CD7

h/t Randy Turner

In an op-ed distributed to various news outlets and conservative activists this week, GOP activist Michael Wardell rips Rep. Billy Long for his actions and attitude in Congress.  Wardell lost to Long in the 2010 GOP primary for the seat, and there has been speculation that he may challenge an incumbent Long in 2012.   From his piece:

With all of the bloviating Congressman Long does on his twitter account, you would think that he has been this great boon to the conservative movement.

But lets be real, he’s nothing more than a empty windbag of dogmatic talking points straight from of a lobbyists’ tongue as real as sarcasm drips from the mouths of teenagers. Congressman Long has never had a fleeting thought of representing this district. Based solely on his month and some change in office, he has quickly become what the people of Southwest Missouri didn’t want, A party hack that lets the wind blow his positions to and fro based on what others want him to do.

The FBI has is investigating the effort to trick media and voters into thinking Congressional candidate Scott Eckersley dropped out of his race against Billy Long, Eckersley tells KSMU. 

Eckersley said the FBI office in Springfield contacted him this week and confirmed that the Department of Justice has opened an investigation into his complaint of election fraud.

No one could have predicted that Billy Long would say one thing in Missouri and then do another in Washington.

After the election was sealed, Long’s rhetoric didn’t cease. When he came to the Capitol in November for orientation, he announced in a press release, “Mr. Outsider Meets the Insiders.” 

But Long not only met the insiders, he hired one of them as his chief of staff. Joe Lillis has been legislative director to Rep. Lynn Westmoreland since 2005, and before that, he worked for the Georgia Republican’s predecessor, Rep. Mac Collins (R), and former Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.)...

Long declined to comment for this report, but Westmoreland recently recounted giving the inexperienced legislator the advice to hire someone who can guide him through Washington.

Image credit: Roll Call

Congressman-elect Billy Long may have a 2012 primary challenger before he's even sworn into office. Stay tuned.

Earth to Billy Long: Stop complaining about Congressional ethics rules that you knew about a long time ago. 

Today in the Springfield Business Journal, we see Long moaning about basic ethics rules prohibiting legislators from receiving outside income while he's in Congress. “I’m not saying I agree with the rules, but I will abide by them,” he told the SBJ.

Long did the same thing last week in the News-Leader, oblivious to the fact that the median household income for the people he'll be representing is $39,535 while he makes $174,000, and apparently unable to contemplate the problems that would come if we had a Congress full of people getting paid on the side by who knows whom.**

We're all very sorry that you'll be taking a pay cut in Congress. But I'm relatively confident that a replacement could be found if you find life as a Congressman too darn hard. 

**I think state legislators should get full-time salaries and be prohibited from collecting outside salaries, too, but that doesn't seem likely to happen any time soon....

Where is my violin?  Poor Billy Long is  sad that House Ethics Rules will limit his ability to make handfuls of cash outside of his $174,000 Congressional salary. 

Under House rules, members of Congress are not allowed to engage in businesses that make money from providing goods or services to consumers. Lawyers must close up practices or take their names off the masthead of their firms. Doctors can maintain a medical license but they can't care for patients. The rules are intended to make sure no one can curry favor with a lawmaker by steering clients or work to their company or firm.

"I see their point, but it's very unfortunate because it discourages that many more businesspeople from running for Congress," Long said, admitting that when he learned he would have to sever ties with his auction company, he had second thoughts.

"I had about a 10-day period of remorse," he said. "Do I really want to do this? Do I really want to sell what I've worked for 30 years?"

In the end, Long decided to push on.

"As a practical matter, you can't run a business like an auction company while you're in Washington. So whether they force me to or not, I'm going to have to liquidate," he said, acknowledging that the $174,000 annual salary for House members may end up being a pay cut.

This really inspires confidence that Long will understand what life is like for his constituents.  The median household income for 7th District families in 2009 was $39,535.

h/t The Turner Report

Billy Long's two biggest (online) fans at Busplunge and Billy Long is Wrong have jumped on the following clip of the candidate speaking with Sarah Steelman for Fujah magazine.   For reasons that will be abundantly clear in a moment, Fujah removed this bit of the interview from their YouTube channel after it appeared at Busplunge.  It has reappeared at Billy Long is Wrong this morning, however:

Apart from the awkward and disjointed questions and answers, Long's opposition to the Wall Street Reform legislation because it's allegedly "crippled" local banks is a big disappointment.

The Scott Eckersley campaign has published another letter from a former Metropolitan Grill employee. Today's is from a coworker of Jennifer Case and Robert Bush named Noelle Edwards. "I worked with both of them," Edwards writes, "and I trust in their honesty about claims they have made about Billy Long attending man days, and Metro Mafia parties."

KSPR: "After a controversial campaign ad, one 7th District congressional candidate is defending his character while his opponent stands behind a woman he calls a whistleblower. Democratic candidate Scott Eckersley's ad claims 7th District Republican candidate Billy Long made racist and homophobic slurs and took part in questionable events at a local restaurant."

