Cole's blog

Last week, GOP Senate hopeful John Brunner finally joined his primary rivals, Todd Akin and Sarah Steelman, in calling for frequent debates in their race for the Republican nomination.

And yet, a week later, there's nary a peep out of the rivals about when these concensus debates will begin.

Maybe it's time for the moderators-in-waiting in the press corps to push them for a date certain.

Meanwhile, the GOP candidiates for President just completed their 17th debate....

Exhibit A: A screenshot of Kinder's campaign video that was filmed, produced & distributed exclusively for campaign purposes

Yesterday, Auditor Tom Schweich announced a “rapid response team” to crack down on politicking on state time.

Schweich’s team shouldn’t have far to go for its first raid.   Schweich’s first floor capitol office shares a plumbing stack with 2nd floor Lt. Governor Peter Kinder.

Monitoring Kinder’s Twitter account with an ear to the plumbing stack, Schweich team should be able to quickly catch Kinder spewing partisan missives from the porcelain throne in his second floor office.  A quick dash up the stairs, subpoenas in hand, should save taxpayers thousands of dollars.  

And Schweich's new press aide might end up being the star witness against Kinder, his former boss.  While working for the Lt. Governor, he was best known for retweeting Kinder’s  partisan missives—what lawyers like Schweich call "an accessory after the fact."  Add in a Team Kinder campaign video produced with taxpayer dollars, fundraising for Republican campaign committees with official resources and the use of official resources to develop donors for his private Health Care Inaction slush fund... and the Auditor has plenty to work with. 

Tom Schweich loves to be called Ambassador.

He calls himself the "Ambassador in Residence" at the Washington University Law School.

His copyright infringing band is called "Ambassador Tom and the Mortgaged Youth."

His web page is littered with references to his favorite title.

And that has political insiders speculating that, if elected, Schweich will insist the State Auditor's staff refer to him as Ambassador, rather than Auditor.

That would be unprecedented, but perhaps short-lived.  His heavy flirtation with the US Senate race, his constant gaze east and the standing one-way ticket to DC tucked inside his diplomatic sash all suggest that Ambassador Tom has bigger things planned in life than serving the hard-working, plain-speaking people of Missouri as their humble State Auditor.

Tom Schweich is never shy about highlighting his work in Afghanistan promoting alternative economic opportunities to fight poppy production.

But Schweich apparently never used the silver bullet in the war against the drug trade.

Yesterday, the New York Times reported on a geologic study documenting world-class mineral reserves in Afghanistan.  All told, the reserves are valued at nearly a trillion dollars.  That's a lot of alternative economic opportunity.

The Times also reports that the study, first produced in 2007, was ignored for two years by US officials and gathered dust.   That pretty much corresponds to Schweich much touted time in Afghanistan.

Did Schweich miss a golden opportunity?  Only he can tell us that.  And he no doubt will, because Schweich would rather talk about Afghanistan than the Missouri Auditor's race any day.

In the spring of 2009, Peter Kinder appointed himself the chief supporter of Metro, the St. Louis area transit agency.  After voters rejected a transit sales tax measure, Kinder pressed GOP legislators to bailout the agency with state funds until a new tax increase could be put forward.

Since then, Kinder has spent every waking hour railing against taxes and twittering from Tea Party to Tea Party. 

Last week, St. Louis County voters, over the objection of Tea Party activists, approved a half cent sales tax increase for Metro.

So which side did Kinder support--- Transit or the Tea Party?

Last week, Peter Kinder announced his campaign for Governor from a Washington, DC Bar, asking his supporters to follow him on Twitter and Facebook, above all else.

This week Kinder is again begging people to follow him on Twitter.

While Kinder is a little short staffed these days, someone needs to remind him that voters, not Twitter followers, are what counts. 

It's been a tough year for Pete Kinder.

His campaign for Governor has cash-on-hand hovering around the federal poverty level--- $16,877.  And he's carrying a debt of $315,000.

His Tour of Missouri bike race spent more on luxury food and alcohol than it generated in private support, forcing taxpayers to pay Kinder's bills.

