cunningham 86

Day

Deeken

Dempsey

Denison

Dethrow

Dixon

Dougherty

Dusenberg

Emery

Ervin

Faith

Fares

Fisher

Flook

Franz

Grisamore

Guest

Hobbs

Hoskins

Hubbard

Hunter

Icet

Jones 89

Jones 117

Kelly

Kingery

Lembke

Lipke

Loehner

Marsh

May

McGhee

Moore

Munzlinger

Nance

Nieves

Nolte

Onder

Parson

Pearce

Pollock

Portwood

Pratt

Quinn 7

Richard

Rucker

Ruestman

Ruzicka

Sater

Schaaf

Schad

Scharnhorst

Schlottach

Schneider

Schoeller

Self

Silvey

Smith 14

Smith 150

Stevenson

St. Onge

Stream

Sutherland

Thomson

Threlkeld

Tilley

Viebrock

Wallace

Wasson

Wells

Weter

Whorton

Wilson 119

Wilson 130

Wood

Wright 159

Yates

Mr Speaker

NOES: 064…

Representative Cooper (120) declared the bill passed.

[emphasis added]

What they were going to do was quite clear:

Summary of the Truly Agreed Version of the Bill

   SS#6 SCS SB 389 — HIGHER EDUCATION

   This bill changes the laws regarding higher education and the

   powers of the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority (MOHELA).

LEWIS AND CLARK DISCOVERY INITIATIVE

MOHELA is authorized to transfer assets, as specified in the bill, to the newly created Lewis and Clark Discovery Fund. MOHELA must distribute $350 million of its assets to the fund no later than September 30, 2013, and moneys in the fund may be appropriated by the General Assembly only for capital projects at public colleges and universities and to the Missouri Technology Corporation to identify opportunities for commercializing technologies at these institutions. Any college or university that knowingly employs a registered sexual offender will be ineligible for capital projects funds.

After an initial distribution of $230 million to the fund, the Department of Economic Development will allocate a percentage, within the limits specified in the bill, of the state ceiling for private activity bonds to MOHELA for at least the next 15 years. If the total distribution of assets is not completed by MOHELA by September 30, 2013, the ceiling dollar amount received by MOHELA will be reduced by the percentage of the $350 million not yet distributed. MOHELA moneys cannot be used to pay state debts. Immunity from personal liability is granted to members of MOHELA for certain decisions.  MOHELA is authorized to issue bonds to fulfill its obligations regarding the transfer of assets to the fund and may establish or invest in financial aid programs that provide student grants and scholarships…

“…I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!”

What we have in this mess is a republican House back bencher voting the party line after the General Assembly was warned in hearings that bad things would happen – and now he’s in the Senate expressing “shock” about the mess to which he contributed.

David Pearce is definitely future republican presidential candidate material.

David Pearce (r – advocate of automotive deer hunting), representing the 31st Senate District, is the sponsor of Missouri Senate Concurrent Resolution 7 (SCR 7) in this session of the General Assembly. The resolution:

SCR 7

Urges Congress to secure greater energy independence for the U.S. by allowing new off-shore drilling

LR Number:   0587S.01I

Last Action:   1/15/2009 – Resolutions Calendar–SCR 7-Pearce

Current Bill Summary

SCR 7 – This concurrent resolution urges Congress to secure greater energy independence for the United States by allowing new off-shore drilling in areas where there is a high likelihood of resource recovery.

I wasn’t aware that Missouri had an “offshore”. Why would David Pearce spend his time on this when there are numerous pressing concerns facing the state? You know, like the budget crises?

Okay, old polling:

Rasmussen Reports

Date: 6/6/08

Missouri

…Sixty-seven percent (67%) say offshore drilling for oil should be allowed, only 24% disagree. Most Missouri voters (55%) say that move is likely to lower the price of gas and oil….

