Mark Parkinson

Once you get past (a) the blanket indictment of "The Internet," (b) the refusal to name which Missouri "conservatives" helped spread the relevant junk (e.g., Peter Kinder, Ed Martin, Dana Loesch, Mark Parkinson) and (c) the glossing over of his own paper's role in advancing the smear, this is a great editorial from the Tribune's Hank Waters:

A recent example [of "provocative stuff on the Internet"] that made the news involved a video posted by right-wing critic Andrew Breitbart showing grossly manipulated excerpts of online presentations made by instructors at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and the University of Missouri-Kansas City who seemed to advocate labor union violence.

The Breitbart version was circulated by conservatives eager to believe the worst about unions, professors and other devils targeted on Breitbart’s Big Government website.

Certainly, in this column lovingly devoted to free speech principles, I am not saying Breitbart has no right to criticize the professors, but he should not misrepresent what they do or say. In reaction to his latest post, university officials in both cities had to correct the record by showing more fully the content and context of the collaborative online labor studies presentations.

Rep. Mark Parkinson (R-St. Charles) thinks the working poor and their children should go hungry when they travel to other states looking for better deals, looking for work and visiting family. After all, nothing says freedom and limited government like mean-spirited proposals to limit movement and choice.  

Kudos to Rep. Jeanette Mott Oxford for standing up to Parkinson's mean-spirited and half-baked proposal. 

Parkinson, pictured here being totally awesome, is giving up all that claptrap about the poor for Lent. "Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth."

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UPDATE: This great photo has inspired a fair amount of reader feedback this morning, along with alternate caption ideas. A few early submissions:

• Almost looks like a real beard, don't it?
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The ethics law passed last year (the bill that was, at one time, "the most comprehensive and sweeping ethics reform bill in the universe")  requires incoming legislators to pay all of their outstanding fines and fees to the Missouri Ethics Commission (MEC) before they're sworn in.   From Section 130.071 of SB844:

If a successful candidate...fails to file the [disclosure] reports which are required by this chapter, the candidate shall not take office until such reports are filed and all fees assessed by the commission are paid.

As of this morning, Jonas Hughes (D-Kansas City) owed $19,000 in fees and fines to the Missouri Ethics Commission, making him unable to be seated in the General Assembly.  

Missouri Ethics Commission records show that at least three other legislators were scrambling to get their affairs in order before taking office on Wednesday:

• Sanctimonious self-professed elections expert John Diehl (R-Town and Country) paid d a $1,600 late fee to the MEC on Tuesday
• Mark Parkinson (R-St. Charles) paid a $300 late fee on Tuesday
• Steven Webb (D-Florissant) paid a $2,234 Commission order and $4,590 late fee on Monday

You might think that Republicans who fear an overreaching and oppressive government would think twice about jumping on the Arizona immigration law bandwagon.  But not Rep. Mark Parkinson (R-St. Charles).  He says he's going to introduce legislation mirroring The Grand Canyon State's very controversial and troubling new law.

The Arizona law will face numerous legal challenges, and has been criticized by many Republicans, including Karl Rove, conservative darling Marco Rubio, Joe Scarborough, Lindsey Graham, and Michael Steele (sorta).

KSHB has the story:

Steve Walsh is no longer working as a reporter for Missourinet. In a message posted Tuesday on his personal blog, Walsh specifically references this post I wrote on Fired Up! last Friday, and this related post by Media Matters, as evidence that "the left wing blogosphere got hold of" an ill-informed tweet "and went nuts." 

I wasn't sure how or if I'd respond to the news in this space.  I don't regret writing the post, and would do so again without hesitation. His tweet and "I'm outta here ... For now" blog post reveal his belief that accepting the facts of climate change is akin to "religion" of "the American Left." Any professional journalist who remains willfully ignorant of the actual science and parrots right-wing talking points about the matter deserves the criticism.

