Thomas Schweich

Rep. Cynthia Davis is no longer running for State Auditor, as she's told the Missouri Ethics Commission.  Instead, she's endorsing House Budget Chair Allen Icet over the insufficiently conservative (in her mind) Thomas Schweich. KY3's Dave Catanese has the details:

"I don't understand how Republican voters could support someone who came out of the bureaucratic morass of Washington, D.C. where Schweich has been for many years before showing up expecting to be anointed to win a statewide office," Davis said.

"Worse, he expects Missouri Republicans to support him, when he donated money to and supported Democrat Claire McCaskill and praised President Obama for choosing what Schweich called 'an all-star cabinet.' Given Schweich's support for the president and Claire McCaskill, he might have been more comfortable filing in the Democratic primary," Davis said.

But then check out this quote at the end of Catanese's story:

"I plan on being a candidate in 2010, but not for Missouri State Auditor," Davis said.

If you've been busy tweeting from your deer stand this weekend, you've probably missed a bit of the back-and-forth in the GOP contest to challenge Auditor Susan Montee next year. Sadly, Lt. Governor @PeterKinder has refrained from posting any updates to his live Twitter feed about the conflict.

In bullets of 140 characters or less, is a summary of what's transpired in the past few days:

• @TomSchweich4MO won't commit to full Auditor term. May seek promotion in '12 if not "consensus candidate" in '10. #revenge http://tr.im/F4bM
• @AllenIcet promises full term. "Short-sighted, selfish thinking does not strengthen parties, it destroys them." http://tr.im/F4cV
• Sen. Gary Nodler resigns as Budget Chair 2 avoid conflicts. @AllenIcet w/n follow suit in House. @TomSchweich4MO pounces. http://tr.im/F4dr
• Fmr. Rep. Ed Robb chimes in. "Kudos to @AllenIcet for having the courage 2 resist @TomSchweich4MO's ignorant request." http://tr.im/F4eV

What in the world is this all about?

So nine months before Thomas Schweich wins the GOP Auditor primary – to say nothing of actually knocking off Susan Montee -- he can't commit to KY3's Dave Catanese that he'll serve his entire term because he might need to extract revenge in 2012? 

GOP auditor candidate Thomas Schweich significantly outraised Allen Icet in the third quarter, $335,286 to $127,750.  Numbers for fellow candidate Cynthia Davis are not yet available.

Schweich reports $322,079 in cash on hand, compared to Icet's $139,328.

Cynthia Davis smiles to westbound motorists on I-70 in Warrenton, well outside her O'Fallon House district.

Davis is raising money for a 2010 statewide race and announced in July, "I bought myself some cowboy boots and I'm learning how to say "Missourah!" 

Looks like a real campaign to me. 

This week, the lineup at the Camdenton Tea Party will include at least three speakers in competitive GOP primaries: Allen Icet, Vicky Hartzler and Chuck Purgason.

I don't have any special insight on this, but I'm curious to see how conservative activists and tea party boosters show their support and professed political power in these races.  For example, Purgason is actively seeking support at tea parties, while Roy Blunt has clearly not been a favorite of the tea party crowd.  (Organizers of the July 4th Tea Party in Washington, MO wouldn't even allow Blunt to participate, and speakers at other events are openly criticizing Blunt's record.) 

At a fundraiser in Springfield yesterday, Thomas Schweich promised to be a "loyal Republican" partisan in conducting audits on behalf of Missourians if he's elected Auditor:

Schweich, who has conducted audits in the private and government sectors, has made auditing the nearly $5 billion in federal economic stimulus money Missouri will receive a cornerstone of his campaign.

"There's an important policy reason that this auditor's race is so important, and there's also a very significant reason from a political standpoint if you're a loyal Republican," said Schweich, a Washington University law professor and former ambassador to Afghanistan.

More partisanship!  That's what people really want from their State Auditor -- an overt partisan agenda. 

KY3's Dave Catanese is reporting that former UN Ambassador John Bolton will be campaigning and raising money with fellow Bush Administration official Thomas Schweich (rhymes with "bike") in Springfield next month.