And tonight, Peter "Every Dollar Counts" Kinder will provide his unique insights on how to handle the state budget.

Watch for Twittering and bike racing to be big parts of his plan....

Peter Kinder's Official Tour of Missouri Hostesses (imported from Georgia) have created a twitter feed and video blog detailing how they are spending Missourian's tax money.

Here is a recent excerpt from their Twitter feed:

"we're really hoping to find a nail salon to get pedicures. our podium heels hate us.about 16 hours ago"

"changing into our dresses. crazy warm outside. sweat marks? hope not...about 18 hours ago"

Governor Nixon's steady fiscal stewardship in troubling times is paying dividends.

According to the AP, Fitch Ratings recently graded Missouri bonds as "AAA." The rating agency cited Missouri's conservative approach to assuming new debts and repaying existing ones, and its track record of balanced financial management.

Government by grown-ups is working for Missouri.

Peter "Every Dollar Counts" Kinder is creating jobs with his taxpayer funded Tour of Missouri bike race--- too bad they're in Georgia.

Kinder has selected two Georgians, Erin Haney and Jen Caudill, as the official Hostesses for the 2009 Tour of Missouri.

Here's a look at the resumes Kinder couldn't pass over.

"Haney was named Miss Georgia USA in 2003 and has remained involved in pageants as a producer, consultant, emcee and judge. She possesses a college degree in Fashion Design and interned with fashion designer Vera Wang.  Haney also has over 15 years of formal dance training."

Caudill is an Atlanta based "model and actress and has appeared in music videos and on an episode of Lifetime's Drop Dead Diva.  She earned a degree in Advertising from the University of Georgia Grady College of Journalism.  Caudill is also an experienced equestrian."

This week, Peter Kinder spent his time encouraging students to skip school.

Next week, he moves on to advanced grade inflation, with the start of his taxpayer-funded, French-style bike race, the Tour of Missouri.

Watch for Kinder to announce eye-popping projections on the number of "unique spectators" that witness his spectacle.

After weeks of giving GOP rival Chuck Purgason the slip and denying the existence of a party primary, Roy Blunt may have outsmarted himself.

Blunt has announced his plans to be at a State Capital presser on Thursday at 2:30PM.

But Blunt is likely to find that taking his campaign to Purgason's favorite political hunting grounds and announcing it in advance was a mistake.  No doubt Purgeson, a professional big-game hunter by trade, will follow Blunt's pork droppings to the event.  And when the two meet, Blunt may well find himself on the business end of a bolo tie and a tea bag.

As Mike Kehoe resigns from the Transportation Commission "to begin a new chapter in his life" (and an expected State Senate bid), Fired Up remembers the previous dark chapters. 

Click here for the full Fired Up archive on Mike Kehoe and his questionable deals. 

Last week, Peter "Every Dollar Counts" Kinder had his website shutdown for "non-payment" of every dollar.

This week, Kinder's website is back up, but contains a secret message, apparently designed to fool internet search engines like The Google.

Invisible on the public version of his website, the declaration "Peter Kinder for Governor" appear on the text-only version of his site.

Maybe invisible words were all he could afford for his dog whistle campaign for Governor.

This just in from the Associated Press:

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan plans a news conference in St. Louis to make what she calls a major announcement regarding her investigation into the sale of auction-rate securities.

The news conference is scheduled for 2 p.m. Thursday at her St. Louis office. Carnahan will be joined by Doug Ommen of the Missouri Attorney General's office.

Carnahan has been investigating and working with several financial institutions over concerns that investors have lost access to their money frozen in auction-rate securities.

Stifel Nicolaus & Co. recently agreed to buy back some auction-rate securities it sold before the market for the securities collapsed.

Her office reached earlier agreements with Wachovia Corp. and Commerce Bank.

Peter "Every Dollar Counts" Kinder must have missed a few.

Kinder's webmaster has suspended his internet presence for "non-payment."

Here is the full Kinder website as it now exists:

"This site was taken offline for non-payment. No database backups, images, etc. will be restored until accounts are brought up to date."

