Bill Stouffer

Vicky Hartzler says Bill Stouffer is lying about her record with his recent TV ad accusing her of supporting 31 different tax increases in the House of Representatives, and hits back with criticism of Stouffer's support for a $7.2 billion sales tax increase for rebuilding Interstates 70 and 44.

State Sen. Bill Stouffer has a new campaign ad muddying the waters in his CD4 primary battle against former Rep. Vicky Hartzler. Stouffer, who has promised not to "shy away" from his support for a $7.2 billion sales tax increase for rebuilding Interstates 70 and 44., claims that Hartlzer supported 31 tax increases in the Missouri House.

State Sen. Bill Stouffer explains in the News-Leader today that people who think that citizens should be able to serve openly and honestly in the armed forces "do not understand the mission of our military." 

Obviously, Stouffer knows more about the military than you, me, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff or the Secretary of Defense.  I mean, the guy has pictures of airplanes on website and a B-2 bomber lapel pin!  He knows!

UPDATE: It looks like there's a new version of this article, but the incorrect version is still up at News-Leader.com, and I'm told the incorrect version ran in the print version of today's Star.

The Associated Press: 

Federal campaign finance reports show Skelton reported raising $159,000 during the first quarter this year. Former state lawmaker Vicky Hartzler raised $94,000 from January through March, and state Sen. Bill Stouffer raised $43,000.

All three campaigns reported they had about $300,000 available in their bank accounts. Hartzler has $296,000 on-hand, which is about $10,000 more than Skelton and $25,000 more than Stouffer.

Ike Skelton actually raised $432,673 in the first quarter of 2010.  He has $1,232,078 cash on hand.

Jeff Parnell filed to run for Congress in the Fourth Congressional District yesterday, saying "there are simply too many inept politicians in the race for me to stay out."  Parnell was the GOP candidate against Rep. Ike Skelton in 2008.  

Parnell obviously isn't a fan of Skelton, but he probably isn't making friends in the Bill Stouffer and Vicky Harztler camps with his "inept politicians" dig.  Politico:

Jeff Parnell, who was Skelton's 2008 opponent, told POLITICO he entered the campaign on the final day of filing because "while it is a personal sacrifice, there are simply too many inept politicians in the race for me to stay out."

Sen. Bill Stouffer (R-Napton), one of six conservative Republicans to vote against the Senate's autism insurance bill (SB618), has words of comfort for the families he voted against.  Fear not, struggling families, because "the free market system works."  Via The Turner Report:

I cannot vote to let state government dictate what coverage insurance companies can offer. The free market system works. Letting government in, so they can tell insurance providers who they can and cannot cover, is not a good fix to a situation.

SB618 passed 26-6 on March 18. Last year, however, when the Senate passed Rupp's SB167 by a 29-2 vote, Stouffer has happy to support a similar assault on freedom bipartisan solution.

Politico's Dave Catanese posted a series of interesting tweets on Saturday about Tom Schweich's campaign for State Auditor.  In chronological order:

• 8:38 PM - Bad buzz about Schweich from even those who support him. He's steamed he has a primary when he cut a deal. Ala [Florida Governor Charlie] Crist, welcome to the NFL.
   
• 9:14 PM - GOPer says Schweich needs to learn from @RoyBlunt in approach. Roy takes his licks, but smiles, brushes off like Jay-Z. Schweich gets mad.
   
• 9:32 PM - Schweich should devote a speech to his $500 contrib. to @clairecmc. Say if the GOP wants to b party that excludes indys, it won't prevail.
   
• 9:41 PM - No, @allenicet [primary opponent Allen Icet] doesn't inspire. But Schweich is turning people off. RT @davesmith3: @davecatanese is @alanicet really crushing it THAT much?

Sen. Bill Stouffer will be opining on the "Missouri response" to potential changes in the federal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy this morning, as you may know by now. 

Stouffer will no doubt spend some time trying to explain how his anti-gay posturing with state time and resources is not related to his campaign for Congress, and he should. 

But as Chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, Stouffer may also have some insight into how and why Cpl. Dennis Engelhard, recently killed in a Christmas Day traffic accident, was able to serve openly in the Missouri State Highway Patrol. 

As far as I know, there have been no questions about Engelhard's ability to perform his duties at the highest level, though his death does raise serious questions about state policy regarding domestic partner benefits. 

UPDATE: Jason Noble has a brutal blog post over at the Prime Buzz about Stouffer's campaign official press conference.  In response, Stouffer's campaign has explained that the Senator will be sponsoring legislation somehow related to federal policy. 

Tell us again why Stouffer's Congressional campaign is making the announcements about what his official office is doing? 

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State Sen. Bill Stouffer is conducting an "informal press conference" tomorrow morning alongside state senate candidate Jack Jackson to talk about how terrible it would be if the discriminatory and counterproductive "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" policy -- a federal policy -- is repealed. 

In Stouffer's media advisory, distributed at taxpayer expense, the Senator promises to offer a "Missouri response" to President Obama's stated intention to end DADT. 

Of course, there aren't any "Missouri responses" to a prospective change in federal DADT policy, but Stouffer wants to get his name in the paper to prove he's as disgusted by gays in the military as primary opponent Vicky Hartlzer.

I'm sure Stouffer doesn't mind any criticism from the left for his demagoguery against the LGBT community. But conservatives and progressives alike should be able to agree that it makes no sense for taxpayers to be paying for this garbage.

A message this week from state senator and congressional candidate Bill Stouffer declare that the actions of the federal government are unconstitutional. He writes: 

Today, politicians in Washington, D.C., have the federal government regulating everything under the sun, surpassing the items that Article 1, Section 8 in our nation's Constitution, clearly describes.

Stouffer doesn't specify which policies he finds so outrageous but one presumes that if asked, he'd be able to provide a list and explain why such actions are not allowed by the Constitution.