What’s the attitude of people that actually have, you know, an “offshore”?:

…NEWSWEEK: In a statewide field poll taken less than a month ago [the article is from August 1, 2008], 51 percent of Californians opposed offshore drilling, while 43 percent approved. Your survey numbers are virtually reversed and come just a few weeks later. To what do you attribute this dramatic shift?

Mark Baldassare: The difference is in large part due to the state’s Republicans, who’ve become more favorably disposed to offshore drilling. We saw a 17 point increase in support among Republicans over our survey last year, and a 6 point increase among Democrats…

…[NEWSWEEK:] California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, has consistently opposed offshore drilling. Is it conceivable that he’ll look at the numbers in this survey, particularly in his party, and rethink his position?

[Mark Baldassare:] I’d be surprised if a poll that finds voters still sharply divided on an issue would cause the governor to change his position. Schwarzenegger is looking for support of all Californians, and this is a topic over which Californians are still clearly divided. It’s a very slim majority, which suggests it is a very polarizing issue. Right now the governor is looking to take care of the budget situation, improve the economy and put out the fires in his state…

[comment and emphasis added]

Sounds like good advice.

Chris Benjamin (D) and David Pearce (r – advocate of automotive deer hunting), the two candidates for the open seat in the 31st Senate District, have had groups sending a lot of mail.

A nice, positive, Democratic mail piece in support of a candidate with the right qualifications for tough times:

Working families paid for this positive piece.

Same day, same photo, nasty republican mail piece, just for contrast.:

Paid for by the Missouri republican state committee – the usual suspects.

Here’s the “B” side of the republican mailing:

Yeah, right. A shill for banking PACs and a rubber stamp for the republican leadership in the General Assembly is looking after the little guy. Give us a break. And you’d think he’d get a new tie at this stage of the campaign.

Meanwhile, in the 121st Legislative District race, we also received this positive piece on behalf of Jim Jackson (D) from Working Families. Hmmm. Another candidate with the right qualifications for tough times.

See, Denny Hoskins (r – “noun, verb, CPA”), how an independent mailer that’s positive can work for a candidate?

Previously, on Show Me Progress:

David Pearce (r) in the 31st Senate District: his GOP enablers have chutzpah!

Look who’s paying for this. Again:

Yep, repeat the stupidity enough and hope no one pays attention to reality. Well, we did [pay attention to the reality]. David Pearce (r – advocate of automotive deer hunting actually voted for the healthcare cuts – and the Missouri republican party celebrated it. Attacking your opponent for something you did, now that’s chutzpah!

Now this is republican arrogance. “Confidence in state government” is equated with the legal problems of the Missouri republican party? That’s rich.

Here’s the case cited in the mailing:

04CV130560 – THOMAS GREEN V MISSOURI REPUBLICAN STATE COM

GREEN , THOMAS , Plaintiff     represented by     CARMICHAEL , JAMES E , Attorney for Plaintiff

…SAINT CHARLES,MO…

MISSOURI REPUBLICAN STATE COMITTEE , Defendant    

ANN WAGNER, CHAIRMAN MO REPUBL

STATE COMMITTEE

204 EAST DUNKLIN

JEFFERSON CITY, MO 65101

Just to spell it out for you, the folks sending the mailing are the enablers of the folks who were sued (and then settled). Chutzpah!

This is a joke, right? “Anti-gun radicals” in the 31st Senate District? Who are these idiots trying to fool. It’s embarrassing. Really. The desperation just smells.

You all know what to do: Chris Benjamin (D)

The “B” side.

It’s her! Hillary! Where’s Obama?

