Chuck Purgason

The Beacon's Jo Mannies has posted a breakdown (distributed at Governor Nixon's Friday press conference) outlining what each of Missouri's school districts is expected to lose in fiscal years 2011 and 2012 if the extreme GOP plan to reject already-allocated federal education money is successful.  A filibuster to block acceptance of the federal money -- money that will go to other states if Missouri rejects it -- is led by Jim Lembke (R-Lemay) and Brian Nieves (R-Freedom Bunker), and has been publicly supported by Chuck Purgason (R-Caufield) and Jason Crowell (R-Cape Girardeau)

The filibuster is also supported by US Senate candidate Ed Martin.

Full breakdown below the jump. 

The best blowhards don't need facts

Please update your files:  Reasonable persons, GOP President Pro Tem Rob Mayer, Senate Majority Leader Tom Dempsey, Sen. David Pearce, birther House Floor Leader Tim Jones and New Black Panther Party associate Steve Tilley think the filibuster by Sens. Jim Lembke, Brian Nieves and Rob Schaaf is dumb.   Joined by Sens. Will Kraus and Chuck Purgason, Lembke, Nieves and Schaaf want Missouri to reject federal money for extended unemployment payments.  But, as you know, this is dumb. 

Other Republicans — including leaders in both the House and Senate — said that while reducing the federal deficit is laudable, the plan is flawed because Missouri's share of the federal money would simply be rerouted to other states.

Any returned money "is not going to go back to pay off people who have notes in China," said House Speaker Steve Tilley, R-Perryville. "It's going to be absorbed."

...Majority Leader Tim Jones, R-Eureka, said Missourians pay taxes to the federal government, so the state deserves its share of the federal pie.

"The talking points you're hearing sort of miss the point and the reality," Jones said. "This is money coming back to us as a state to spend wisely as we see fit."

When the tea party's choice to lead the Senate, the Speaker of the House, an unapologetic birther and the New Black Panthers all say you're out to lunch...

Great stuff from the Tribune's Hank Waters today: 

Supporters of the Missouri bill accepting the grant promise to bring it up again for passage before the April 2 deadline for receiving the funds. Lembke and Purgason promise to filibuster to the end. A few quixotic souls will cheer them on, but most of us will wish they would sit down. It’s fine to worry about federal deficits, but this protest won’t do a thing about it and will deprive many Missourians of minimal help they need at a tough time.

Later, sometime after April 2, we can resume the philosophical debate about unemployment benefits. Right now we have a short-term situation.

We all make mistakes.

National political analyst Stuart Rothenberg included state Sen. Chuck Purgason in a post-election piece for Roll Call last week -- listing him as one of five men with the "Worst Political Hair of the Cycle."   Also on the list: Charlie Cook, Florida Governor-elect Rick Scott (bald), Ohio's Steve Chabot... and Stuart Rothenberg. 

"One bald guy, one guy who traded his toupee for the naturally bald look (but still lost) and a guy with a comb-over problem. Plus, two analysts who sometimes have hair issues. I’m forced to disqualify myself," writes Rothenberg. 

h/t JohnCombest.com, image from CBSnews.com

As previously reported here at Fired Up! in mid-September, all is not well among Senate Republicans.   The Associated Press' David Lieb breaks it down: 

One faction of Republicans is looking to unseat another from the chamber's leadership positions in a quest for a more conservative agenda. Some senators have routed thousands of dollars to the campaigns of their prospective allies. And tensions are rising.

"Quite honestly, I think there's a battle for the soul of the Senate going on," said Sen. Scott Rupp, R-Wentzville. "There's no disagreement the Senate is dysfunctional, and some would say on the verge of being broken."

The behind-the-scenes battle is expected to climax Nov. 4 - two days after the general election - when Senate Republicans caucus behind closed doors to choose leaders for the 2011 and 2012 legislative sessions.

The Missouri News Horizon follows up on this weekend's story from the Beacon regarding Chuck Purgason's plan to challenge Kevin Engler for the Senate president pro tem job this winter. 

Without naming names, Purgason said he expected likeminded senators to challenge for leadership positions inside the Senate Republican Caucus when it meets behind closed doors in the days following the upcoming November election. Other senators may, in fact, challenge both he and Engler for the top spot...

It appears that Republicans will have anywhere from 22 to 25 seats in the Senate after the November election. Currently the party has 23 senators. Purgason would have to sway a majority to vote for him in the caucus session, and if unsuccessful, those who vote for Purgason could face repercussions from party leaders.

"I've had supporters tell me that if anyone should openly oppose me that I need to have some response to them, otherwise we'll have chaos all the time," Engler said. "But I'm not going to banish anybody to a broom closet in the basement. Now, will they get to be a chairman of a powerful committee? Probably not."

