Jefferson City - In a remarkable development, the big-city liberal media has refused to report that Kelvin Simmons, Governor-elect Nixon’s first pick for a cabinet position, is a registered lobbyist. Not that there is anything wrong with that, they just seem obsessed with Republican lobbyists and their ties to elected officials so we felt obliged to comment on this little pearl.

Kelvin Simmons is a registered lobbyist for SWOPE Community Builders who currently has a $1.4 million tax credit application pending before the Missouri Housing Development Commission (MHDC) to which Nixon is a voting member. The Kansas City Business Journal did a story on SWOPE a few weeks ago http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/stories/2008/11/03/story6.html?b=1225688400%5E1725505&brthrs=1. They also did a story in 2005 when Simmons became the CEO of SWOPE http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/stories/2005/11/21/focus10.html.

“It will be interesting to see how successful Simmons is at lobbying his new boss, who during the campaign expressed disdain for ‘special interest lobbyists,’ on behalf of his former employer,” said Tina Hervey, communications director. “Jay Nixon talked a great deal during the campaign about change but his first pick for a cabinet position in his administration was a lobbyist whose client has $1.4 million on the line.”

We hope that the media does a better job of reporting factually on these types of relationships when additional cabinet heads are named.