Tom Burcham

The Joplin Globe reports that legislation to clear up state law regarding local "stacked" sales taxes "is pretty much dead." The fix was sponsored by the formidable duo of Ron Richard (the Most Powerful Man in Missouri) and Birther Rep. Tim Jones, but couldn't get past Sen. Jason Crowell (and maybe Gary Nodler?).

Joplin's lobbyist, Gary Burton, pins the blame squarely on Crowell, who "killed the bill’s chances by amending it to require that the loser in a tax-stacking lawsuit pay the attorney fees of all the parties in the lawsuit."

The Globe also quotes a Municipal League associate, who wonders aloud who benefits from Crowell's moves.  Crowell isn't fighting "for the taxpayers," for sure. 

In the News-Press, Sen. Gary Nodler says his move to gut the House-supported stacked taxes fix may "discourage" legal challenges from folks like former Rep. Tom Burcham, but "leaves the status quo in place."

There's something very odd about this move from Nodler.  The current law is unclear -- some judges have allowed cities to pass multiple sales taxes, relying on a Department of Revenue interpretation, but other judges have said that practice is improper.  Burcham has gone all over the state looking for towns to sue (though curiously, he's not interested in suing his own town of Farmington). 

The Star reports that Sen. Gary Nodler (R-Joplin) has removed language from a House-passed bill that would clear up ambiguities in the state's rules on "stacked" sales taxes in municipalities.  Former state Rep. Tom Burcham -- who happens to be a major fundraiser for Majority Leader Steve Tilley (R-Perryville) and practice law in Sen. Kevin Engler's (R-Farmington) hometown -- has developed quite the racket exploiting the ambiguities, much to the chagrin of local taxpayers.

In December, the News-Leader reported that Tilley, Engler and Burcham had struck a deal to end the lawsuits and pass a legislative fix.  The House passed a fix in a bill (HB1442) sponsored by Birther Rep. Tim Jones (R-Eureka) with a "crushing majority."  But Nodler has introduced a committee substitute that would keep towns -- including Joplin -- in a bad spot.  The Star:

But in the Senate today, Sen. Gary Nolder, a Joplin Republican, introduced a substitute bill completely erasing Jones' language and putting in its place a measure that would require those suing a city to pay the city's legal fees should the court rule in the city's favor.

Informed of the substitute bill, Jones expressed dismay.

"If that is the change, then it avoids fixing the original problem," he said. "It removes the solution to the original problem."

Nodler acknowledged that issue and said he was reluctant to change the bill in a way that left the central ambiguity intact, but had to do so to prevent a filibuster that would risk killing other elements of the bill.

As outlined in the deal struck late last year by Majority Leader Steve Tilley with the unelected but generous Tom Burcham, the Missouri House has passed legislation to allow local communities to keep their voter-approved general and capital improvement sales taxes. 

The legislation passed with an overwhelming bipartisan majority, as it would have last year.  However, Tilley blocked the legislation from being heard by the full House, a move that benefited Burcham, a major donor.  As reported in the Columbia Tribune, Burcham was exploiting an ambiguity in state law to sue local communities.  The legislation passed yesterday will shut down Burcham's suits, and help local communities move forward without fear of a predatory suit by Tilley's friend and donor.

Speaker Ron Richard (R-Joplin) and Birther Rep. Tim Jones (R-Eureka) got really grumpy this morning on the House floor this morning when Rep. Mike Talboy (D-Kansas City) asked why the FBI was asking questions about why Jones' "stacked taxes" bill didn't pass last year.  Listen:

Jones' outrage is ironic, considering the fact that he was the one who publicly stated the FBI was asking questions about his bill. According to Jones own account, he told the FBI to talk to Speaker Richard and Majority Leader Steven Tilley (R-Perryville).

The Turner Report has the scoop on Majority Leader Steve Tilley's ethics reform legislation to be officially announced today. As outlined by Turner, Tilley says he wants to stop:

• Lobbyist gifts and meals for legislatures
• Political consulting while serving in the legislature
• Becoming a lobbyist within 180 days of leaving office
• Prohibition on accepting political contributions for any compensated appointment made by the governor, speaker of the House, or speaker pro tempore of the Senate that requires Senate approval for a period before and after the appointment
• The appointment of legislators to executive department positions within 180 days of leaving office
• Any political donations being made to the governor by any entity that has a pending decision before an executive department or decision making body

And wants "full disclosure" of:

• All members, spouses, and staff of any political employment
• Any financial interest of any general assembly, executive, or statewide offices, including staff and contract agents (though it's not really clear what that means yet)

Tilley is the subject of scrutiny for the way he raises money and runs the House, his very close ties to Rod Jetton, his huge special interest campaign contributions, his ownership of an airplane and business with Rex Sinquefield lobbyist Travis Brown, and questionable actions that benefited friend and financier Tom Burcham.

In what must surely be just happenstance, House Floor Leader Steve Tilley and former Rep. Tom Burcham announced a legislative deal to end Burcham's predatory lawsuit racket exactly one day after Rep. Tim Jones informed the Associated Press that the FBI was interested in legislation Tilley blocked to benefit Burcham last spring.

Chad Livengood has the story in today's Springfield News-Leader:

A Farmington attorney has dropped lawsuits against several Missouri cities after cutting a deal with two Republican legislative leaders who have promised to close a legal loophole that allows cities to seek extra sales taxes.

Tom Burcham said he dropped the lawsuits after House Floor Leader Steven Tilley and Senate Floor Leader Kevin Engler promised to help pass legislation barring cities from asking voters to approve sales taxes for operations and capital improvements above the current limits.

