JEFFERSON CITY - In one of the most stunning cases of hypocrisy to ever be perpetrated on Missouri voters, McClatchy Newspapers reports that Claire McCaskill has gone from attacking special interests and corporate lobbyists in Missouri to embracing them in far away Washington, D.C.

McClatchy reported this weekend that while McCaskill “won election last year with a populist campaign bashing special interests and corporate lobbyists,” she invited dozens of lobbyists from major agricultural, pharmaceutical and tobacco companies to a fundraiser this week seeking $1,000 per political action committee and $500 per individual. In a not-so-unusual twist, the host of the fundraiser is Blackwell Sanders, a law and lobbying firm that Richard Martin, McCaskill’s former campaign manager, just went to work for. Meanwhile, McCaskill’s recently-named chief of staff, Sean Kennedy, spent two years as a lobbyist.

McClatchy also found that McCaskill “has called for more transparency in lobbying, but she didn’t allow a reporter to attend,” the fundraiser. But there’s more. McCaskill has created a “leadership” political action committee known as Missourians for Accountability and Change that will allow her to raise money to fund political activities not related to her campaign, including sending money to other candidates to gain their favor.

“Claire McCaskill is a hypocrite of the worst kind. Not only did she lie to Missourians about her intentions when she got to Washington but now she is a rubbing their faces in it with this disturbing display of arrogance,” said Paul Sloca, communications director for the Missouri Republican Party. “In less than two months time, Claire McCaskill has turned her back on the so-called promises she made to Missourians and rushed into the arms of lobbyists and special interests that have their checkbooks at the ready but have little concern for the needs of Missourians.”

McCaskill’s brief time in Washington has already been an embarrassment to Missourians including a Kansas City Star Buzz Blog report that the Federal Elections Commission believes McCaskill may have accepted “excessive and/or prohibited donations from 19 people in the final weeks of the 2006 elections.” Meanwhile, McCaskill has smugly dismissed setting up a blind trust to avoid conflicts of interest that may arise from her family’s vast financial interests while she serves in the Senate. McCaskill also chose to vacation in Bali instead of attending freshman orientation for new Senators and also is actively seeking to avoid federal campaign finance laws to pay off a campaign loan from 2004.

McClatchy article
Buzz Blog post