Missouri Roundtable for Life

Missouri Roundtable for Life: "Tim Jones Accpets $10,000 From Cloners, Passes $5,000 To Silvey"

A federal lawsuit filed by the Missouri Roundtable for Life in December against Secretary of State Robin Carnahan and Auditor Susan Montee was dismissed today, surprising no one.  "There is no indication whatsoever that Plaintiffs were denied adequate process," the decision reads, and "claims alleging...constitutional violations must be dismissed."

The federal complaint is just that latest manifestation of frivolous and wasteful activity undertaken by the Roundtable, lead until recently by one Ed Martin.  In January 2009, Martin told an audience of Roundtable supporters that a main purpose of their many legal actions, "to be candid, is nuisance." (Listen to audio of Martin's comments here.)  Martin's nuissance approach certainly garnered press attention, but it did not impress the Cole County judge who first heard the complaints that were dismissed today by a federal judge.  Last June, Judge Patricia Joyce wrote the following about the Roundtable's lawsuit against Carnahan, Montee and Attorney Chris Koster:

Plaintiffs' arguments of conspiracy and constitutional violations fail as a matter of law, are without merit, and rise to the level of being frivolous.

The obvious disregard for taxpayer resources from Roundtable's and Ed Martin has not been limited to lawsuits.  The organization filed a whopping 30 ballot initiatives over a twenty month span in 2008 and 2009. 

Today's order dismissing the suit may be found below the break.

At what point will politicians who claim to care about small government, protecting taxpayers and tort reform realize that filing a bunch of frivolous lawsuits isn't helping their case? 

Anti-stem cell activist Fred Sauer filed to run for Congress yesterday in the First Congressional District, a seat currently held by Congressman Lacy Clay. Sauer is a founding board member of the Missouri Roundtable for Life, the extreme organization for which Ed Martin served as President before his congressional campaign.

When Cole County Judge Patricia Joyce evaluated the Missouri Roundtable for Life's allegations of conspiracy and constitutional violations by Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, Attorney General Chris Koster and State Auditor Susan Montee, she ruled that their allegations were "without merit and rise to the level of being frivolous."

That, of course, has not stopped the Roundtable from filing a new federal suit alleging a larger pattern of conspiracy by Carnahan and Montee to deny them their constitutional rights. But if you've got nothing better going on this weekend, here's the full complaint filed in federal court by the Roundtable's lawyers.

This is unbelievable:

The Missouri Roundtable for Life has sued Secretary of State Robin Carnahan and Auditor Susan Montee in federal court, alleging the two have illegally changed the wording on several of the group's initiative petitions and provided improper cost estimates as well.

You may remember that in June, a judge said the following about the Roundtable's lawsuit against Carnahan, Montee and AG Chris Koster:

Plaintiffs' arguments of conspiracy and constitutional violations fail as a matter of law, are without merit, and rise to the level of being frivolous. (Read the judge's dismissal here)

You may also remember that in January, Roundtable President (and now Congressional candidate) Ed Martin part of their legal action, "to be candid, is nuisance." (Listen to audio of Martin's comments here.)

Today, Rep. Cynthia Davis (R-Other Universe) introduced HJR 49, a constitutional amendment very similar to the Missouri Roundtable for Life's latest ballot initiative (their 30th in 22 months) that would, in supporters' words, "stop taxpayer funding of abortion, human cloning, and embryonic stem cell research because they all destroy human life."  

Though it's not entirely clear at this point, the Roundtable's endorsement of this new approach may indicate that they're not able or interested in collecting the signatures to put anything on the ballot this year.

Just like the Roundtable ballot initiative it replaces, the language in Davis' proposal would allow lawmakers to withhold public funds to Missouri universities and hospitals to block lawful stem cell research, and could even prevent grants and private foundations from going to institutions like the University of Missouri. 

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.

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: 

Friday, Ed Martin's Roundtable for Life filed its 30th ballot proposal in 20 months, further demonstrating (1) the organization's mind blowing disregard for the taxpayer resources they profess to defend and (2) an even more incredible inability to follow the basic of rules about initiative petitions.

