Blunt Has Lots of Goodies for Anti-Courts Campaign Figures

Tony Messenger was using his blog to tremendous effect this week, demonstrating yet another solid connection between Matt Blunt and the effort to destroy Missouri's non-partisan court system.  Messenger shared some correspondence that shows a staffer named Jeremy Ketterer --whom James Harris pays to work for J. Harris Consulting and the Adam Smith Foundation-- getting cash from Matt Blunt's campaign as well.

But campaign cash isn't the only means Blunt has devised of paying back the folks who help advance his politically motivated attack on Missouri's non-partisan courts plan.  Far from it.  In fact, it seems gubernatorial appointments are now being parceled out to the brave partisan warriors who carry out Blunt's judicial attacks by proxy.

­Announced right smack in the middle of the dead period between Christmas and New Year's Day was this appointment by Governor Blunt to the Truman State University Board of Governors:

John C. Hilton, 27 of Alexandria, VA, is an associate at Patton Boggs LLP. Mr. Hilton holds a bachelor’s degree from Truman State University and juris doctorate from Harvard University. His appointment is subject to Senate confirmation for a term ending on January 1, 2013.

While the twenty-seven year-old Hilton's primary qualifications for the Board of Governors post appear to be his having been born the son of a semi-prominent GOP hack and his stint running a conservative blog, Hilton may have been rewarded for his work in Blunt's anti-Missouri Plan smear campaign. 

In August 2007 Hilton authored and released, under the imprint of the conservative Federalist Society, an "academic" paper, the primary purpose of which was attacking the Missouri Non-partisan Court Plan from a putatively neutral third party.  The paper, co-authored by William Eckhardt and titled The Consequences of Judicial Selection: A Review of the Supreme Court of Missouri, 1992-2007, was part of a coordinated effort (coordinated largely from within the Governor's office, according to individuals forced from the administration) to slam Missouri's successful judicial selection process in hopes of turning the 2008 election from a referendum on Blunt's failed administration and into one on the judiciary. 

For the trouble of being an "independent" verifier for Matt Blunt's nasty attack on our justice system, perhaps John Hilton earned himself an out-of-state seat on the Truman State Board of Governors.  Seems about right.  What greater reason could there be for earning an appointment from this administration than having been a steady and reliable political pawn?