Government Waste

Apart from the fine print that reads, "This mailing was prepared published and mailed at taxpayer expense," it's hard to the tell the difference between the messages in Congressman Roy Blunt's most recent taxpayer-financed mailer and the Roy Blunt for Senate campaign's defensive attacks in recent weeks.

Jim Lee's Busplunge blog has the scoop on the mailer, an obvious response to the League of Conservation Voters' "Stain" ads playing on the teevee in recent weeks.  In the taxpayer-financed version, Blunt pleads with his constituents: "Don't be fooled. I don't work for the interests of big oil or the energy industry." 

Blunt's belief that this is a reasonable official expense would be a lot more believable if it didn't sound just like what we've been hearing from Blunt's campaign over the past few months.  Blunt, his spokesman and the Missouri GOP have repeatedly and consistently tried to connect the ad to Democratic Senate candidate Robin Carnahan.  The MOGROP spokesman, for instance, says the LCV "is attempting to purchase the seat for Carnahan."  So now we're supposed to believe that Blunt's official office is just informing constituents of important nonpartisan matters that they should help pay to learn about?  Please.

Speaking at last night's term limits forum, Ed Martin let it slip that his "Term Limits for Missouri" organization isn't expected to gather enough signatures for the term limit initiative he filed last December.

"We could gather signatures. I don't know that we will," he said about his proposal to create 8-year limits for service as lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state and auditor (the governor and treasurer are already term-limited). Here's video of Martin's comments, courtesy of Show Me Progress: 

A review of Tour of Missouri expense reports and receipts shows that race organizers regularly paid for liquor and expensive meals with taxpayer-subsidized Tour funds. 

A number of these questionable expenses were highlighted in an independent accountants' report released earlier this month, which when combined with other documents obtained via a separate Sunshine request, show that organizers not only ran up monstrous bills for VIPs in the days surrounding the race, but also treated themselves year-round with Tour funds at restaurants and bars in Jefferson City, Columbia and other cities in Missouri.

Here's a sampling of the meal and alcohol charges you helped pay for:

• $371 at the Doubletree restaurant in Jefferson City (March '09, ~7pm) for Crown Royal, wine, mahi mahi, more
• $33 for two at Addison's in Columbia (February '08, ~7pm)
• $211 for 3 people to eat one meal at Union Station in St. Louis
• $186 at Applebee's one evening in Jefferson City (~10pm) for vodka, gin, beer, steak and more
• $172 at 12 West Bar & Grill in Farmington (March '09, ~8:30pm) for surf & turf, rib eye, lots of wine
• $80 at Prison Brews in Jeff City (August '08, ~8pm) for food and beer
• $50+ at El Jimador in Jefferson City (January '08, ~8:45 pm)
• $112 for two people to eat at Romano's Macaroni Grill in Springfield (May, ~8pm)

Orly Taitz, lawyer for Representatives Tim Jones and Cynthia Davis in a sister birther lawsuit filed in California, has been fined $20,000 by a federal judge in Georgia.  The Washington Independent:

The "Birther queen" has been slapped with a five-figure fine for “wasting the judicial resources” of the Middle District of Georgia, where she’d filed one of her numerous lawsuits demanding that President Obama prove his citizenship before deploying soldiers to Iraq and Afghanistan.

As noted earlier this week, an independent accounting agency recently completed a review of records for Tour of Missouri, Inc., the corporation created by Lt. Governor Peter Kinder to manage the state-subsidized Tour of Missouri. The report criticized TOM, Inc. for its lack of "policies and procedures for handling its finances."  Payments were made to vendors without sufficient documentation, payments exceeded the contracted amounts, and there were no clear policies about what constituted "allowable expense reimbursements."

Beyond basic accounting irregularities, the accountants' report also alludes to a number of eyebrow-raising expenses for the 2008 Tour.  Public documents provided by the Office of Administration and Department of Economic Development show massive food and drink bills, room service charges and more. For instance, race organizers and managers spent $19,999 at St. Louis' J. Buck's Restaurant on food and liquor one evening at the race's "wrap party"; $17,533 for food and alcohol at the Hyatt Crown Center two days before the 2008 race started; and, for a more private audience, a $94 room service cheese and wine platter for two.

Details below the break.

For all persons interested in conducting business with the Lieutenant Governor's office, please be advised that the LG staff will be busy with matters unrelated to official business until 11:30 am through July 26 of this month.

Through the end of the month, key staff will be occupied with the people's business live Tour de France coverage from 8:30 am - 11:30 am.  A full schedule of race action is available at Versus.com, and should be helpful in planning your visits. 

For those persons not expecting official staff to be conducting official business during work hours, and unable to watch sporting events on cable television on their own, the frequently-updated official Twitter feeds of Deputy Lt. Governor Jerry Dowell and Director of Communications Gary McElyea have you covered.