Matt Blunt

KY3's Dave Catanese reported last night that right-wing radio host Vincent David Jericho is no longer working for KSGF, based in Springfield.  Jericho, you may remember, made national news with RNC Chairman Michael Steele in August; Jericho accused Rep. Roy Blunt of infidelity and said former Governor Matt Blunt "betrayed every single Missourian that worked so hard to get him elected." 

From Catanese's story about Jericho's departure from KSGF:

In August, Jericho, who had been on the air with KSGF for more than five years, made national news during an interview with Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele. Steele said he agreed with the often bombastic host on a point he was making about politicians "who can't behave themselves." "When stuff gets in the crapper, you got to clean it out," said Steele, leaving the impression to many that he was referring directly to Congressman Roy Blunt.

Jericho has also been a vociferous critic of Blunt and 7th District executive director Mavis Busiek. "If you don't kiss Mavis Busiek's ring, and if you aren't 800 years old, they don't let you in," Jericho said on his program during the Steele interview.

Listeners were 'left with the impression' that Jericho and Steele were talking about Blunt, because, you know, Jericho was talking about Blunt, and Steele agreed with him.

Today marks the two year anniversary of Ed Martin's replacement as chief of staff for former Gov. Matt Blunt. 

Hours after his ceremonial pardon of a Thanksgiving turkey, Blunt was repeatedly asked to explain Martin's departure. Blunt refused to offer direct answers, and then finally said:

"If you're confused then that's my intent."

Martin's departure came in the wake of intense criticism about how he handled the firing of Scott Eckersley, the former staff attorney who said he was fired after advising Blunt’s office not to delete emails. After dismissing Eckersley, Martin "orchestrated a taxpayer-funded character assassination unlike anything ever seen before in Missouri government."

The legal battle of the email records and Eckersley's wrongful termination suit would eventually cost taxpayers more than $2 million.

Justice Department lawyers wrapped up their case today against former John Ashcroft aide and Jack Abramoff associate Kevin Ring.

The case, which went to the jury this afternoon after four hours of closing arguments and three weeks of trial, explored relationships between Justice Department officials and Team Abramoff...

Four years ago today, the Associated Press published a comprehensive breakdown of the collaboration between Roy Blunt and Tom DeLay to move campaign cash between "secretive" committees. 

Tom DeLay deliberately raised more money than he needed to throw parties at the 2000 presidential convention, then diverted some of the excess to longtime ally Roy Blunt — now occupying DeLay's former post as House Majority Leader — through a series of donations that benefited both men’s causes.

When the financial carousel stopped, DeLay’s private charity, the consulting firm that employed DeLay’s wife and the Missouri campaign of Blunt’s son all ended up with money, according to campaign documents reviewed by The Associated Press.

Jack Abramoff, a Washington lobbyist recently charged in an ongoing federal corruption and fraud investigation, and Jim Ellis, the DeLay fundraiser indicted with his boss last week in Texas, also came into the picture.

Randy Turner flagged an interesting pair of hefty campaign donations yesterday:

Texas home builder Robert Perry, who bankrolled the Swift Veterans for Truth campaign that gunned down John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign, is meddling in Missouri politics again.

A 48-hour report filed today [link] with the Missouri Ethics Commission, shows Perry and his wife Doylene donated $100,000 to the Seventh District Congressional District Committee.

On March 3, 2008, the Perry contributed $100,000 to the Missouri Republican Party which funneled the money through various district committees and eventually into the successful re-election campaign of Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, and the unsuccessful campaign of attorney general candidate Michael Gibbons.

Buried in today's story about the news of a second child for former Gov. Matt Blunt is a profound statement about his priorities while in office:

“Candidly, the biggest difference is when you’re outside politics, what you do is more relevant to the question at hand,” [Blunt] said. “You spend a greater portion of actual work time on relevant issues around problems, rather than on politics and the 24-hour news cycle.”

I, for one, am shocked to learn that as governor, Blunt focused on politics and not "relevant issues around problems."

So news broke on Friday that Scott Eckersley's wrongful termination suit had been settled. Defendants Matt Blunt, Ed Martin and three other former staffers finally settled the suit, but only after it cost the state $2 million to resolve. After such a long, embarrassing ordeal, you might think that Ed would lay low for a little while.

You would be wrong.

Why lay low when you can get your name in the paper for a major non-event like writing a letter?

Hiding behind executive privilege didn't work, and trying to make Governor Nixon the target of the suit didn't work, so settling to avoid a trial may have been the last best option.

The state will pay a former staffer of Gov. Matt Blunt $500,000 to settle his wrongful termination and defamation lawsuit.

Scott Eckersley sued the governor and several of his staff members last January alleging defamation of character, wrongful termination and violations of the state open records law. The lawsuit has cost the state well over a million dollars as Blunt and his staffers used the state’s legal defense fund to pay attorneys fees.

Matt Blunt, Ed Martin and the rest of the gang are rapidly becoming poster boys for government secrecy and avoiding public accountability.

The latest installment in this ongoing series is brought to you by the Newspaper Association of America.

When we last checked in, Matt Blunt was trying to hide behind executive privilege in the ongoing defamation and wrongful termination lawsuit of Scott Eckersley. That didn't work, so now the Blunt legal team is trying to make Jay Nixon the target of the suit.  Honestly, I'm not sure my mind can comprehend the weirdness of this latest request:

Matt Blunt says Jay Nixon should be the target of fired former aide's lawsuit

Former Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt is seeking to pass the defense of a defamation and wrongful termination lawsuit to his political rival and successor, Gov. Jay Nixon.

Attorneys for former governor's office counsel Scott Eckersley, who is suing Blunt, assert the request is legally wrong and "a sleight of hand that would make even the most jaded political operative squirm."

The lengths to which Blunt & Co. are willing to go to avoid accountability are breathtaking -- and sure aren't the acts of a crew with nothing to hide.

Fired Up's rundown of all the things Matt Blunt wants Jay Nixon to answer for can be found here. 

No luck for the former governor:

The Western District Court of Appeals agreed with a trial judge that Gov. Matt Blunt could not hide behind “executive privilege” in defense of the defamation and wrongful termination lawsuit of Scott Eckersley.

For a breakdown of the bad behavior Blunt wants to hide, check out our timeline of how the Eckersley firing went down.

Reading through the released Blunt administration emails, one can't help but notice a palpable disdain for the Missouri press corps. Looking at things from the Blunt Team perspective, it's not that hard to see why -- with just a little poking around, one could uncover some pretty embarrassing stuff.

For instance, in August 2007, former Governor Matt Blunt wanted to repeal the state's ticket scalping law. Coincidently, Blunt's brother, Andy, was a lobbyist for Ticketmaster, which stood to make a lot of money from the change.  Much to the chagrin of Blunt and his allies, Post-Dispatch reporter Virginia Young noted the conflict in a piece called "Blunt Backs Ticket Scalping. His Brother Appreciates It." Here's an excerpt:

What does ticket scalping have to do with economic development?

Jessica Robinson, the governor's spokeswoman, said the provision "will be good for tourism and economic development. It will make it easier for fans to gain access to tickets in a legal and convenient secondary market."

Labeling the issue urgent had nothing to do with the fact that the governor's brother, Andy Blunt, lobbies for Ticketmaster, Robinson said. Andy Blunt "did not have a role in the decision." Robinson said.

Not surprisingly, the Blunt Team, including Lt. Governor Peter Kinder and Chief of Staff Ed Martin, didn't like getting out for what looked like a pretty obvious conflict. 

The investigation into the Blunt Administration's document destruction retention practices may be over, but many questions remain unanswered. 

We've begun to digest the emails, but we can't adequately explore the files without help. So, we've uploaded the digital files provided by the investigators for your reading pleasure:

• The full investigator's report, with hyperlinks to relevant exhibits
• Gov. Matt Blunt's email dump
• Ed Martin's email dump
• Rich Chrismer's email dump
• Scott Eckersley's email dump
• Henry Herschel's email dump
• Richard Aubuchon's email dump

See things that need more exploration?  drive you mad?  make you laugh?  Send us your thoughts here.

Also: the now-available PDF files aren't just scanned images -- they've also been embedded with the data to allow searching, copying and pasting of the actual text.

When Governor Blunt announced yesterday that he wasn't going to seek reelection I thought his line about not running again because he had accomplished everything in one term sound vaguely familiar.

Here is what Blunt said:

"But after a great deal of thought and prayer, and with the knowledge that we have achieved virtually everything that I set out to accomplish and more, I will not seek a second term in the upcoming election. Because I feel we have changed what I wanted to change in the first term, there is not the same sense of mission for a second."

This morning, a friend reminded me that Blunt's line yesterday was not original.  He cribbed it.  The biggest day of his life, and he couldn't come up with his own line.  Instead, he borrowed it from a Simpson's episode.

Two Bad Neighbors (Season 7, 1996)
Homer goes to war with his new neighbor, George H. W. Bush. The former president steals Homer's title of "King of the Neighborhood," then spanks Bart after the unruly child destroys his memoirs (which conclude, "Since I've achieved all my goals as president in one term, there was no need for a second").

 How fitting.