For reasons I won't pretend to understand, twelve Republican state representatives voted against extended unemployment benefits yesterday (HB 1544).

The legislation sponsored by Rep. Barney Fisher (R-Richards) passed 143-12, and will allow more than 62,000 Missourians to receive extended unemployment benefit, and not cost the state a dime.

Jason Brown, birther Cynthia Davis, birther Ed Emery, Doug Ervin, birther Tim Jones, Andrew Koenig, Will Kraus, Mike Leara, Brian Nieves, Mark Parkinson, Tom Self and Bryan Stevenson all opposed the extension.

One of the happier moments of Friday's madness was the legislature's decision to enable more out-of-work Missourians to collect unemployment benefits, and for a longer period. Facing 25-year-high unemployment numbers, the about-face from legislative leaders didn't come a moment too soon. 

Under the legislation passed Friday, unemployed workers can collect additional weeks of benefits when the state unemployment rate exceeds 6.5% through December, and workers can also receive benefits if they lose their jobs due to a "compelling family reason." The state is eligible for $133 million in federal stimulus money to fund the benefits.

The legislature's change of heart is particularly interesting because of the vociferous opposition from Lt. Governor Peter Kinder to any kind of extension or expansion of unemployment benefits with federal recovery dollars. Kinder, you may recall, even described the stimulus money for said benefits as a "bribe."

Steve Kraske reports in today's Star about the curious financial arrangement of Speaker Ron Richard's legislative director, Tom Smith.  Smith is a "key player" in the assigning of bills to House committees, and also happens to run a business that collected $500k last year from Republican candidates last year:

A top aide to the speaker of the Missouri House runs a political consulting business on the side that generated nearly $500,000 last year, records examined by The Kansas City Star show.

In his public job as legislative director, Tom Smith holds significant influence over the life or death of bills moving through the General Assembly. Critics said his political consulting business raises questions about the potential for a conflict of interest in one of the most powerful offices in state government.

Previous Fired Up! coverage of Smith's self-dealing can be found here.

Of course, Smith denies any hint of wrongdoing, and no Republican legislators remember an explicit demand from Smith.  “I think it’s absurd that someone could buy 1,000 pieces (of mail) and somehow have a level of influence,” Smith says. 

I think it's absurd to think that Smith's clients are only buying 1,000 pieces of mail.

This morning, about 200 people descended on the Capitol to yell and wave signs of anger about deficit spending in Washington at the Jefferson City Tea Party.  It was a far cry from the "thousands" predicted last week, but was a decent crowd for a cold morning at the Capitol.

I was really curious to see how the event would be set up to look like a "grassroots" movement, but was pleasantly surprised to see that lobbyist Carl Bearden didn't even bother with creating that illusion. Bearden orchestrated the whole event on behalf of Americans for Prosperity, and emceed the hour-long program -- it was his Tea Party, start to finish. 

Missourinet's Steve Walsh described the roster of speakers as "primarily Republicans" -- by which he means "entirely Republican" -- none of whom could credibly be called regular dudes.

Good: Missouri's hospitals and Gov. Nixon announced a plan to provide health care for almost 35,000 uninsured residents -- at no cost to the state.

• Hospitals agreed to increase their tax payments to qualify for more federal Medicaid money, allowing 34,800 currently uninsured Missourians to receive coverage.
• The plan would cost the state zero dollars.
• The hospitals are on board because it will save them money in the long run. The president of the Hospital Association says the proposal is "an opportunity we can't afford to miss."
• The Post-Dispatch says the plan is "good for poor, uninsured parents [and] it helps to create jobs."

Bad: Predictably, GOP leaders lined up against the health care plan.

• Why? Because, um, the hospitals don't like it, there are still other uninsured people, it costs the state money, it makes them look bad.
• GOP Budget Chair Allen Icet was really annoyed with Rep. Rachel Bringer for sponsoring an amendment to enact the plan. So like any mature adult, he decided that pettiness was the best response.