There’s going to be a lot more like this. The republican way – throw crap against the wall and hope something, anything, sticks. The republican campaign mode is just like their governing mode – laughably stupid and incompetent, except that some good people suffer…

The graphics would make a good movie poster for a Sergio Leone western…

Who paid for this? The usual suspects:

Additional concrete proof that the Missouri republican party is completely irony impaired:

There’s an itty bitty tiny teeny footnote which refers to SB 539 in the 2005 session of the Missouri General Assembly. Let’s look at the Journal of the House [pdf] for April 7, 2005 (page 935):

…On motion of Representative Stefanick, SS SB 539 was truly agreed to and finally passed by the following vote:

AYES: 089

Avery Baker 123 Bearden Behnen Bivins

Brown 30 Bruns Byrd Chinn Cooper 120

Cooper 155 Cooper 158 Cunningham 145 Cunningham 86 Davis

Day Deeken Dempsey Denison Dethrow

Dixon Dusenberg Emery Ervin Faith

Fares Fisher Flook Franz Goodman

Guest Hobbs Hunter Icet Jackson

Johnson 47 Jones Kelly Kingery Lager

Lembke Lipke Loehner May McGhee

Moore Munzlinger Muschany Myers Nieves

Nolte Parson Pearce Phillips Pollock

Portwood Pratt Quinn Rector Richard

Roark Robb Ruestman Rupp Sander

Sater Schaaf Schad Schlottach Self

Smith 118 Smith 14 Stefanick St. Onge Sutherland

Threlkeld Tilley Viebrock Wallace Wasson

Wells Weter Wilson 119 Wilson 130 Wood

Wright 137 Wright 159 Yates Mr Speaker

[emphasis added]

What’s that you say? David Pearce (r – advocate of automotive deer hunting) actually voted to “…cut healthcare funding for our most vulnerable citizens…”

Yep. You got it. The Missouri republican party paid for a mail piece attacking Chris Benjamin (D) for something the Missouri republican party advocates and for which David Pearce (r), their chosen candidate, accommodatingly voted.

That’s chutzpah.

The “B” side of the mail piece.

The best definition of chutzpah? Murdering your parents then asking for leniency from the court because you’re an orphan…

David Pearce (r – advocate of automotive deer hunting) is going negative in his mail. We received the following piece today:

Apparently the Missouri GOP thinks David Pearce is not a politician. Though it’s very clear to me that he seriously sucks at math and economics. The current economic crises (under the watch of which administration?) is exacerbated by what? As if 516 trillion dollars in derivatives didn’t exist and have nothing to do with screwing the economy and us. Evidently David Pearce and the Missouri GOP is counting on everyone else being stoopid. Same planet, different world, eh David?

And there’s that damn ugly tie again.

David Pearce and his enablers spent upwards of a quarter million dollars on his primary and they can’t change ties in a photo shoot?

By the way, Chris Benjamin (D) is a much nicer guy than your mailer picture indicates, David. And he’s a much better politician and smarter public servant than you will ever be:

Chris Benjamin, Democratic candidate in the 31st Senate District, speaking with volunteers prior to the Chilhowee parade on August 30th.

I received an (im)personal form letter from David Pearce (r – advocate of automotive deer hunting) addressed to me in today’s mail. It’s one of the lamest political personal form letters I’ve ever received.

“Dear Friend”? “Dear Friend”? Has anyone in your campaign ever heard of mail merge?

The best future for our families is the end to republican rule.

I haven’t participated yet. The election is on Tuesday, November 4th. I will participate on that day. Part of my participation will be in voting for Chris Benjamin (D) in the 31st Senate District race.

Wow! A genuine fake candidate signature in my personal form letter.

On to the contents:

Chamber of Commerce? National Federation of Independent Businesses? Uh, those are republican fronts.

Let’s see who else is supporting David Pearce (r) with their money, via Pearce’s latest campaign finance filing on October 7th with the Missouri Ethics Commission.

