Ethics

With a record in Washington as long and troublesome as Roy Blunt's, it's a challenge for anyone to keep track of all the stories and scandals. Tom DeLay, Jack Abramoff, the K Street Project, special favors for Philip Morris....Blunt and his consultants hope you forget them all.

Remembering that bit of wisdom from George Santayana, we've begun to pull together key reports, articles and columns written about Blunt, Inc. into one place.  Check it out. 

Randy Turner has Rep. John Burnett's (D-Kansas City) latest constituent report. In it, Burnett has praise for Rep. Kevin Wilson (R-Neosho), chairman of the House's special ethics committee, but is critical of Majority Floor Leader Steve Tilley's (R-Perry) involvement in the process.

This week we had a committee meeting and had been discussing the limit issue for over an hour when Steve Tilley, the Majority Floor Leader, and one of the dozen who filed bills just popped into the meeting and joined the discussion. Now he has that right as a member of the leadership but this is the first time in 7 years I have seen such a thing happen. He makes no pretense he will do all he can to stop limits.

Oh. It is his job to raise big bucks for the Republican House candidates and he is doing a very good job at it and limits would make his job more difficult. I understand. I just do not agree. 74% of the Missouri citizens voted for campaign limits in Proposition A a few years ago. Beyond me how they can keep a straight face in this argument.

At the end of a "Random notes from Lincoln Days" blog post by Missourinet's Brent Martin, there's a noteworthy bit of audio recorded last Tuesday with Scott Eckersley. 

Eckersley worked for then-Chief of Staff Ed Martin in Governor Matt Blunt's administration, and was fired after raising questions about whether the Blunt Administration complied with the Sunshine Law (read more about that here). Eckersley was in Jefferson City to talk about strengthening the state's open records laws.

Here's what he told Missourinet about Martin's campaign for Congress:

Ed Martin isn't a man that's fit to hold public office. I think that's been proven. I think if the Missouri Republican Party sees this guy as somebody they want to support, then they're making one more mistake. And I don't have much more to say about Ed than that.  And I think voters will see that.

Listen:

Roy Blunt's recent "Jobs for Missouri's Future" Bus Tour is a bore compared to his far more lavish Washington tours. In the "K Street Jobs Tour," Roy and his lobbying buddies make regular stops at their favorite venues along the Potomac, including top restaurants, spas, sporting events, and resorts.

Intrepid Fired Up! tipsters have obtained exclusive access to the tour itinerary and have concocted a virtual tour for your viewing pleasure disgust. Before you get started on this virtual tour, let's stop for a historic review to enhance your understanding of congressional/corporate homology. Discover how Roy Blunt became a leading K Street acolyte and a star pupil of Tom DeLay's, learning the art of deal-making, back-slapping, and go-along-to-get-along politics that have served him so well for the last 14 years.

View Roy Blunt's "K Street Jobs Tour" in a larger map Read More »

Majority Leader Steve Tilley talks with the Associated Press about the ethics proposal expected to emerge from committee that will include new limits on campaign contributions:

House Majority Leader Steven Tilley, R-Perryville, also a backer of eliminating campaign finance limits, said he would vote against bringing back the caps but called it a "50-50 issue" in which the House could reverse itself.

"The majority rules in the House," said Tilley.

Sen. Kevin Engler (R-Farmington) does not like the proposal from Sen. Jason Crowell (R-Cape Girardeau) to create a two-year waiting period for legislators before they can cash in as lobbyists or accept appointments to state positions.

While Crowell may have his own self-serving reasons for proposing the ban and making his colleagues squirm, a revolving door ban of at least one year seems like a basic good government policy.  Among other things, such waiting periods would make it hard for legislators to negotiate the terms of their next job while still in public office. For example, fellow Sen. John Griesheimer (R-Washington) has made it public knowledge that he wants someone to hire him as a lobbyist when he's done with the Senate later this year; it would be shocking if a prospective employer hasn't broached that topic with the Senator at some point. 

Engler sees things differently.  In his mind, Crowell's proposal would restrict service in the Missouri General Assembly to the unemployed, retired and independently wealthy.  Moreover, he says "we want people in the halls" to have "experience," and says (half?) jokingly that a ban might open lobbyist gigs and state appointments to "retired, un-business-like people who don't have jobs."

Rep. Brian Nieves (R-Washington) doesn't like his political rivals talking about his close relationship with disgraced former Speaker Rod Jetton. In his mind, that relationship is "ancient history."

Nieves said he “broke all professional association” with Jetton immediately after the former speaker’s arrest. The business relationship “is ancient history,” Nieves said.