Bolton was "a central influence on [George W.][ Bush's tough-talking, black-and-white view of the world," and as an ambassador, was alleged to have "bullied and browbeat his underlings, misused his access to intelligence and undermined then Secretary of State Colin Powell."  Before Bush appointed Bolton to the UN, it was revealed that Bolton had made misleading statements to Congress about his participation in investigations of intelligence failures.

There's a fascinating conversation going on in the comments below yesterday's Post-Dispatch story about Thomas Schweich's (rhymes with "bike") personal voting history.  In the story, reporter Tony Messenger notes that Schweich was living in Virginia in 2006 while working in George W. Bush's State Department. His short time as a Virginian is relevant because the Missouri Constitution requires that State Auditors be Missouri residents for "at least ten years" before taking office.  Article IV of the Constitution outlines the minimum qualifications for office.

Section 3. The governor [and state auditor] shall be at least thirty years old and shall have been a citizen of the United States for at least fifteen years and a resident of this state at least ten years next before election.

The discussion about Schweich's residency is all the more interesting because Schweich felt compelled to respond to the questions in the post's comments. He maintains that "case law is clear" on his residency, and that he's eligible for office.  

Lt. Governor Peter Kinder has endorsed Bush Administration Official Thomas Schweich (RhymesWithBike) for the 2010 GOP primary for State Auditor.  In Kinder's endorsement, he describes Schweich as "a patriot," who in turn finds Kinder to be "an accomplished patriot." KY3's Dave Catanese has an early response to the announcement.

Kinder's endorsement of Schweich is no surprise. He was one of the leaders who helped engineer the deal that pushed Schweich out of the U.S. Senate race against Roy Blunt and into the state auditor race. Schweich hinted he'd be receiving some high-level endorsements during his campaign kick-off last week...

Kinder's endorsement confirms the divide within the elected Republican establishment over the race for state auditor.

Read More »

Here's an odd way to kick off your campaign for State Auditor: explaining what the word "transparency" actually means. Late yesterday, KY3's Dave Catanese asked Thomas Schweich to explain how he's financing his two-day fly around. Schweich didn't like the question -- but he does want folks to know he has a "very good legal compliance team" to help him sort those questions out at a more convenient time.

Not too long ago, Thomas Schweich (RhymesWithBike) believed Roy Blunt's candidacy for the GOP Senate primary signified "The End of the Missouri Republican Party." Schweich foresaw "advertisements showing grainy pictures of [Blunt's] family members, trumpeting that they are lobbyists for some powerful industries that have hurt ordinary Missourians," and warned his fellow Republicans that a Blunt on the ticket in November 2010 was "in all likelihood a recipe for disaster."

"Most everyone knows it, yet only a few will say it out loud," Schweich wrote.

But that was March, and now it's June. Schweich was offered a backroom deal to avoid a primary, and he took it.  Never mind that he previously believed such deals were the product of "the sedentary, uncreative Republican leadership in this state, which appears to be in denial about the unfortunate route that we are traveling right now."

Now it's Schweich who's in denial.

Tom Schweich (RhymesWithBike) is flying around the state today to "officially" kick off his State Auditor campaign, first announced in a Washington University locker room two weeks ago.

Hoping to share a little spotlight with Schweich, Allen Icet this morning released the names of 80 House members and 4 Senate members endorsing his candidacy for State Auditor. 

Absent from Allen Icet's list of House endorsements were Reps. Denny Hoskins, Brian Yates, Jason Brown, Doug Ervin, Mike Sutherland, Scott Lipke and Will Kraus.  Presumably these seven hold outs are still considering supporting Schweich or Cynthia Davis in the State Auditor primary. (Icet's full list of endorsements is here.)

Thomas Schweich (rhymes with "bike") has launched his new campaign website in advance of tomorrow's re-announcement events.  Schweich's Bush Administration experience is featured prominently on the site, though George Bush's name is not actually mentioned anywhere.

The website says it was paid for by the Schweich for Auditor committee, but no records for said committee are available on the Missouri Ethics Commission website at this time.

Thomas Schweich (rhymes with "bike") looks like he's about to get muscled out of his second campaign in less than a month.

This time, it's the GOP Primary to challenge Susan Montee in next year's State Auditor race.

Schweich, who used to think that back-room negotiations to clear primaries were bad, is now participating in a second round of back-room negotiations to clear a primary.