By Antonio D. French
Filed Friday, March 24 at 7:03 AM
HAND IN THE COOKIE JAR? The Missouri House Democratic Campaign Committee was fined $104,000 this week for campaign violations. The AP reports that the Missouri Ethics Commission found that the Dems failed to report how much direct support it gave to which candidates. It also did not correctly report some contributions and expenditures, mixed money with another campaign committee, was controlled by candidates for office and didn't keep proper records.
Congressman Russ Carnahan, a former state House member, was fined $600 for signing checks for the committee that he wasn't authorized to sign.
A spokesman for the Democrats said that they simply failed to maintain proper record-keeping. But Republicans charged that this was a deliberate attempt to circumvent the rules. "Democrats will stop at nothing to try and manipulate our state's campaign finance laws," Republican Party spokesman Paul Sloca said.DARN SCIENCE! A recent editorial in the Eugene, Oregon Register-Guard noted that Sen. Kit Bond and the Bush Administration might have gotten something other than they expected when they pushed for a recent emissions study.
According to the editorial, with the blessing of the White House and automobile manufacturers, Bond inserted language into a 2003 Environmental Protection Agency spending bill commissioning the National Academies' National Research Council's study of California's air pollution controls.
Bond's expectation, shared by the Bush administration and its allies in the automotive and energy industries, was that an NRC review would produce ammunition for efforts to thwart the move by California and other states to set vehicle pollution standards that exceed federal benchmarks.
"But that strategy backfired like an old pickup truck," said the newspaper. "Last Thursday the council gave its scientific blessing to California's air pollution controls, and also to efforts by other states to adopt similar standards."EVERYBODY HATES HILLARY After pissing off many St. Louis Democrats for coming to town to raise money for herself, Sen. Hillary Clinton spread the piss across Missouri as she landed in Kansas City this week.
The AP reports that Clinton spent 90 minutes Monday at the home of Kansas City lawyer Herb Kohn, an adviser to Mayor Kay Barnes. Clinton walked away with about $40,000 for her Senate re-election campaign, but Democratic critics wonder at what cost to others running for office.
"The timing is bad," Democratic activist Woody Overton said. "We have a U.S. Senate race going on in Missouri. Claire McCaskill needs every dime she can raise right now."IT'S JUST THE GAME You know our motto around here, "Don't hate the players, hate the game." So our friends at the St. Louis American and the Arch City Chronicle know that it's not personal when we point out these recent examples of how well selling-out pays.
Within the last two weeks, both the American and the ACC gave glowing endorsements of the two incumbents running in the April 4 school board election. And while it may be pure coincidence, both papers seemed to be rewarded with pages of advertisements from the campaigns and their allies.
On the back page of this week's issue of the ACC is a full-page ad from the Buford and Clinkscale campaigns. Inside, another half-page ad.
The back page of this week's issue of the American carries a full-page color ad from Sodexho, a controversial SLPS vendor. Inside is a quarter-page ad from the Clinkscale-Buford campaign and on the front page the second headline in as many weeks touting an endorsement for the duo. Hmmmm.
If only Peter Downs and Donna Jones, the two parent candidates endorsed by the teachers union and others, had access to a few hundred-thousand dollars, we might be able to afford a new iMac around here.
3 Comments:
What happened to the Arch City Chronicle? It used to be critical of the powers that be. Now it is a part of the powers that be.
2:52 PM, March 24, 2006
The ACC's editorial positions have been that way for quite a while. They also supported two of the four defeated charter amendments that were backed by Big Business and Slay (3 of them) and opposed by most local pols and grassroots organizations.
Fortunately, ACC's editorial positions don't affect its content that much. It still gives space in its news sections for stories about other candidates and parties, as well as opposing views on issues. The problem with the Post is not its editorials (which no one reads) but how it kills news stories that reflect other views.
3:57 PM, March 24, 2006
Killing news stories is a game that most STL media plays. That's why blogs like this one and alternative publications are the best source for news in this backwards town.
9:31 AM, March 25, 2006
Post a Comment
<< Home