Bill Stouffer

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it would be if the discriminatory and counterproductive "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" policy -- a federal policy -- is repealed.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.

Sen. Bill Stouffer has been making a lot of hay in the past few days with his criticism of the state tax commission's proposed changes in the way farmland is taxed.  Here's how the AP described the proposed changes:

The Missouri State Tax Commission last month approved new values for farm land that are used for calculating property taxes. Missouri's farms are divided into eight groups based on land quality. The commission increased the value for the four best categories, lowered values for three lesser categories and kept the worst the same.

Yesterday, the House voted 225-200 to permanently extend the estate tax at its 2009 level -- 45% for estates valued at more than $3.5 million, or $7 million for a couple.  As part of the 2001 Bush administration tax cuts for the wealthiest 5% of taxpayers, the estate tax gradually decreased and was set to disappear for all of 2010, only to come back in 2011 at a 55% rate for estates worth more than $1 million. Media Matters:

Rep. Earl Pomeroy's (D-ND) H.R. 4154, the Permanent Estate Tax Relief for Families, Farmers, and Small Businesses Act of 2009, which passed the House today, will fix the problem by making the estate tax permanent at 45% and raising the exemption to $3.5 million.  According to the Joint Committee on Taxation, H.R. 4154 is actually a $233.6 billion tax cut.  Republicans, who want to entirely abolish the estate tax, must choose between supporting a Democratic tax cut or having rates rise in 2011. 

Missourinet's Steve Walsh reported late yesterday afternoon that complaints have been filed against state Sen. Bill Stouffer (R-Napton) with the Federal Election Commission and the Missouri Ethics Commission. The complaints, filed by CMU student Chris Brockway, essentially state that:

• Stouffer allegedly used campaign funds for an unspecified 2012 statewide race to pay Jeff Roe's Axiom Strategies and other expenses for his Congressional campaign
• State Senate staffers are allegedly helping with campaign scheduling and fundraising events during normal work hours

The Stouffer campaign, in turn, calls it all a "smear."

Not everyone in the Stouffer family is sending their checks to Bill's super-duper patriotic campaign for Congress.

Sen. Bill Stouffer was on KMBC last night to share his enlightened opinions about gays in the military and prospective changes to the country's misguided "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) policy.  As Michael Mahoney reports, Stouffer doesn't want Rep. Ike Skelton to hold DADT hearings, and thinks that gays in the military are, well, icky and unpatriotic.

"When you’re in a war situation, you need to know that you can depend upon the person beside you. And if the lover–and you’re there and you got two lovers next to you, they’re going to take care of each other before  they-".  Stouffer stopped his thought, but then added, "it’s just that suspicion."

Seriously?

Vicky Hartzler apparently missed the memo regarding prohibitions on discussing Sen. Bill Stouffer's support for a $7.2B tax increase.

So what did Stouffer's minions -- ostensibly disgusted at her choice to speak ill of a fellow Republican -- do in response?  They accused her of "launching cheap political attacks" and said she was unfairly denigrating Stouffer. They even accused her violating the bylaws of the Missouri Republican Party Executive Committee and demonstrating disloyalty to the GOP cause.

So much for the rules about never saying mean things to fellow Republicans.

Stouffer said he wouldn't "shy away" from his record in the Capitol, but I guess that doesn't mean he won't run away from his record.

Back from her trip to St. Louis to hobnob with fringe extremists at the How To Take Back America Conference, Vicky Hartzler is turning her attention to Sen. Bill Stouffer's proposal to create $7.2 billion in new sales taxes for improvements to Interstates 70 and 44. KY3's Dave Catanese:

My answer is, "Don't raise any taxes." High-tax thinking is the problem, not the solution. I know the people of Fourth District strongly agree, in a broad and bipartisan way...

I never voted for a tax increase while I was in Jefferson City. I won't vote for one in Washington, D.C. Unlike my opponents, I believe Americans need lower taxes, not higher taxes.

Sometimes politicians have to worry about some of the icky things they've done in their past.  But Sen. Bill Stouffer's biggest problem in his prospective campaign against Rep. Ike Skelton may be all the very nice things he's said and done for Skelton.

For instance, Steve Kraske in the Star notes this morning that Stouffer was the State Senator who sponsored the resolution naming a bridge after Skelton.  At the time, Kraske points out, Stouffer said "Skelton has been and continues to be an outstanding model for his constituent work and for his years of dedicated service for our military."

In fact, Stouffer has said the bridge renaming was the least he could do and said he was personally honored by the opportunity to sponsor the legislation.

At a campaign stop in Jefferson City today, State Sen. Bill Stouffer tried to make his case for why voters should vote Ike Skelton out of office and pick him instead.  Jason Rosenbaum has video of Stouffer answering tough questions from the media -- the first of which concerned Stouffer's previous support for a $7.2 billion sales tax increase to rebuild Interstates 70 and 44.

For a man presenting himself as a candidate like the American revolutionaries "clinging to their Bibles and guns" in a battle against "big government," this could present a problem.

State Sen. Bill Stouffer is raising money for his Fourth Congressional District primary campaign, hoping to beat former State Rep. Vicky Hartzler and James Scholz for the right to take on Congressman Ike Skelton next November. 

Earlier this month, Stouffer mailed a pretty amusing -- and very patriotic -- letter to prospective supporters. In it, he compares his campaign and the current political debate to that of the American revolutionaries of the 1700s.  Here's how Stouffer opens his request for cash -- the emphasis is in the original.

We call them Patriots. They were folks like you and me -- farmers, small business owners and doctors -- who said, "enough is enough!" Clinging to their Bibles and guns, they sacrificed their homes, families and their own lives for independence.

The revolutionary war that established our republic was not between liberals or conservatives. Like today, the real battle was balanced between big and small government.

The NRCC announced a new ad campaign today targeting Rep. Ike Skelton, claiming that Skelton and Democratic leaders are "cutting Medicare by 500 billion dollars." If that sounds ridiculous, it's because it is.

FactCheck.org writes:  "The claim that Obama and Congress are cutting seniors’ Medicare benefits to pay for the health care overhaul is outright false, though that doesn’t keep it from being repeated ad infinitum."

AARP calls the line of attack a "myth."

Fact: None of the health care reform proposals being considered by Congress would cut Medicare benefits or increase your out-of-pocket costs for Medicare services.

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