This 30th filing (submitted Friday, 9/11) is an updated version of the 29th filing (submitted Friday, 9/4), in which the Roundtable's lawyers failed to underline the language they wanted to add to the Constitution. 

For an organization with so much experience filing petitions, you'd think they would know the rules by now.  

And, from the Department of Things That Cannot Be Made Up:  the Roundtable has dubbed its amendment the "Missouri Taxpayer Protection Amendment." 

Taxpayers will have at least a brief respite from Ed Martin's serial nuisance litigation against state officials.

Last week, the Cole County Court dismissed Martin's lawsuit on behalf of anti-stem cell zealots, calling it "without merit, and ris[ing] to the level of being frivolous."

Apparently unnerved by the judicial spanking, Martin had his legal team quickly dismiss three other lawsuits by his front group, the so-called "Missouri Roundtable for Life."

• A case pending in the Supreme Court challenging the Life Sciences Trust Fund
• Two appeals on anti-cures initiative petitions pending in the Western District Court of Appeals.

Martin's 0-4 week must have his funders wondering what they are getting for their money.  Taxpayers had the same question when Martin was on the government payroll.  

A Cole County judge issued a final judgment this afternoon in the Missouri Roundtable for Life's nuissance lawsuit against the state, rejecting all of the Roundtable's claims. From the judge's decision:

Plaintiffs' arguments of conspiracy and constitutional violations fail as a matter of law, are without merit, and rise to the level of being frivolous.

The outright rejection of the suit was expected by all parties. Roundtable President Ed Martin has previously described the lawsuit as a "nuisance" and a key component of his general strategy for garnering media attention.

The response to yesterday's court ruling on the lawsuit from Ed Martin and the Missouri Roundtable for Life was some pretty classic stuff.

In the totally-insane-rhetoric department, they decried the "tyrannical judiciary in bed with elected officials." By "tyranny," I guess they mean any decisions made by an independent judiciary that they don't like. (Would the judge's decision have been tyrannical if it was in their favor?  Exactly.)

In the facts-are-not-our-friend department, Martin and the Roundtable remain extremely concerned about any efforts to accurately describe what they're trying to do, and believe reality to be "biased" against them:

Missouri Roundtable for Life claimed the phrase ''necessary to save the life of the mother'' would bias voters against the ballot measure. Among other things, the group also claimed the reference to ''stem cell research currently allowed under Missouri law'' was prejudicial compared to its preferred wording of banning funding for ''human cloning.''

The judge's ruling said Missouri law already bans public funding for abortions not necessary to save the life of a woman. Joyce said the initiative would make illegal to spend public money for abortions, even if necessary to save a woman's life.

Facts.  Hopelessly biased against them.

Ed Martin's self-described nuisance lawsuit against the Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, Attorney General Chris Koster and State Auditor Susan Montee was dealt a serious setback today. 

Looking at the claims of Martin and the other plaintiffs, Cole County Circuit Court Judge Patricia Joyce dismissed the legal challenges to Carnahan's ballot summary, and declared the language put forward by the Secretary of State's office "promoted an informed understanding of the probable effect of the proposed initiative petition."

Here is Judge Joyce's conclusion:

Plaintiffs do not write summary statements; Defendant Carnahan, in her official capacity as Secretary of State, does.  Plaintiffs' exercise in repeatedly challenging Secretary of State Carnahan's summary statement as compared to language they prefer is a misapplication of the standards by which the sufficiency and fairness of a summary statement is determined. The important and only test is whether the language fairly and impartially summarizes the purposes of the measure, so that the voters will not be deceived or misled. The Secretary of State prepared a summary statement that is fair and sufficient as it promoted an informed understanding of the probable effect of the proposed initiative petition. For this reason, and the analysis already discussed above, Plaintiffs have failed to carry their burden of showing that Secretary of State Carnahan's summary statement is insufficient or unfair. [Judge Patricia Joyce's Order and Judgment can be found here.]

This may shock you, but voters are less likely to support an accurate description of Ed Martin's ballot initiative than a simplistic description crafted by his GOP  pollster.