The Post-Dispatch: "In a news release, Carnahan's campaign slammed Blunt for failing to agree on a broader package of debates, including appearances on national television, according to the Carnahan campaign. The Carnahan campaign said it had agreed to appearances on NBC's 'Meet the Press' and 'Fox News Sunday' with Chris Wallace, who, incidentally, is now embroiled in a lawsuit with Carnahan over a campaign ad. Carnahan's campaign says she agreed to debates in Joplin and Clayton, but Blunt did not. Carnahan's campaign also said that Blunt 'failed to complete negotiations' that would have led to a third debate on public television in St. Louis."

The Beacon: "According to Carnahan's campaign, 'Congressman Blunt then proposed to respective representatives dates for Meet the Press with David Gregory and Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace. Among those dates were September 26 for Fox News Sunday and September 12 for Meet the Press. Robin Carnahan accepted those dates, but Congressman Blunt, despite living in Washington, DC, and having no travel concerns, refused to participate and instead insisted on a package of only 3 debates that could only be sponsored on Missouri Public TV stations and not network affiliates.' Blunt's campaign declined further comment."

Of course, Roy Blunt has been sanctimoniously and hypocritically criticizing Carnahan for months, accusing her of accusing debates.  So for almost all of the time he was suggesting that others were avoiding debates, he was (1) avoiding debates with Sen. Chuck Purgason in the GOP primary or (2) not negotiating in good faith about general election debates. One short month ago, this was his tune on FM NewsTalk 97.1:

I'm more than willing to talk about these issues, and debates would be a good way to do that. And hopefully we'll be able to have some debates.  I'd like to have as many as we could possibly can have.  My guess is that she'd [Robin Carnahan] rather not have those debates.

And this junk is still on Blunt's website:

In anticipation of tomorrow's primary contests, it's worth taking a look at how previous party favorites performed in statewide primary contests.  Kansas City Star reporters Steve Kraske, David Goldstein and Dave Helling -- along with MSU political scientist George Connor -- have all declared that tea party anger and the Chuck Purgason challenge are "not a factor" in the GOP primary for U.S. Senate, so it's not unreasonable to compare Roy Blunt's performance to similarly-situated candidates in previous years. 

Last month, Blunt allies worked to lower public expectations to a laughably low 65% -- numbers that seem even more absurd given the analysis presented in the Sunday Star and Blunt's near-universal name recognition.

More coverage of yesterday's protest of Lunatic Rep. Michele Bachmann's support for Congressman Roy Blunt yesterday:

Photos from this morning's Tea Party protest of lunatic Rep. Michele Bachmann's support for Rep. Roy Blunt...

The Chuck Purgason campaign released an internal poll last night conducted by Magellan Strategies claiming that Purgason would beat Democratic candidate Robin Carnahan in a potential general election matchup. From the campaign's summary: 

 The poll, which questioned 1234 registered voters in the state of Missouri, found that 56% preferred Chuck Purgason over expected Democratic nominee Robin Carnahan who received only 44% of the vote.  The poll had a margin of error of only  +/-2.79% and a confidence interval of 95%.

The numbers (e.g., no undecideds) certainly raise questions about the auto-dial survey's methodology, but it will be interesting to see how this plays out in the pre-primary gamesmanship. 

The Chuck Purgason campaign has released a new TV ad, thought it doesn't appear to have the funding to get it on the air yet.  Purgason is so much of Washington outsider that he Photoshopped himself into the wrong chamber of Congress.

KMBC's Micheal Mahoney: "More that two dozen Missouri TEA parties  say a bid by US Senate candidate to capitalize on their movement has 'shocked' them...'Roy Blunt voted for TARP and Cash for Clunkers. For Michele Bachmann to come to Missouri and give the impression that all the Missouri Tea Parties support Roy Blunt is an abomination of everything we have been standing up for,' said Jedidiah Smith, a Tea Party leader in Franklin County, Missouri."

