I would gladly offer Matt Blunt’s office advice on how to make the entire administration implode, but they don’t seem to need my help. They’ve got it covered. On Tuesday, they whined like third graders that Carnahan’s guard had shoved someone too. That bought them an extra day of heated coverage. But on Wednesday they really outdid themselves, moving decisively on every front.
News broke that they have filed a complaint against Eckersley with the Missouri bar for breaking attorney-client privilege. (Actually, they did that way back on October 19th, but Eckersley’s been out of state and only just returned and discovered the news.) Breaking privilege isn’t illegal, but it can be grounds for disbarment. Just what Bluntco needs: to look vengeful against someone who told the truth. Because that’s what’s so fascinating about the move: it’s a tacit admission of what Eckersley claimed from the beginning. They’re compaining that he told the truth when he said that he advised them their e-mail retention policy was illegal. As he commented:
“First I’ve been told I didn’t say anything, now I’m being told I said too much.”
Technically speaking, that’s an old move that only just got revealed. Here’s a new one. Bluntco wants a special prosecutor appointed to investigate Jay Nixon. They’re demanding a special prosecutor for no particular reason (the MOGOP is still on about Nixon’s use of the state car and a couple of other equally irrelevant issues). The real reason is that they’re being toasted to a crisp, so they figure Nixon deserves to feel some heat too.
It’s a preemptive strike, since Nixon is promising to reveal before the end of the week his plans as attorney general for dealing with the governor’s failure to adhere to the state’s Sunshine Law policy. McCaskill, by the way, has recommended that Nixon keep clear of launching what looks like a politically motivated investigation by appointing a special prosecutor.
Having publicly stepped into the fray, McCaskill is coming in for her share of Blunt trauma. His office has filed a Sunshine Law request that she produce every document, “both deleted and undeleted” from her last sixty days as state auditor of Missouri. She should send them the deleted ones first, don’t you think?
And for good measure, the MOGOP is also requesting that nineteen Democratic legislators, all in leadership positions, produce every piece of paper and every e-mail from their offices for the last three years. It’s a transparently vindictive move, but the Democrats will comply–wasting days, weeks or months. But they’ll be rewarded for their efforts by having ringside seats as they watch Matt Blunt KO himself.
Fired Up! has the best summary of Bluntco’s plan of action:
These developments can’t be viewed favorably for the few remaining Blunt boosters out there. Once your man is so damaged that he starts lashing out at everything that moves, even when the lashing out does as much harm to him as it does his adversary, it’s a sure sign that he’s mortally injured and is headed for the exit. Team Blunt is wounded, desperate and punching at anything it thinks it sees through its swollen eyelids. Despite all the rage, they are slowly bleeding out. Good riddance.
photos courtesy of Columbia Tribune