I guess that is what happens when reckless campaign spending and a $300,000 debt to Matt Blunt come home to roost.  No word on how Kinder will communicate his criticisms of Governor Nixon's balanced budget with a bankrupt and neutered cyber presence.

GOP gray beards are growing increasingly concerned that Peter Kinder may be heading for a political pile-up over his bike race.  

In a bizarre obsession, Kinder has taken to referring to the Tour of Missouri as "My Bicycle Race," signaling to anyone who will listen that it is the one thing in Jefferson City that he controls.  He has essentially merged the race with his political persona.

At that same time, Kinder's staff has been raising expectations that Lance Armstrong will participate in "My Bicycle Race."

These two converging factors have senior GOP strategist increasingly fearing the following no-win scenarios for Kinder and their party:

1. The pro-research and cures Armstrong will boycott the race over its chief patron's opposition to stem cell research and cures.

2. Armstrong will participate, but convert the race into a seven day rolling rebuke of Kinder and the GOP over its anti-cures dogma.

3. The pile-up will drive corporate sponsors of Kinder's bike race heading for the exits, forcing Kinder to divert additional job creation money from state coffers to cover his race's red-ink.

4. Sponsors who share Kinder opposition to stem cell research (the Drury Family and the Missouri Farm Bureau) may find themselves in the remarkably awkward position of helping to pay for Armstrong's pro-stem cell soap box.   

Jo Mannies, at her new St. Louis Beacon outpost, has a fresh interview with Sarah Steelman.

Here are a few choice excerpts:

"My point was that he represents the status quo in Washington."

Such a choice, she said, would be a weak Republican candidate to take on the likely Democratic nominee, Secretary of State Robin Carnahan. Steelman said the Democrats will be eager to paint Blunt as a Washington insider and will have an easy task.

As a House leader, she continued, Blunt has been among those who have "led this country to the brink of disaster" with their big-spending policies.

"He's promoting the same old ways of Washington that didn't work," Steelman said. "I think the public realizes that what we don't need is 'someone with Washington experience.'  People are losing their homes, losing their income, their pensions, their retirements. I don't think the public wants more of his Washington experience."

Struggling to justify the diversion of millions of dollars in job creation money to bail-out his french-style bike race, part-time Lt. Governor Peter Kinder has taken to shovel-ready spin.

Yesterday, in front of journalist from around the state, Kinder criticized the President's economic stimulus initiative, even though it's already improving roads and bridges in Missouri.

Instead, Kinder held up "My Bicycle Race"as a model for job creation in our state, citing economic numbers from the Missouri Federation of Independent Businesses the Missouri Bicycle Federation.  

Kinder's economic plan is creating a handful of jobs in California, Missouri.  This week Kinder's taxpayer funded staff is on the job in San Francisco spending taxpayer money enjoying VIP access to the Tour of California bike race.

The Associated Press is reporting, again, about Ed Martin's Governor's Office lawbreaking.  Here is an excerpt:

The most recent e-mails to be released include a message sent by Ed Martin, then Blunt's chief of staff, after media accounts of Eckersley's assertions about deleted e-mails.

Martin said Eckersley is "confused and troubled and is now telling people lots of things that are not true and are meant to malign the office." Martin also said the governor's office had filed a complaint about Eckersley with the Missouri Bar.

That prompted the governor's general counsel at the time, Henry Herschel, to respond in an e-mail to Martin: "Ed please we can not say anything!!!!"

The latest AP story means one thing--- Martin will soon launch some crazy attack on Democrats (or weakened Republicans) in a desperate effort to change the subject.

Members of the media are advised to treat Martin's rantings with extreme skepticism.  If called by Martin, it is recommended you simulate the sound of typing by randomly manipulating your computer keyboard.  Many journalists report that Martin remains calm if he thinks his rantings are being transcribed.  For face-to-face encounters, scribbling aimlessly in a notepad while nodding can be an effective strategy.  Members of the judiciary who encounter Martin toting an arm-full of lawsuits are advised to keep a Bailiff close.  Legislators spotting Martin should have a colleague request a quorum call.