The Scott Eckersley campaign issued a press release pushing back on the News-Leader's weekend story about allegations regarding Billy Long and the "Metro Mafia" gatherings at Springfield's Metropolitan Grill.  From the release:

Eckersley spoke with Jennifer Case after the News-Leader interview on Friday. Case reiterated that she did see Billy Long in the same room with strippers from a local Springfield establishment and that she did hear Billy Long make derogatory remarks against women and African Americans in 2008.

Eckersley posits that the News-Leader conducted an interrogation on Jennifer Case – not an interview. Eckersley said the tactics used violated ethical journalistic boundaries, and were not aimed at revealing facts, but instead discrediting Case...

On Saturday, the campaign posted an extended version of their third ad at CheckEck.org:

The Scott Eckersley campaign has posted a letter from man named Robert Bush to support the allegations made by a former Metropolitan Grill employee about Billy Long.  "I'm writing this letter to back up Jennifer Cases' statements about events that occurred at a local restaurant where I used to be an employee," says Bush. 

h/t Busplunge

This line from a KY3 profile of Billy Long strikes me as particularly lousy journalism:

And, whatever you've heard about Social Security, he insists he won't vote for cutting it.

”That's what the Democrats want you to believe; nothing could be further from the truth.”

What have I heard?  That Long thinks Social Security is an unconstitutional overreach by the federal government?  That he says it's a communist plot to destroy America?  That he's convinced it's staffed by untrained unicorns?  Or that he was endorsed by the right-wing Conservative Congress organization which seeks to "dismantle" Social Security based on responses he provided to the group. 

KY3 doesn't actually report any of the facts or myths a person might have heard about Long's position on Social Security -- they just want you to know that he will never cut Social Security.

Such a pledge is fine. But to my knowledge, Long has never explained what his campaign told the Conservative Congress about Social Security policy that led them to support his candidacy.  Their goals are very clear, and they have publicly stated that "the questions that we ask were fairly specific so there wasn’t a lot of leeway to wiggle out of answering the question or confirming where they stand on an issue."  This sure sounds to me like Long supports a voucher system, or some other radical change in policy, but he wants us to believe that he actually told the group that he would never, ever cut Social Security benefits -- and then misheard all of that and decided what he really wants to do is "dismantle" the program.  Riiiight.

Oh, and Billy Long has a documented record of saying things that completely contradict the statements of his campaign staff.   

But never mind all that.

The Fuse Joplin has published an extended conversation of "co-workers of Jennifer Case" who "have come forward with more details regarding parties she alleged congressional candidate Billy Long participated in."  

Listen to the clip here:

David Stoeffler, executive editor of the News-Leader, has a series of interesting posts in the comment section of a story about Scott Eckersley's speeding tickets this afternoon.  Stoeffler writes that he removed comments regarding the letter published earlier this week on The Fuse Joplin from Jennifer Case accusing Billy Long of unbecoming behavior at the Metropolitan Grill in Springfield. 

At the same time, Stoeffler also makes it clear that the paper has been unable to verify the claims made by Case.  Cory deVera "has made extensive inquiries" into the story, he writes. "As a result, we have consciously chosen not to write a story, although we continue to look into it."

As posted on OzarksFirst.com...

Via the News-Leader and Fuse Joplin, I see that Billy Long gets all bent out of shape (i.e. "fed up") when he was asked to explain his publicly-stated positions about Social Security.  Here is the News-Leader's summary of the exchange between Long and Eckersley about Long's endorsement of the Conservative Congress' issue platform, which states that the group wants to "to dismantle the Department of Education and Social Security, by and through constructive reforms."

Eckersley then asked Long about Social Security, saying Long had filled out a questionnaire saying he wanted to "dismantle" the program.

Long did not deny doing so, but said he didn't know what Eckersley was talking about. Eckersley suggested that someone on Long's staff filled out the questionnaire.

"You should probably talk to them because it is a pretty serious deal," Eckersley said.

As you can see on the Eckersley campaign site and at the Conservative Congress website, Long  is listed as one of the candidates who "passed" on the issue of Social Security, and is one of the group's "approved" candidates.  No other candidates still on the ballot in Missouri are "approved" by the group, though Todd Akin and Sam Graves are also said to have "passed" on Social Security. 

I wish I could say I'm surprised that Billy Long doesn't know where he stands on the issue. 

We'll post video of the exchange as soon as its available. 

In Missouri's 7th District, one Congressional candidate is finding it hard to explain a number of contradictory positions. These issues are being explored on a new website called Billy Long: All Hat No Cattle.  Slick Billy has made it his job during this election to appear as a Washington outsider who wants serious change. Unfortunately for voters, this is nothing more than a carefully crafted campaign slogan. 

On the issue of government waste, Billy campaigns against wasteful earmarks but at the same time won't commit to not accepting them. Another issue that's come to light is Billy's cozy relationship with career politician and pork magnet Roy Blunt. Long donated $1,000.00 to Roy's campaign after speaking out publicly against Congressmen like Blunt who voted for the Wall Street bailout. 

Values voters are starting to think twice about supporting Long as well. Slick Billy's love for gambling has been well documented and runs antithetical to his position as a representative of the Ozark's religious community. Ask Billy if his love of gambling is the kind of family value he’ll take to Washington.

NBC's Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro have updated their "Field of 64" -- the "64 House seats we consider most likely to switch parties in the fall" -- and there are no Missouri races on the list.