The Missouri Roundtable for Life and President Ed Martin are currently engaged in a legal battle (proudly described by Martin as a "nuisance" lawsuit) with the Secretary of State, Attorney General and State Auditor to rework the ballot summary language for their proposed constitutional amendment to ban public money for abortions and embryonic stem cell research.  Desperate for some media attention (garnering free media is one of Martin's main goals with the lawsuit), Martin released the organization's poll data (presented in court weeks ago), which was dutifully picked up by the press.  The polling data is presented as evidence that the summary put forward by SOS Robin Carnahan is unfair -- except there's no actual evidence in the polling that the ballot summary is unfair.

Several readers have sent tips that Ed Martin's Roundtable for Life has started a new push for financial support. Naturally, they were curious if Eddie's "nuisance" lawsuits were draining the Roundtable's coffers.

So we went to check with the Missouri Ethics Commission, where we found that the Missouri Roundtable for Life committee was terminated almost three months ago.

The Roundtable's online donation form shows that the money is going to a legal entity under the jurisdiction of the Ethics Commission, but the Ethics Commission thinks that the Roundtable closed up shop as a campaign committee in January.

Where is the money going?  Another Martin front group?  Or is actively avoiding disclosure, as is his custom? 

Last week, we posted audio of Ed Martin stating that his ongoing legal battles are intended to be a "nuisance" (his words, not mine) for the Secretary of State, Attorney General and State Audtior. We've had a lot of interest in Martin's comments, and concern that Martin may be violating ethical guidelines regarding frivolous lawsuits.

In any event, Martin seems to be pretty unapologetic about using the legal system to fight his political battles. Here's another Martin clip from an earlier Roundtable for Life meeting:

The key language from Martin:

We think that the lawsuits are a great way to influence public policy and the public discourse.

I'll give you an example. I have a friend of mine who is, you know, sort of agnostic on these issues of pro-cloning. He emailed me and said, "You know, I work for a biotech company. Every time you guys file one of these lawsuits, it makes them crazy because they don't know what to make of the environment in Missouri.

And, I think [inaudible] the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

We want to be a squeaky wheel.

...So we're going to keep the lawsuits up...

Read More »

Share

• Tweet Widget
• Google Plus One
• Facebook Like

Recently, at a Missouri Roundtable for Life "town hall" event in St. Joseph, MOGOP Chairman Emeritus Eddie Martin shared a few thoughts on Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, the legitimacy of his ballot language lawsuits, and the involvement of Satan in the affairs of the state:

For those of you scoring at home:

• At least some of the Roundtable's legal actions against the state are, in Martin's own words, a "nuisance."
• Ed Martin told his audience that Secretary of State Robin Carnahan
  • is "the devil," an agent of the devil or under the power of the devil
  • "doesn't need to be honest" and "doesn't want to be honest"
  • and is also one "smartest people in public life in America right now"

I bet the judges, lawyers and clerks will be glad to know that Ed Martin and the Roundtable are just wasting their time so that Ed Martin can feel good about himself. 

As for the satanic control of Robin Carnahan -- well, I have no idea what to make of that.

Ed Martin's right-wing outfit, the Missouri Roundtable for Life, wants a constitutional amendment to prohibit public money from going toward abortion services or certain kinds of human embryonic stem cell research. Yesterday, Martin and his legal team went to court to convince a judge to rewrite the proposed summary language so that it's more suitable to their agenda. 

The Roundtable is contending that 10 different words or phrases in proposed ballot summary are unfair.  The disputes are both big and small.  Big:  the Roundtable desperately wants to keep out language informing the public that their amendment does not provide exceptions for rape, incest or the health of the mother. Small: Martin doesn't like the word "illegal" -- he prefers the far less incendiary word "unlawful."

To back up their claims, they trotted out their own "evidence" from a conservative Republican pollster, McLaughlin & Associates. McLaughlin's principals have worked for a whole host of Republican candidates and offiicals, including former Senator Jesse Helms (R-Dixie), former House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL), Fred Thompson (R-NBC), Rep. Sam Graves (R-MO), the RNC, the NRSC, the NRCC.... you get the idea. 

It's what you might call "fair and balanced" evidence.