Volume 20, Edition 2  •  October 12, 2007

Gibbons Announcing Run for Attorney General

The Missouri Republican Party is encouraging Missourians to be on hand for Senate President Pro Tem Michael Gibbons’ statewide announcement that he is running for attorney general. Gibbons, who has proven himself both as a member of the state House and the top Republican lawmaker in the Senate, is ready to bring integrity back to the attorney general’s office, which for the last 14 years has been abused by Democrat Jay Nixon. Gibbons will be kicking off his campaign in several locations around the state this Saturday, October 13, and Monday, October 15.

Saturday, October 13 Events:

10:00 AM: ST. LOUIS
GIBBONS’ HOME
Front Porch
651 Pearl Ave.
(Off Essex from Kirkwood Road)
Kirkwood, MO

12:15 PM: COLUMBIA
COURTYARD MARRIOTT HOTEL
Meeting Room
Hwy 63 & Grindstone
Columbia, MO  

2:30 PM: KANSAS CITY
KANSAS CITY DOWNTOWN AIRPORT
Executive Beechcraft
10 NW Richards Road
Kansas City, MO  

4:30 PM: SPRINGFIELD
UNIVERSITY PLAZA
Texas Room
333 John Q. Hammonds Parkway
Springfield, MO

Monday, October 15 Events:

9:00 AM: HANNIBAL
QUALITY INN & SUITES
120 Lindsey Dr, Hwy 36
Hannibal, MO

10:30 AM: KIRKSVILLE
 DEPOT INN
1245 North Brown St
La Plata, MO

12:30 PM: ST. JOSEPH
 HILLS LIBRARY
East Hills Public Library
502 N Woodbine Road
St. Joseph, MO

2:45 PM: JOPLIN
 JOPLIN REGIONAL AIRPORT
Main Lobby
Joplin, MO

4:45 PM: CAPE GIRARDEAU
 H&H BUILDING
First Floor
400 Broadway
Cape Girardeau, MO 

So come on out and support Michael Gibbons. Remember: “We Like Mike!”

Governor Steps Up Efforts to Combat Illegal Immigration

Governor Blunt is asking Missouri’s congressional delegation to help expedite his request for authority to allow state law enforcement officers to help enforce immigration laws as federally deputized Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. “As you well know, the fight against illegal immigration is important to Missouri as a whole and to individual Missouri families,” the governor wrote in a letter to Missouri’s senators and representatives. “This designation will enable specially trained law enforcement officers to enforce federal immigration laws, under the supervision of ICE, commensurate with their day-to-day law enforcement duties. Missourians rightfully expect and deserve to have federal immigration laws enforced.” The governor’s administration is currently working with ICE for authority under Section 287g of the Immigration and Nationality Act to help enforce immigration laws. The governor is asking for Missouri’s representatives in Washington to stand behind his call to help step up law enforcement in the state. Under the agreement, participating state troopers, Capitol Police, and water patrol officers would receive appropriate training from ICE and function in the field under the supervision of ICE officers. Missouri would be one of only seven states to have taken this important step to empower state law enforcement to effectively fight illegal immigration. Governor Blunt directed his staff to examine the costs associated with the 287g designation to include all related expenses from training to implementation. He plans to seek funding in next year’s budget to help state and local law enforcement agencies pursue the cooperative agreement and help enhance public safety. The governor also directed all state law enforcement agencies to immediately take the steps necessary to verify the immigration status of every criminal presented for incarceration. Since the governor’s directive, state law enforcement have conducted 978 background checks and detained 61 illegal immigrants.

First Lady, Governor Focus on Fighting Breast Cancer

Governor Blunt and First Lady Melanie Blunt this week participated in a ceremony to light the Gateway Arch pink in recognition of breast cancer awareness month and reaffirmed their commitment to fight the disease. In this year’s state budget, the governor secured a $500,000 increase to expand the number of breast and cervical cancer screenings through the Show Me Healthy Women Program. The Show Me Healthy Women program offers free breast and cervical cancer screenings to thousands of Missouri women who meet specific residency, age and income guidelines. The additional funding is more than three times last year’s state funding and will allow the program to serve approximately 1,225 additional women next year. “The impact of this disease on our families is devastating. Lighting the Gateway Arch in pink is an appropriate tribute to the nearly 4,000 Missouri women diagnosed with breast cancer every year and the countless survivors and family members who have been affected by the disease. It also serves as a reminder for Missourians about the importance of early detection and breast cancer screenings,” Governor Blunt said. Earlier this month, the governor and the first lady hosted a reception honoring organizations and individuals making a mark in the fight to find a cure for breast cancer. At the event that attracted more than 300 guests from across the state, Governor Blunt officially recognized October as Breast Cancer Awareness Month in Missouri. “The most significant message I can send about breast cancer is the importance of early detection, the value of regular screenings, and the crucial role we all play in our own health,” said Mrs. Blunt, who lost her mother to the disease. “As your first lady, I have focused on women’s and children’s wellness, and as we recognize and celebrate Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I urge Missourians to recognize the importance of early detection and to take time for breast cancer screenings.”