Detailed Summary of Contributions And Loans Received

Committee: PEARCE 08

Report Date: 10/7/2008

Realtors PAC-MO – GENERAL Columbia MO 09/10/2008 $1,000.00

NFIB–MO – GENERAL Jefferson City MO 09/10/2008 $2,000.00

Consumer Lending Alliance Inc. – GENERAL Wright City MO 09/10/2008 $500.00

Missouri Financial Services – GENERAL Jefferson City MO 09/11/2008 $500.00

Missouri Mortgage Bankers – GENERAL Jefferson City MO 09/11/2008 $500.00

Citizens for Insurance Reform – GENERAL Jefferson City MO 09/11/2008 $1,000.00

Missouri Independent Bankers Assoc – GENERAL Liberty MO 09/20/2008 $2,000.00

MBA Pony Express Region PAC – GENERAL Jefferson City MO 09/23/2008 $675.00

MBA Mark Twain Region PAC – GENERAL Jefferson City MO 09/23/2008 $675.00

MBA Truman Region PAC – GENERAL Jefferson City MO 09/23/2008 $675.00

MBA Capitol Region PAC – GENERAL Jefferson City MO 09/23/2008 $675.00

MBA Gateway Region PAC – GENERAL Jefferson City MO 09/23/2008 $675.00

MBA Ozark Region PAC – GENERAL Jefferson City MO 09/23/2008 $675.00

MBA River Heritage PAC – GENERAL Jefferson City MO 09/23/2008 $675.00

MBA State PAC – GENERAL Jefferson City MO 65101 09/23/2008 $675.00

C.P.A. MO C.P.A. – GENERAL St. Louis MO 09/23/2008 $675.00

Yeah, like banks have a great reputation in America right now. And in those six years in the House what did you do to help job growth in Missouri? For anyone else who may be reading this – how’s that explosive job growth in our state currently workin’ out for you?

Uh, you voted for SB 539 which stripped access to health care from children, disabled Missourians, and the working poor. All while voting to increase your per diem.

Uh, and how’d that unregulated free market choice work out for people with IRAs, mutual funds, and stock associated with investment banks?

And who else is offering their support?:

Detailed Summary of Contributions And Loans Received

Committee: PEARCE 08

Report Date: 10/7/2008

Missouri Dental PAC – GENERAL Jefferson City MO 09/10/2008 $1,000.00

Missouri Insurance Coalition PAC – GENERAL Jefferson City MO 09/10/2008 $1,000.00

Northport Health Services of MO LLC – GENERAL Jefferson City MO 09/10/2008 $500.00

AstraZeneca – GENERAL Kansas City MO 09/17/2008 $650.00

HEALTHPAC – GENERAL Jefferson City MO 09/18/2008 $750.00

HCA Missouri Good Government Fund – GENERAL Jefferson City MO 09/18/2008 $500.00

Missouri Pharmacy Association – GENERAL Jefferson City MO 09/30/2008 $1,000.00

Missouri Eye PAC – GENERAL Jefferson City MO 09/30/2008 $300.00

Midwest Radiological Associates PC – GENERAL St. Louis MO 09/30/2008 $2,000.00

Missouri Medical PAC – GENERAL Jefferson City MO 09/10/2008 $675.00

BC/BS KC PAC – GENERAL Kansas City MO 09/10/2008 $1,000.00

Hurricanes in Missouri? Confiscating guns? Like that would ever be a problem in Missouri? Way to go out on a limb.

Yeah, the crooked address and the bulk mail permit just screamed “open me!”

Page 1

Page 2

The candidates running for the open senate seat in the 31st District – David Pearce (r – advocate of automotive deer hunting) and Chris Benjamin (D) –  filed their 30 day after the primary election campaign finance reports.

We’ve covered this race in previous posts:

31st Senate District – 8 day before primary election reports

31st Senate District – second quarter campaign finance reports

31st Senate District – first quarter campaign finance reports

We’ve also covered a few other things about this race. All you have to do is search for “31st” in the column on the right. That way —->. Everything we’ve previously done on the subject will show. I highly recommend the mail!

Let’s take a look at the state of David Pearce’s (r) campaign coffers, via the Missouri Ethics Commission:

The report was filed on September 3rd.

Detailed Summary of Committee Disclosure Report

Committe[e]: PEARCE 08

1. TOTAL RECEIPTS FOR THIS ELECTION PREVIOUSLY REPORTED $229,692.00

2. ALL MONETARY CONTRIBUTIONS RECEIVED THIS PERIOD $33,420.00

15. TOTAL EXPENDITURES THIS ELECTION (SUM 10B + 14A) $246,202.04

28. MONEY ON HAND AT THE CLOSE OF THIS REPORTING PERIOD (SUM 25 + 26 – 27) $66,712.89

35. TOTAL INDEBTEDNESS AT THE CLOSE OF THIS REPORTING PERIOD

(SUM 29 + 30 + 31 – 32 – 33 – 34) $94,239.76

[emphasis added]

Oh my. That was one expensive primary. Heh. He could have run for Governor of Alaska – it’s about the same amount of money. And he’s got the “right” ideology.

Contributions?:

Detailed Summary of Contributions And Loans Received

Committee: PEARCE 08

Report Date: 9/3/2008

23rd Senatorial District Republican Committee – PRIMARY St. Charles MO 08/13/2008 $5,000.00

4th Republican Senatorial District Committee – Washington MO 08/19/2008 $5,675.00

Johnson County Republican Central Committee – Warrensburg MO 08/21/2008 $1,000.00

Citizens for Shields – St. Joseph MO 08/29/2008 $1,000.00

[emphasis added]

No limits! on the last one.

Let’s look at the spending and the debts:

Detailed Summary of Expenditures And Contributions Made

Committe: PEARCE 08

ReportDate: 9/3/2008

Thompson Communications Marshfield MO 07/28/2008 Radio Advertisement $43,851.88

Thompson Communications Marshfield MO 08/01/2008 Radio Advertisement $9,287.77

That’s an awful lot of radio. Thank goodness this one isn’t in a television market.

Chris Benjamin (D) filed his campaign finance report with the Missouri Ethics Commission on September 4th:

Detailed Summary of Committee Disclosure Report

Committe[e]: BENJAMIN FOR SENATE

1. TOTAL RECEIPTS FOR THIS ELECTION PREVIOUSLY REPORTED $154,857.35

2. ALL MONETARY CONTRIBUTIONS RECEIVED THIS PERIOD $13,615.00

9. TOTAL ALL RECEIPTS THIS ELECTION(SUM 1B + 7A – 8A) $170,002.35

15. TOTAL EXPENDITURES THIS ELECTION (SUM 10B + 14A) $38,785.06

28. MONEY ON HAND AT THE CLOSE OF THIS REPORTING PERIOD (SUM 25 + 26 – 27) $122,254.94

35. TOTAL INDEBTEDNESS AT THE CLOSE OF THIS REPORTING PERIOD

(SUM 29 + 30 + 31 – 32 – 33 – 34) $40,000.00

[emphasis added]

Don’t you just love republican primaries?

Detailed Summary of Contributions And Loans Received

Committee: BENJAMIN FOR SENATE

Report Date: 9/4/2008

VERNON CO DEM WOMEN NEVADA, MO 8/28/2008 $400.00

24TH SENATORIAL DEM CO STL MO 8/28/2008 $2,000.00

JOHNSON CO DEM CENTRAL CO WARRENSBURG, MO 8/28/2008 $750.00

…and contributions from individuals and organized labor (representing working familes).

Detailed Summary of Expenditures And Contributions Made

Committe[e]: BENJAMIN FOR SENATE

Report[ ]Date: 9/4/2008

DAMAR PRINTING KCMO 8/7/2008 CAMPAIGN MATERIAL $799.50

5. TOTAL: MONETARY EXPENDITURES THIS PERIOD (SUM 7 + 14) $2,523.71

[emphasis added]

What? No radio? Heh.

Low overhead. Not having a primary can put you in good stead for the general election.

You all know what to do:

Chris Benjamin

David Pearce (r – advocate of automotive deer hunting) and his republican enablers spent so much money on mail  against Rex Rector (r – right wingnut) in the August 5th primary that we have to cover the material in multiple posts. Spending close to $150,000.00 in the primary will do that. Previous posts on Pearce’s primary “mail plan”:

David Pearce (r) in the 31st Senate District – the republican money floods in

David Pearce (r) in the 31st Senate District – we’ve got mail!

And Chris Benjamin, the Democrat in the race:

An Interview with Chris Benjamin (D), the candidate in the 31st Senate District

On to all that mail:

That family photo looks so familiar. And the interior fold:

Paid for by:

And his campaign themes are governed by the usual republican wedge issues (after all, he was catering to the right wingnut base in this primary):

Uh, isn’t that a federal issue? David must be confused. That photo with the barbed wire on the interior fold looks like it’s from Arizona, California, New Mexico, or Texas. If there had been snow in the photo we might assume it was Canada! Isn’t David running for office in Missouri? Or is he? I wonder why he picked this issue. Could it be…? No, he couldn’t be pandering, could he?

Uh, David, we keep pointing out that cloning is illegal in Missouri. It’s the height of cynicism, or just plain stupidity, to make this an election issue. I wonder how many people in Johnson County are going to be unpleasantly surprised about your interesting public stand on stem cells? What do you think?

If the United States Supreme Court has decided the issue (see stare decisis), no matter how many people want it to change, it just isn’t going to change. So, this is just flogging an old issue to whip up that base. I don’t know about you, but if I was treated with this kind of condescension and contempt for my intelligence by my state representative I’d be really upset. Oh, wait a minute…

What? Nothing on gays? They must have run out of room on the mail piece.

And to sum it all up:

Uh, “pro life”, doesn’t that mean he’s against the death penalty and war? That’s so un-republican. Oh, wait I get it. It’s not really a typo, he’s only “anti-choice”, but doesn’t want to say so.

That was a slick mailer. He paid a lot of money for those. The republican powers that be also paid a lot of money for slick mailers. The themes are ever so familiar. The look is so uniform. As if there was a unity of purpose bordering on coordination. All produced by Jeff Roe and his friends at Axiom Strategies. Slick. Pricey. And so appropriate for propping up a republican legislative empty suit.

Let’s take a look at more of those “independent” mailers that were sent on David Pearce’s behalf:

I don’t know about you, but that giant hand reminds me of the federal government under dubya these last seven or so years. Uh, you know, republicans. Speaking of the photo of a giant ominous hand hovering over and threatening charming typical single family house, this appears to be quite similar to the photo of the giant ominous hand hovering over and threatening charming typical single family house in the interior fold of Pearce’s paid for mail piece (the first one in this post) above “Stop ‘Eminent Domain’ Abuse”. Coordinate much?

“Eminent domain abuse”? Is that like running a meth lab? Eminent domain. Eminent domain. Didn’t we recently see something about eminent domain. Yeah, right. Coordinate much? Who paid for this?:

Hmmm. Not “David Pearce”. And there’s that tie again:

Ooh, look, here’s another:

Uh, David, in the six years you’ve spent in the Missouri General Assembly, what have you really done about energy policy? Did you create any innovative legislation and work to get it passed? Just asking. And the same people paid for this:

And here’s that tie yet again:

The “independent” mail keeps coming. Yet another piece:

Immigration. Where have we seen that before? Look who paid for it:

Bogus wedge issue that you’ve never lead on while in the General Assembly? Check. Artificial republican organization endorsement, complete with required pseudo-patriotic elephant logo? Check. Tie? For the love humanity and, and any semblance of “independent” expenditure, lose the tie already.

If you look carefully and compare this with Pearce’s big fold out piece (the first one in this post) you’ll notice that there is second, different tie that reappears here. Auugggh! A tie twofer…

Chris Benjamin (left, he’s in there) working the crowd at another Democratic candidate’s event in Johnson County last night.