Jetton was arrested December 8, a mere 72 days ago, and Nieves did not sever his " professional association” with Jetton until after the arrest. 

Nieves' name was listed as a client on Jetton's website at the time of the arrest, and Nieves' campaign committee reported paying Jetton thousands of dollars consulting fees as recently as September 2009. 

Good news:

While there is still considerable disagreement on the amount, one thing was made clear during the special House committee on ethics reform’s discussion this morning: There will be campaign finance limits in the bill the committee passes.

The senate’s debate on Sen. Charlie Sheilds' (R-St. Joseph) ethics bill (SB577) has been bogged down in recent days with Sen. Jason Crowell's (R-Cape Girardeau) proposal to create a two-year waiting period for retiring legislators before they can become lobbyists after they leave office.

Sen. John Griesheimer (R-Washington) says Crowell is aiming for him. EMissourian.com:

This all goes back to the (former House Speaker Rod) Jetton deal. Just like last year. This was aimed at me. It's personal, no doubt about it. He knows I want to be a lobbyist. He even talked about Jetton on the floor during the debate. I had a feeling Jason was going to come after me. But somebody's going to have to show me where this has been a problem in the past before I can support the amendment.

Yesterday afternoon, Deputy Lt. Governor Jerry Dowell used his Tour of Missouri email account notify potential supporters of an upcoming fundraiser for HD21 House Candidate John Cauthorn on behalf Majority Floor Leader Steven Tilley and the House Republican Campaign Committee.

Kinder's office has confirmed to The News-Leader that Dowell sent the campaign email from his state computer. 

A copy of the illegal email is below the fold.

Minnesota Governor and Presidential hopeful Tim Pawlenty will be in St. Charles two weeks from today as a featured speaker for the Missouri GOP's annual Lincoln Days event. 

Something tells me his remarks to the Republican incumbents seeking reelection and promotion to higher office will deviate slightly from his statements to Esquire Magazine about "the State of the Republican Party."

"The Republicans had their shot not long ago to address the real needs and concerns of everyday Americans, and they blew it.... Over the time that they were there and had the leadership opportunity, they blew it. We got fired for a reason."

"The party got into a whole bunch of corruption and personal scandals that weren't compatible with the principles it claimed to stand for."

The Senate began its floor debate of ethics legislation proposed by Sen. Charlie Shields (R-St. Joseph).  As outlined in the Post-Dispatch, his bill

would add more heft to the Missouri Ethics Commission, require more disclosure of campaign donations made during the legislative session, ban most committee-to-committee transfers and broaden the definition of lobbyist. The bill would also make it illegal for lawmakers to work as political consultants for other lawmakers.

The debate lasted a little more than two hours, and was put on hold when it became clear that Sen. Jason Crowell (R-Cape Girardeau), a close friend and client of disgraced Rod Jetton, announced that he had a series of amendments.  Listen to the whole debate:

Four years ago today, Republicans in the House of Representatives chose a new Majority Leader to replace indicted Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX).  Rep. Roy Blunt, DeLay's hand-picked lieutenant, was expected to fill the slot, and Blunt had publicly predicted an outright win in the three man race. 

Blunt won a plurality of the votes in the first ballot against Reps. John Boehner (R-OH) and John Shadegg (R-AZ) -- but came 6 votes shy of receiving a majority.  Shadegg came in third, and dropped out for the second ballot.  His support swung to Boehner, and Blunt was defeated on the second go-round by a 122-109 vote. 

The rejection of Blunt's bid to be Majority Leader was a clear repudiation of the Tom DeLay and Jack Abramoff legacy, to which Blunt was and is inextricably linked. 

Charles Evans Whittaker Courthouse
in Kansas City

The Star's Steve Kraske:

The water is always cloudy, too, when it comes to federal probes. G-Men don’t talk to us media types.

But given the stakes, and being an inquisitive sort, you press on and talk to people who may or may not have been interviewed by FBI agents. And you eventually come to a conclusion:

Things are about to get very, very interesting.

We know this: The FBI has been extremely active. At least a handful of lawmakers in the state Capitol began talking to agents about a year ago in connection with “pay to play,” or the allegation of special interests forking over campaign contributions in exchange for action on legislation they care about.

Roll Call (subscription required):

Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) racked up more than $35,000 in legal bills in the final quarter of 2009, the result of an ethics inquiry that was ultimately dropped, according to his most recent campaign finance report...

The inquiry had focused on Graves’ involvement in inviting a witness with business ties to his spouse to testify at a Small Business Committee hearing. The ethics committee found Graves did not violate House rules.

For more on the Graves inquiry: