Scott Eckersley

Bungalow Bill flags this ad for Springfield's Metropolitan Grill in 417 Magazine.  It's an obvious reference to accusations made by a former restaurant employee and featured in this ad by the Scott Eckersley for Congress campaign. Billy Long no doubt finds Metro's joke hilarious.

See here for background.

The FBI has is investigating the effort to trick media and voters into thinking Congressional candidate Scott Eckersley dropped out of his race against Billy Long, Eckersley tells KSMU. 

Eckersley said the FBI office in Springfield contacted him this week and confirmed that the Department of Justice has opened an investigation into his complaint of election fraud.

The Scott Eckersley campaign has published another letter from a former Metropolitan Grill employee. Today's is from a coworker of Jennifer Case and Robert Bush named Noelle Edwards. "I worked with both of them," Edwards writes, "and I trust in their honesty about claims they have made about Billy Long attending man days, and Metro Mafia parties."

KSPR: "After a controversial campaign ad, one 7th District congressional candidate is defending his character while his opponent stands behind a woman he calls a whistleblower. Democratic candidate Scott Eckersley's ad claims 7th District Republican candidate Billy Long made racist and homophobic slurs and took part in questionable events at a local restaurant."

As posted on OzarksFirst.com...

Via the News-Leader and Fuse Joplin, I see that Billy Long gets all bent out of shape (i.e. "fed up") when he was asked to explain his publicly-stated positions about Social Security.  Here is the News-Leader's summary of the exchange between Long and Eckersley about Long's endorsement of the Conservative Congress' issue platform, which states that the group wants to "to dismantle the Department of Education and Social Security, by and through constructive reforms."

Eckersley then asked Long about Social Security, saying Long had filled out a questionnaire saying he wanted to "dismantle" the program.

Long did not deny doing so, but said he didn't know what Eckersley was talking about. Eckersley suggested that someone on Long's staff filled out the questionnaire.

"You should probably talk to them because it is a pretty serious deal," Eckersley said.

As you can see on the Eckersley campaign site and at the Conservative Congress website, Long  is listed as one of the candidates who "passed" on the issue of Social Security, and is one of the group's "approved" candidates.  No other candidates still on the ballot in Missouri are "approved" by the group, though Todd Akin and Sam Graves are also said to have "passed" on Social Security. 

I wish I could say I'm surprised that Billy Long doesn't know where he stands on the issue. 

We'll post video of the exchange as soon as its available. 

From the Scott Eckersley campaign: "We're pleased to announce that we're kicking off our electronic media program debuting our first commercial tonight on KY3 during the 6 p.m. evening news.  Spots will continue to run daily throughout the district.  However, television and radio ads will not run on Sunday out of respect for the day of worship. "

I don't have a lot to add to this interview conducted by KMOX' Charlie Brennan now-Congressional candidate Scott Eckersley regarding Ed Martin's unethical behavior as Matt Blunt's Chief of Staff. You should just listen to it.

But to refresh your memory -- of for those unfamiliar with Martin's record-- this summary of the relationship between Martin and Eckersley from November 2007 in the News-Leader may be helpful:

Lest we forget, Eckersley is a 30-year-old attorney who Martin thought was expendable. He wasn't shown the door with a pat on the back. Nobody called him a "good friend" who did a "great job." No, Martin tossed Eckersley and his reputation on the trash heap. And then, with the full knowledge of the governor, he orchestrated a taxpayer-funded character assassination unlike anything ever seen before in Missouri government.

Via Jim Lee''s Busplunge blog, check out this song from a disgruntled Seventh District voter.  Add in a fiddle and nice beat, and you might could two step to it. 

Billy Long is apparently fed up with all of the questions about why he won't debate Scott Eckersley and Kevin Craig before the November elections. Speaking earlier this week with the Busplunge's Jim Lee, Long said he would finally present his debate counterproposal by "the end of the week."

LONG: Give me until the end of the week, we’re working on it,

LEE: You gotta debate him.

LONG: We should have a schedule announced.

Of course, Long promised KSGF listeners two weeks ago that he'd be outlining his own debate proposal in short order, and that hasn't happened yet.

Chad Garrison of the Riverfront Times and Adam Shriver of St. Louis Activist Hub break it down.

Much has been made of Billy Long's refusal to participate in the courthouse debates agreed to by his campaign, and subsequent dishonesty about said debates. 

But lost in the hubbub about the withdrawal from the courthouse debates with opponent Scott Eckersley is the fact that Long has also refused to participate in forums sponsored by the GOP-friendly Chamber of Commerce.   The Chamber extended an invitation to both Eckersley and Long to "present their ideas and key policy priorities" and take questions from the audience.  The events were to be facilitated by a chamber moderator who would "ensure that we remain on topic and that it doesn’t turn into a debate format," to be conducted at a time that worked for both candidates.  The Chamber's proposed times:

1. September 27 – 3:30 p.m.
2. September 28 – 7:30 a.m.
3. September 28 – 3:30 p.m.
4. September 29 – 3:30 p.m.
5. October 12 – 3:30 p.m.
6. October 14 – 7:30 a.m.
7. October 14 – 3:30 p.m.
8. October 21 – 3:30 p.m.

According to Eckersley's campaign, Eckersley has made himself available for each of those times, but Long says none of them work with his schedule.

