FBI Investigation

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.

Why won't the Republican leadership stand by their promises to clean up the Capitol?

Eighteen bills in the House and Senate this year propose campaign finance or ethics reform. Thirteen haven’t even gotten a preliminary hearing, making chances slim they’ll get through the legislative process.

Meanwhile, an FBI investigation continues to probe “pay for play” allegations in the General Assembly, and news stories continue to chronicle ethical concerns involving lawmakers or their staff....

House Speaker Ron Richard, a Joplin Republican, said Thursday he wasn’t interested in additional ethics reform. A bill passed last year removing campaign contribution limits achieved all the goals he had set.

Money can flow without limits --- problem solved!?  And, Richard says, he isn't interested in passing any bills that won't pass the Senate (that hasn't stopped the GOP leadership from passing anything else on its narrow ideological agenda, but that's neither here nor there).

I guess Richard feels some reluctance to make a stand on ethics reform, fearful that voters might think he cares about ethics reform. Or maybe it's +because any sort of reform would shut down the game that put Richard in power and lines the pockets of his benefactors.  I can't decide which.

From the paper that broke the news of the FBI inquiry at the capitol:

Carl Bearden, a Republican from St. Charles, was one of the most powerful members of the House two years ago. He received money from several groups, including the Missouri Health Care Association, which lobbies on behalf of nursing homes, and Lindenwood University, a private institution in St. Charles.

Bearden helped nursing homes achieve a 9 percent increase in their daily Medicaid provider rate. And he successfully pushed legislation to funnel state money to private colleges and universities at the expense of public universities.

In July 2007 Bearden quit the legislature to become — what else? — a full-time lobbyist. [...]

Rod Jetton, a Republican from Marble Hill, who was the past speaker of the House for four years, blatantly mixed politics and public service by working as a political consultant, with members of the legislature as clients.

The dual role left lawmakers and the public to wonder if Jetton’s actions as House leader were designed for the good of the citizens or to give his clients a political edge.

Read the whole thing here.

Good: The Senate has started to undo the damage wrought by the House GOP.

• Senate Budget Chair Gary Nodler plans to use about $915 million in federal "budget stabilization" money, several hundred million more than was included in the House version.
• The Senate has given preliminary approval to a plan that would cover about 35k poor Missourians, along the lines of a proposal put forward by Gov. Nixon.
• Our fingers are crossed for more good news from the Upper Chamber.

Bad: The FBI is investigating legislators at the Capitol.

• You may have heard this already, but the FBI is looking into pay-to-play at the Capitol.
• Some lawmakers have been talking to investigators for months. At least one lawmaker said he had recorded private conversations.
• This was news to Speaker Richard, Floor Leader Tilley and Speaker Pro Tem Pratt.
• "We're not aware that a crime has occurred" may be my new favorite carefully crafted denial. Which may not actually be a denial of anything short of the bulletproof "awareness of a crime" that comes with a jury's conviction.

Ugly and Uglier: Crazy Eddie said that his lawsuit against the SOS, AG and Auditor is intended to be a "nuisance." And Crazy Eddie said that Robin Carnahan is under the spell of Satan.

• Ed Martin admitted to a crowd of supporters that he's abusing the court system to be a "nuisance" to Carnahan and the SOS office.
• It remains to be seen how things will shake out vis a vis Martin and some pretty clear ethical guidelines about frivolous lawsuits.
• It also remains to be seen how the anti-tax warriors are Eddie's team feel about Martin's wasting of taxpayer dollars.  All of those judges, lawyers and clerks who have to deal with his nonsense aren't free, you know.
• Robin Carnahan is "the devil," an agent of the devil or under the power of the devil.  Who knew?
• Crazy Eddie is also very excited about that whole Bernie Madoff fraud thing too.
• Classy guy, that Eddie.

Rep. Kevin Wilson (R-Neosho): "Things are better than they used to be but if somebody is going to go rogue and do things like this they should be investigated and action should be taken."

We can reasonably infer from his statement that Wilson believed the pay-to-play situation to be bad at some point in the recent past.

He has served in the General Assembly since 2003.

It sure is something that the three most powerful men in the House don't know nothing about the FBI investigation.

• Speaker Ron Richard: "I'm sure there's chairmen who’ve done a lot and chairmen who haven’t done zip. I just go on how they handle themselves around here, their professionalism, their interests (and) seniority.”
• Majority Leader Steve Tilley: "We don't know anything. I haven't talked to the FBI, and I haven't talked to anybody who's talked to them."
• Speaker Pro Tem Bryan Pratt Pratt: "We're not aware that a crime has occurred."

And, just in case you were wondering, here's the denial from former Speaker Rod Jetton:

• "I've never heard of anybody out there trying to do anything like that -- you do this and I'll do that. If there had been, I would have definitely jumped in and done something about it and shut it down pretty quick."