Plutocracy takes a tiny step backwards:
Judge blasts tax plan ballot descriptions
By Rudi Keller
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Wealthy conservative activist Rex Sinquefield’s plan to overhaul Missouri’s taxes would cost the state treasury $7.5 billion annually with no guarantee of replacement revenue, a Cole County judge said Friday in a ruling rewriting two proposals’ ballot descriptions.
Circuit Judge Patricia Joyce ruled that neither Secretary of State Robin Carnahan nor State Auditor Tom Schweich had captured the full impact of two nearly identical proposals in the language voters would see if either was placed on the ballot.
The ruling was especially hard on Schweich. She called his analysis “insufficient, unfair and prejudicial….”
….Joyce also ruled that Let Voters Decide and Travis Brown, the consultant who employs Tomicki at his consulting firm, Pelopidas, lacked standing to intervene in the case because she heard “no evidence” that Brown or Let Voters Decide “are citizens or taxpayers and has no basis to conclude that they are.”
So much for having a rock star as State Auditor. Who’s credible now?
From the Missouri Ethics Commission:
LOBID:L000946 Received Date:12/31/1998
Lobbyist’s Name Travis Brown Termination Date:
Lobbyist’s Address 5297 Washington Pl
Lobbyist’s Address2
Lobbyist’s C/S/Z St Louis, MO 63108
Telephone: (314) 540-5515
Telephone (2): 314-367-2842
[….]
Principal(s) listed by Lobbyist
[….]
LET VOTERS DECIDE
308 EAST HIGH STREET STE 301
JEFFERSON CITY MO 65101
(573) 634-2500 A 4/22/2011
[….]
PELOPIDAS, LLC
912 EAST BROADWAY, SUITE 207
COLUMBIA MO 65201
573-256-1322 A 7/12/2007
REX AND JEANNE SINQUEFIELD
NINE HORTENSE PLACE
ST. LOUIS MO 63108
314-359-9951 A 7/12/2007
[….]
THE BROWN LOBBY FIRM, LLC
912 EAST BROADWAY, SUITE 208
COLUMBIA MO 65201
314-540-5515 A 12/18/2006
They’ll go back to the drawing board. They always do when they have a lot of money to spend.