It's not a good morning for Billy Long.  As you probably know, Long's campaign agreed to a series of courthouse debates proposed by Scott Eckersley in early August, but are now furiously trying to convince the media and 7th District voters that they did no such thing. Long consultant James Harris told KOLR/KSFX that the courthouse debates are just "some type of media gimmick."  And this is what Long said on KSGF yesterday morning:

This is my interpretation of what happened. They've said we want to do these debates, challenged you to a series of ten courthouse debates. We said -- and you check the record -- you won’t see anywhere where we agreed to it.

That's an interesting (and apparently false) interpretation.  The Joplin Globe reported on August 7 that Long's campaign manager agreed in principle to Eckersley's courthouse debate proposal.  And then KSMU published the following yesterday evening:

A spokesperson for the Billy Long Campaign, Royce Reding, told KSMU on August 4 and August 17 that Long would participate in the 10 courthouse debates.

KOLR/KSFX has a fascinating story out of the 7th District about the Billy Long's willingness to debate debating -- but unwillingness to actually engaging in actual debates.  Long apparently isn't even allowed to discuss the idea of debates with Scott Eckersley on camera -- consultant James Harris has kept those reponsibilities to himself.

Remember as you watch this clip that Billy Long's campaign agreed to the debates Harris now says are "some type of media gimmick." 

I'm not sure Long's handlers could make it any more obvious that they're afraid to turn Long loose.

Two weeks ago, Billy Long agreed to agreed to a series of courthouse debates with his 7th Congressional District rival, Scott Eckersley. Fed Up Billy's campaign manager told the Joplin Globe in no uncertain terms that Long would be participating in the series of noontime debates -- they just needed to work out the details.

But now, The Fuse Joplin reports that Long is backing out of his commitment.  According to the Eckersley campaign, Long's camp is arguing that "pre-primary candidate forums qualified as debates.” Say what?

Perhaps the real point of contention is mid-debate access to performance enhancing smartphones?

Springfield News-Leader: "Businessman Michael Wardell, who ran unsuccessfully in the Republican primary for the 7th District, on Monday endorsed Democratic candidate Scott Eckersley over Republican Billy Long. 'Billy Long runs as an outsider, but is deeply rooted in the political establishment," said Wardell, who earned less than one percent of the votes cast in the eight-way GOP race. 'Scott is the only true outsider in this race..'"

Later in the article, Wardell is quoted as saying, "Long displayed his lack of knowledge of major issues facing our country and our district throughout the primary."

UPDATE: Long's campaign has now admitted that his long Las Vegas vacation is the reason for the delay. Does his iPhone not work in the desert? 

The early indications were that Fed Up Billy Long was receptive to a series of debates with general election opponents Scott Eckersley and Kevin Craig. But the Eckersley campaign today reports that it "has not received any response from Mr. Long or his campaign officials regarding the terms of the courthouse debates that were agreed to earlier this month. Repeated attempts to contact Mr. Long’s campaign have gone unanswered."

Numerous local politicos have been left to wonder if Long's reluctance to nail down details is related to distractions in Las Vegas.  Long was spotted on a flight to Sin City over the weekend, and I was able to independently confirm that the MGM Grand has been host to a guest named Billy Long this week.  

 With the August 3rd primary rapidly approaching, the Republican candidates of Missouri’s 7th District combined for a surprisingly tame second to last week. The Republican establishment continued to line up behind Jack Goodman, with the state senator receiving the formal support of the 7th Congressional Republican Assembly. Goodman also recently won the endorsement of a few Southwestern Missouri firefighters' groups and the Springfield News-Leader, positioning him as one of the leading candidates along with Billy Long as Gary Nodler continues to fade.

Scott Eckersley didn't mince words about Ed Martin in an interview with conservative radio host Dave Levine Saturday afternoon.  Eckersley and Martin know each other, of course, from their time in the office of former Governor Matt Blunt. Eckersley was fired by the Blunt crew after advising the Governor's staff not to destroy public documents, and was then the target of "a taxpayer-funded character assassination unlike anything ever seen before in Missouri government."  Who orchestrated that smear campaign?  Ed Martin. 

So it's not surprising that Eckersley is no longer a fan of Martin's particular brand of ethics and extremism in politics.  Towards the end of Eckersley's interview with Levine -- a fan of Martin's CD3 primary opponent, John Wayne Tucker -- Eckersley turned his attention to Martin:

It is a travesty in my mind that the Republican Party here in Missouri is again propping up a guy like Ed Martin [who] so obviously has no interest in the public, so obviously has no interest in serving, in being a public servant...

You know, folks like Ed Martin, I don't think badly about too many people, but Ed's one of the those I'll, I'm -- I will say, he is every -- he's everything that is wrong in government today. And you know, a party that attacks a citizen, you know, at the time I was a twenty-nine year old guy who woke up one Monday morning and was locked out of the Governor's office, told not to come in.  And they  -- not not only did they challenge on the Sunshine Law but tried to distract people by launching a smear campaign against me unlike anything ever seen before...

At the end of the day, I do think there was some meat left on the bone. But at the same time, some bad actors got their due. And I think Ed Martin's a bad actor who got his due, and should and will get it again.  And I applaud who runs based on character and runs because they want to serve and have the right motivation to do so. Ed Martin has been successful in showing that he has none of those qualities. And so a party that backs a man like Ed Martin, there's something wrong.

Listen to the relevant excerpt from the full 24 minute interview (apologies for the poor quality recording):