I’ve covered this open seat race in the 31st Senate District a lot, and I’ll continue to do so. The seat was previously held by Chris Koster (D). The republicans would dearly like to take it back and have tapped David Pearce (r – advocate of automotive deer hunting) to run for the seat.

I spoke with Chris Benjamin at the fairgrounds west of Warrensburg last night after a fundraiser which was held there for Steve Shippy, the Democratic Party candidate for Johnson County Treasurer:

SMP: …where does your campaign stand now?

Chris Benjamin: Things are looking very good right now because I was able to save a lot of the, most of my resources, through the primary, not having a primary opposition. I feel very good about where we stand right now. I got a lot, even though I was unopposed, I felt very good about the votes I did get in the four counties, Cass County particularly. It’s fifty four per cent of the district. I feel very good about my chances there and the other three counties as well.

Every place I go voters are very receptive to change. And that we need to change the leadership in Jefferson City and put working familes in charge once again in state government. And I’m very, a lot of people, most people are very excited about that. And I’m very, very, feel very good about the whole team going into this final two months. I think there’s going to be a lot of Democratic victories going in to November. I feel very good about my chances…

…SMP: …You’re not concentrating just on Cass County, you’re actually working all four counties in the district.

Chris Benjamin: I’m spending most of my time right now in, actually in the other three counties. I’m spending quite a bit of time in Cass County, that’s where I work and where I live, but I’m in Johnson County, in Vernon and Bates quite a bit. I spent all day Friday down in Vernon County. And I’m gonna to be here, back here in Johnson County again tomorrow. And I’m not takin’ any area for granted. I’m gonna be workin’ all four counties very hard.

SMP: …You talk about working families in the district. As you’ve gone and talked to people, or gone door to door, what are people concerned about?

Chris Benjamin: High gas prices. Problems with a lot of jobs leaving the states. Having a hard time getting health care insurance, small businesses not being able to provide health care insurance for their employees, People are really ready for change right now. And they just, they’re ready for new leadership to come in in Jefferson City. But it’s pretty much right down the line, even Republican areas that I go to, those folks are ready for change as well.

SMP: How has your reception been, generally, within the Democratic Party?

Chris Benjamin: Very good. Starting, starting from the point of not having a primary opposition, all the local Democratic county officials in the four counties have endorsed my candidacy…pretty much just about every Democratic official and anybody involved on the grassroots side with the Democratic Party locally, they’re very receptive, very supportive to my candidacy.

SMP: Your opponent is based in, is from Johnson County…and is a state representative in Johnson County. Has he been able to, how has he addressed, sort of, these voter concerns? What are you hearing from what he’s done?

Chris Benjamin: It’s really, it’s really hard to say. I noticed one thing leading in to the primary. he was running against a guy that was very, very conservative on a lot of issues. So he really ran to the right in the primary, really defending a lot of the Medicaid cuts that he voted for. Really going so far as to saying that, almost toeing the lines, almost to the point where he was saying that he was, had some opposition to things like stem cell research. He had to go very, very conservative in that primary. So it’s really hard to say going in to the general how he’s going to respond, or if he’s gonna try to move to the middle. But, it seems to me, outspending his opponent ten to one in the primary, and not being able to win Cass and Bates counties, he’s having a hard time really getting the message out over in those areas of the district.

SMP: …Campaigns are expensive…You’ve been obviously working to, to, to raise resources and get support. And obviously the Republicans always have enough money for, for their needs. How do you feel, do you feel you’re going to have any kind of parity in, in basically being able to keep up with the support that he’s going to get?

Chris Benjamin: I feel very confident that I’ll be able to match his, his resources going into the general election. He did, he won his primary after outspending his opponent, I believe somewhere between ten and fifteen to one. He was able to, to gain a victory, but he did see some loses within the district. And, by looking at that, by being able to keep up with parity with him, particularly what I believe is gonna be a strong Democratic year in which people are ready for change, I feel very good about my chances going into the general.

SMP: …Thank you very much.

Chris Benjamin: Thank you.