New Website Tracking Those Not Paying Taxes

Governor Matt Blunt announced that he is shining a bright light for consumers on Missouri businesses not paying taxes, launching an Internet site that lists businesses that have failed to comply with state tax law, www.whoisnotpaying.mo.gov. The governor signed legislation this year to give the Missouri Department of Revenue authority to publish the name of any business which has a revoked sales tax license. A sales tax license may be revoked for either failing to remit sales tax collected from customers or for failing to remit income tax withheld from employees. The Who is Not Paying site, listing businesses with revoked sales tax licenses, is maintained by the Department of Revenue and is updated each Monday. The Internet site lets users search for revoked businesses by tax number and business name, or users can request all revoked businesses within a certain city or county. For each revoked business, the site displays the business name, owner name, address of all revoked locations, and date of revocation. The department has contacted businesses listed on the revocations site by mail or phone several times. Thirty days prior to actual revocation of a business’ sales tax license, the business receives a certified letter explaining its noncompliance with state tax law and the repercussions to occur as a result. The site also gives honest, tax-paying consumers the chance to anonymously report businesses appearing to operate without a sales tax license. The department set up a special email address, revocations@dor.mo.gov, to accept reports of such activity and has already received several tips that are currently under investigation. “It is time for Missourians to know which businesses are following the law and which businesses are breaking the law,” Governor Blunt said. “Keeping sales tax collected from customers or failing to submit income tax withheld from employees is wrong. This unlawful practice cheats Missouri consumers and strangles funding for vital services such as educating our children. It cheats cities and counties and reduces funding for important public safety expenses, including law enforcement and fire protection. It is time we shine the light on those businesses and insist they follow the law.”

Expansion of Technology Focus of Task Force

Governor Blunt this week signed an executive order creating a new Rural High-Speed Internet Access Task Force that will identify opportunities to increase access to technology across the state. The governor signed the executive order at a telecommunications symposium held on the campus of the University of Missouri-Columbia. The governor’s new Rural High-Speed Internet Access Task Force is rooted in the fact that by combining the collective ideas of both the government and representatives of private industry, the technological needs of Missouri rural communities can be heard and solutions can be reached. The governor directed the task force to assess the current level of high-speed Internet access available in Missouri; identify barriers to deployment to underserved areas including economic, geographic, regulatory, and market barriers; identify potential options to increase the deployment of high-speed Internet access in underserved communities; review best practices in other states to increase high-speed Internet access; and recommend statutory, regulatory, and policy changes needed to increase the availability of high-speed Internet services across the state. The group will submit a report to the governor by February 1, 2008, and will be assigned to the Department of Economic Development for administrative purposes.

Governor Seeks to Ease Veterinarian Shortage in State

Governor Blunt has announced that one of his budget priorities for the coming year will be to address the critical shortage of large animal veterinarians in the state by fully funding the state’s Large Animal Veterinary Student Loan Program. The governor signed legislation creating the Large Animal Veterinary Student Loan Program to ensure that family farmers in underserved areas of our state have access to large animal veterinary care. The governor announced that he will recommend a half million dollars in the next state budget for this important new program. The student loan program provides incentives for students pursuing a degree in veterinary medicine and was championed this past legislative session. The funding builds on the governor’s strong achievements in agriculture. Under the governor’s leadership, Missouri has become a national leader in the production of alternative energy, protected the property rights of family farmers by passing a strong eminent domain reform bill, and passed the Lewis and Clark Discovery Initiative to fund several multi-million dollar agricultural research and learning centers across our state to help Missouri farmers stay on the cutting-edge of agricultural technology. In addition, the governor started the Missouri Quality Systems Assessment Program for Livestock, making Missouri the first state in the nation to be certified by the USDA for its own beef quality assurance program and the Adult Agricultural Education program to provide Missouri farm families with increased educational opportunities to learn how to better manage their farms. “This funding will create a corps of young, talented veterinarians ready to serve family farmers in underserved areas across the state, helping to ensure that the next generation of Missouri’s family farmers has the veterinary resources available to continue our state’s agricultural tradition,” the governor said.

Montee Must Hold Nixon Accountable but Instead…

The Missouri Republican Party this week called on State Auditor Susan Montee to put the people ahead of politics by ensuring that her fellow Democrat Jay Nixon truly reimburses taxpayers for illegally using his state vehicle including gasoline for his political campaigns, which Nixon confessed to on October 5. Nixon’s abuse of taxpayer dollars comes 10 months after he was cited by the state auditor’s office for misuse of publicly-financed phones. And Nixon's predecessor, Bill Webster, was sentenced to prison for the same action of converting public property to political use. “Notwithstanding the Attorney General’s assertion that his car use was allowable, he is making what he would call a voluntary restitution. You are to be the taxpayer’s watchdog. It is axiomatic that no one audits themselves. Your minimum duty is to act independently to verify that the past political use of the Nixon car is fully reimbursed and isn’t being understated by Nixon and his campaign. You should immediately investigate the methods that will determine reimbursement amounts, what usage is reimbursed, what timeframe reimbursement will cover and many other questions that cannot, and should not, be left to self-auditing by a state official, and certainly not by someone who broke the law in every literate opinion except his own,” Jared Craighead, executive director of the Missouri Republican Party, said in the letter to Montee. “This clear case will define your standards. If you choose to be a sightless umpire for your own party, you will be complicit in the abuse of bilking taxpayers to fund politics. Please fulfill your constitutional duty and protect the taxpayers of Missouri,” Craighead concluded in the letter. Nixon’s abuse of state resources was previously exposed in a state audit released on January 3, 2007, that found Nixon’s office made a series of phone calls on state cell phones at night, on weekends and when an employee assigned to a specific phone was on vacation. The audit also found that Nixon’s office doesn’t closely monitor whether taxpayer-financed cell phones are being utilized for personal use. That audit found that the state paid more than $14,000 in fees for exceeding minutes on cell phone plans, roaming and tolls for 10 phones. Remarkably, 36 individuals on the AG’s bloated staff have both a cell phone and a Blackberry. Presumably those staff members prefer using a cell phone for their telephonic communications and Blackberries for their email.

…She Won’t Investigate Despite Nixon Lies

Jay Nixon lied to state auditors by claiming that he used an official state vehicle only for state business even though he has admitted to illegally using the vehicle for political purposes, Democrat State Auditor Susan Montee confirmed in a story late this week by The Associated Press. “Attorney General Jay Nixon, who has acknowledged using his state vehicle for political trips, assured state auditors last year that he used his vehicle only for official purposes, Auditor Susan Montee said Thursday. But Montee said she has no plans to undertake another audit of the attorney general's office until 2009 after Nixon's expected gubernatorial matchup next year against Gov. Matt Blunt,” The AP reported. Montee went on to tell The AP that the auditor’s office incredibly just took Nixon’s word – now proven to be a lie – that he only used the vehicle for official use. Montee’s pledge not to review Nixon’s reimbursement of the state for his illegal activity proves that she is more interested in protecting Nixon than doing the job Missourians elected her to do. Montee should also remember that the last attorney general was convicted on felony counts for abuse of public resources so she should take additional steps to make sure more abuse isn't occurring in Nixon’s office. Montee has confirmed that Jay Nixon lied to state auditors and Missouri taxpayers, but instead of acting as the state’s watchdog she has chosen instead to act as Nixon’s political lapdog by refusing to investigate the attorney general’s false statements and refusing to review his so-called reimbursements to the state after he confessed to breaking the law. If he is willing to lie to Democrat state officials about his illegal activities, what else is he hiding from all Missourians? How will Missourians truly know if the money he returns to taxpayers is a full accounting of his abuses? The sad answer to that question is Missourians don’t and sadder yet is Susan Montee’s political unwillingness to demand answers to the many questions created by this scandal.

What has Nixon Promised His Labor Buddies at AFSCME?

To date, Jay Nixon and the Missouri Democrat Party have amassed $200,000 collectively from the liberals at the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. The money is clearly a down payment for Nixon’s commitment to reinstate Bob Holden’s executive order allowing collective bargaining for public employees, but with this much cash running in the door, one has to wonder what else Nixon has in store for the group. The AFSCME contribution shows Nixon’s close ties to the group, which helped write Holden’s executive order that was immediately rescinded by Gov. Matt Blunt following his 2004 victory. AFSCME issued its public support for amnesty for illegal immigrants in an April 10, 2006, news release and in 2005 joined with the ACLU in court to challenge an amendment in Florida banning gay marriage. Nixon hypocritically attacked others for taking unlimited campaign contributions while at the same time making sure his labor buddies paid up. This is nothing but a huge down payment on devastating policies that Nixon would promote which would destroy the tremendous economic progress our state has made under the leadership of Governor Blunt and the Republican Legislature.

Media Act As Nixon Apologists

It should come as no surprise to Missouri Republicans that Jay Nixon sent a fundraising letter to The Kansas City Star last week. The newspaper reported the incident and claimed that no money would be forthcoming, but who needs to give money when Nixon lands an editorial that skips over his illegal use of the state resources. Nixon announced late last week that he would be reimbursing the state for the use of his state vehicle for political events. This stunning announcement came after the Springfield News-Leader stated the obvious: Nixon was breaking the law. So what doThe Star and News-Leader do after Nixon admits he broke the law? They apologize for him and then claim that his lawbreaking is similar to a current state law and long-held tradition that the Missouri Highway Patrol must protect the governor 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The Star abomination can be found at www.kansascity.com while the News-Leader apology can be found at
www.springfieldnews-leader.com.

MissouriPulse.com Post of the Week

Sen. McCaskill, Step Away From The Farm Bill

Yesterday, Senator Claire McCaskill informed KOMU (h/t: Combest) that a final version of the $286 billion federal farm bill may not arrive in the Senate until the end of October. When that time comes, McCaskill should avoid the stubborness that hamstrung her during the Norman Hsu fiasco and simply state that she has a serious conflict of interest and abstain from voting on the farm bill.

As Missouri Pulse has previously reported, McCaskill’s latest personal financial disclosure is riddled with government subsidized housing holdings, which played a factor in her recent ranking as the 15th wealthiest member of Congress as tallied by Roll Call magazine.1 When those holdings are cross-referenced against UCC databases, dozens of outstanding USDA-related loan and financing arrangements, such as the example below, are revealed. For those who are not aware, the USDA’s Rural Development wing is a major player in the government subisidized housing arena.

TENNESSEE SECRETARY OF STATE, UCC RECORD
Debtors: HARPER ASSOCIATES LTD IV
Debtor Address: HARPER ASSOCIATES LTD IV
P O BOX 68
CLARKTON, MO 63837
Secured Parties: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, USDA, RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Filing Type: CONTINUATION
Filing Date: 6/5/2006
Filing Time: 09:05AM
Filing Number: 206-033540
Original Filing Number: 860-380082
Original Filing Date: 11/4/1986

For skeptics and McCaskill syncophants who require more evidence of the overlap between her family’s government subsidized housing empire and the USDA, look no further than the excerpt below from the KC Star which details the USDA’s role in McCaskill’s much-publicized offshore company housed in Bermuda—Rural Housing Reinsurance Company of America. According to McCaskill’s latest personal financial disclosure, her family still has up to $1 million in assets in the company.

Excerpt from the KC Star, 10/19/2006:

[Rural Housing Reinsurance] was founded in part at the suggestion of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which provided financing for some housing projects.

But in 2000, USDA officials ordered Shepard and his partners to seek insurance bids from firms other than their own company. At the time, Shepard's properties provided 35 percent of Rural Re's business, according to Miller's affidavit.

In a letter to the company's lawyer, a USDA official wrote that the arrangement "creates risk of their placing their financial interest in conflict with the project's best interests." None of the other thousands of other project owners financed by the same USDA program needed a similar setup to get insurance for their properties, the USDA letter said.

Rural Re sued USDA and the two settled, with Rural Re getting to continue to insure its owners' properties.

___________
1 Roll Call, 9/10/2007

The Cornerstone

Campaign Finance Alert: It’s Not Too Late!

Quarterly reports for activity ending September 30, 2007 must be filed with the Missouri Ethics Commission by 5 p.m., Monday, October 15, 2007. Any report mailed to the Ethics Commission must be postmarked prior to the due date to be considered timely filed. An email reminder of the reporting due date was recently sent to committee treasurers. If you did not receive the email reminder and would like to be added to future reminders, please contact Emily Kliethermes at ekliet@mogop.org.

Columbia Pachyderm Celebration Rescheduled

The Columbia Pachyderm Club’s 40th Anniversary Celebration has been rescheduled and will now be held at the state federation’s biannual conference which will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, December 1, at Jack’s Gourmet in Columbia. Social time and registration will be from 10:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. with lunch and the 40th Anniversary Celebration and State Election scheduled for 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The price for the conference will be $15 per individual, which includes lunch. Please RSVP by Sunday Nov. 25, 2007. You can RSVP via email at Auxano@aol.com or you can call Patrick Crabtree at 573-445-8522, or 573-881-4096l.

Thoughts and Prayers

The Missouri Republican Party encourages Republicans across the state to keep these individuals in your thoughts and prayers:

Paul Busiek, husband of Mavis Busiek. Paul’s health concerns continue.

Mike Keathley, Commissioner of Administration, who has cancer.

Rosemary Kochner, 13th District State Committeewoman, who has continued health concerns.

State Rep. Scott Lipke and family, 157th House District, whose newborn daughter is recovering from surgery to correct a faulty heart.

Mary Mallien, 14th District State Committeewoman, who has continued health concerns.

State Sen. Delbert Scott and family, whose father, Donovan Scott, passed away following a stroke.

Dawn Sprick, daughter of 21st District State Committeeman Gary Harris, who has cancer.

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