UPDATE: The coalition's full release is here, with statements from a number of tea party leaders.  From that release:

• Franklin County Patriots: "Roy Blunt, like other RINOs, wants to be associated with the Tea Parties for his own political advantage.  However, his record of voting for Cash for Clunkers, the TARP bailout, No Child Left Behind and other unconstitutional legislation does not reflect the conservative values of Tea Party Patriots.  In addition, Roy Blunt’s association with Washington D.C. lobbyists has earned him a reputation of being one the largest recipients of lobbyist support, including Fannie and Freddie."
• "In God We Trust PAC has not endorsed and would never endorse Roy Blunt for the U.S. Senate. Roy Blunt does not stand for the conservative values and principles the Tea Party movement represents. He is a career politician and Washington insider who has sold out his constituents for special interest money. Roy Blunt is, in fact, what we are endeavoring to "purge" out of Washington."
• Jefferson County Tea Party: "Big spending Republicans that voted to increase the size and scope of Government during the Bush years are part of the problem, not the solution...If posing as a fiscal conservative were a crime, Roy Blunt would be on top 10 wanted list."
• Sikeston Tea Party: "We...do not endorse or even want Roy Blunt for our next Senator."
• SW MO Conservative Network: "We invited Congressman Blunt to several of our meetings over the last year and were told by his scheduler that he would not attend a candidate forum until after the Primary."

Blunt's upcoming event with Bachmann obviously won't the first time he's filtered his record for the tea party crowd:

• Blunt skipped the first tea party rally in Jefferson City in April 2009, even though he was in in the Capitol that day.
• He was not invited to the Springfield Tea Party in April 2009; organizer Vincent David Jericho said "we’re only inviting conservative politicians." 
• He was not allowed to speak to the July 4, 2009 Tea Party in Washington, MO, an even organized with the St. Louis Tea Party folks like Dana Loesch, Bill Hennessy and Jim Hof.
• He was the target of open criticism at almost all of the early tea party rallies, and
• Was described by Dana Loesch as the epitome of what tea partiers claim to hate: "the old-school Republican guard, the ones intent on enslaving us in the tunnel of Democrat-lite."
• Jefferson County Tea Party leader Ken Horton told an April 2010 gathering that "Blunt needs to be held accountable for his votes," and said he'd be endorsing state Sen. Chuck Purgason instead.

KMBC's Micheal Mahoney has published the endorsements of the Jackson County TEA party.  The organization has awarded "A" grades to Sen. Chuck Purgason in the U.S. Senate race, former Rep. Vicky Hartzler in the Fourth Congressional District, Ambassador Thomas Schweich in the Auditor's race and Rep. Gary Dusenberg in the 8th State Senate District primary. 

Read the whole list here.

A new Politico story identifies Robin Carnahan and Chuck Purgason as part of "a new crop of Senate candidates [which] is threatening one of the last bastions of unapologetic earmark protection: old-bull senators and lobbyists."

The Chuck Purgason campaign is promoting a commercial "paid for by Joe the Plumber and friends," and says that it will be aired "on all major cable broadcast networks" in Missouri before the August 3rd primary. It's unclear from the YouTube version of the ad who might be paying for the cable buy.

Hours after Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) launched their bipartisan list of "Crooked Candidates" highlighting the unsavory record of Roy Blunt, Ed Martin and nine other federal candidates from other states, the Chuck Purgason campaign blasted out an email asking, "What kind of character should our U.S. Senator Have?"

In a tweet this morning, Purgason highlighted the "favors for clients of lobbyist family members, 'close connections' to felon Jack Abramoff, etc" that are outlined in the CREW report.

The Chuck Purgason campaign has published a letter from Samuel Wurzelbacher outlining his complaints with Roy Blunt's Washington record: 

I AM surprised and disgusted that the same "conservatives" who have been shouting fiscal responsibility from the mountain tops are now throwing a true statesman under the bus instead of rallying to his side.

Chuck Purgason is a State Senator for a part of southern Missouri. He's worked his way up from the House to the Senate ever since his "Tea Party" moment in 1996. He has proven (the hard way) that you actually can be a man of integrity in a government full of wolves. When liberal U.S. Senator Kit Bond (R) decided to retire, he anointed RINO Congressman Roy Blunt (R) to be his heir apparent. After Roy Blunt's votes for the TARP Bailout, Cash for Clunkers, No Child Left Behind, taking the most lobbyist money, etc. (I really could go on and on and on...) Chuck said there was no way he was going to let Blunt represent Missouri or Republicans in the U.S. Senate. So, Chuck Purgason threw his hat into the race for U.S. Senate against mega power broker Roy Blunt.

Sen. Chuck Purgason is reading The Frontiersmen and personal emails as part of his filibuster of the special session's tax incentive legislation.  Click here for Senate debate/storytime.

Chuck Purgason continues to call for a debate with Roy Blunt before the August 3rd primary.  There are "3 full weeks left before our primary," Purgason tweeted to Blunt this morning. "When can you make time for a primary debate?"

Last week, Blunt audaciously told a St. Louis radio audience that he had not been given sufficient time to schedule a debate. "If you don't tell somebody about it until ten days or two weeks beforehand, sometimes it's very hard, it's very hard to make that work based on all the other commitments you're making."