Tilley blocked legislation sponsored by Jones last year that would have stopped a series of predatory lawsuits filed by Burcham which focused on some ambiguity in state law about stacked sales taxes. (An explanation of that dispute and Burcham's mixed results in winning suits against municipalities is here.) Jones' legislative fix was supported by Speaker Ron Richard. However, Richard said, "The majority leader wouldn’t let me put it on the calendar." 

Speaker Ron Richard (R-Joplin), the Most Powerful Man In Missouri, doesn't have any idea why Birther Rep. Tim Jones (R-Eureka) said he told the FBI to take their questions about Jones' sales tax bill to Richard and Majority Floor Leader Steve Tilley.

House Speaker Ron Richard (R, Joplin) says he doesn't know why the FBI is asking question about the bill's failure.

"No, that does seem kind of strange...I had no idea...I haven't had any inquiries with anybody, other than just members of our House Caucus on that issue, but I have no idea," Richard said.

The Associated Press reports today that the FBI contacted Birther Rep. Tim Jones (R-Eureka) "about a month ago" to ask about Majority Leader Steve Tilley's blocking of legislation that would have resolved a sales tax issue for Missouri municipalities. 

The FBI has been asking questions about why Missouri House leaders blocked legislation earlier this year affecting millions of dollars worth of sales taxes charged by cities.

State Rep. Tim Jones told The Associated Press on Monday that he was contacted by telephone in October by an FBI agent inquiring why colleagues spiked the sales tax legislation he sponsored.

The agent "said they've been talking to a lot of people and they were interested in why the bill did not proceed further," said Jones, R-Eureka. "I told them, `You probably need to talk to the (House) speaker or the floor leader or both of them and find out what their official positions were on the bill."

The legislation, sponsored by Jones, would have shut down a racket by  former Rep. Tom Burcham, who just happens to manage "several political funds that shuttle money for Tilley and other top Republicans." 

Joe Hadsall's blog post today for the Joplin Globe has me really confused.  It was my understanding that Speaker Ron Richard was more powerful than anyone in Missouri. So you can understand my surprise when I read this paragraph from Hadsall:

[Steve Tilley's blocking of legislation that would have hurt his buddy and fundraiser Tom Burcham] gives the impression that the House Speaker was either powerless to stop Tilley's opposition to the MML [Missouri Municipal League], or sacrificed what he thought was right for the sake of easing legislative tensions. Richard didn't return calls asking for more information on this issue.

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Today, the Joplin Globe picks up the story of Tom Burcham's predatory lawsuits against small towns who "stack" their taxes, but strangely ignores a few key details about Burcham's scheme and its related legislative activity.

A few weeks ago, Terry Ganey of the Daily Tribune wrote about Burcham's racket, in which he trolls for lawsuits against local communities that have multiple sales taxes.  Legislation to stop Burcham's self-enriching scheme was proposed this year by Rep. Tim Jones and supported by Speaker Ron Richard, but blocked by GOP Floor Leader Steve Tilley. 

Coincidentally, Tilley received $110,000 in campaign contributions from a PAC controlled by Burcham during the legislative session.

Here's a good indication that Tom Burcham's legal scheme is more predatory than "principled":  Burcham refuses to sue his own town, Farmington, for "stacking" local taxes, even though he's willing to enrich himself with lawsuits against other towns for the same practice. 

And in an unrelated story, Farmington City Attorney Tom Burcham told the city it was completely legal to "stack" its taxes in 2007.

“When (Tom Burcham) was the city attorney in Farmington, he gave a legal opinion that they’d be able to stack their taxes and they did,” said Gary Markenson, lobbyist for the Missouri Municipal League.

Farmington voters approved an additional half-cent sales tax in 2007 to fund $9 million to construct a new ewer treatment plant and make upgrades to the city's water system, said Greg Beavers, city manager of Farmington.

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Chad Livengood has a follow-up story in today's News-Leader about Steve Tilley's efforts to kill a bill that would end the legal racket of a top campaign donor, adding a little more information to Terry Ganey's great reporting from Sunday. In the story, Tilley predictably plays dumb about his work on behalf of benefactor Tom Burcham, and pretends there's no real conflict with Speaker Ron Richard.

Which leads us to this most important question: which of these two Tilley claims is hardest to believe?

1. Tilley did not block the legislation that would have stopped the self-enriching legal scheme of a top campaign donor
2. Tilley is "not at odds" with Speaker Ron Richard.

Really, is there any reason to believe either claim?

In today's Daily Tribune, we see just how much it pays to be part of Team Tilley.

Terry Ganey's excellent piece on GOP Floor Leader Steve Tilley's favors for his top money man, former State Rep. Tom Burcham, is a stomach-churning read.  It shows what happens when donors' interests trump taxpayers' interests, and highlights Tilley's ability to overrule Speaker Ron Richard when it matters to Tilley's donors.

Sometimes the real power isn't one's ability to pass new laws -- it's in blocking new laws:

During the session that ended last month, Majority Leader Steve Tilley blocked House consideration of legislation that could have crimped the law practice of one of Tilley’s largest campaign contributors. 

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GOP State Rep. Steve Tilley (R-Perryville) is sitting on a good pile of campaign cash heading into 2010.  Tilley is the #3 Republican in the House behind Speaker Ron Richard and Speaker Pro Tem Bryan Pratt, and is in line to be Minority Leader or Speaker after next year's elections.

As has been noted elsewhere, Tilley's considerable sums of campaign money provide him with considerable influence when it's time for said cash to be "passed out to his buddies."

It's been an open secret in the capitol that Republican Rep. Steve Tilley seeks to follow his close friend Rod Jetton as Speaker of the Missouri House if the GOP retains control of the body in the 2008 elections. Though just months ago his goal looked to be easily within reach, recent events have seen the prospects for a Tilley speakership dwindle and finally fade completely.

Now, Tilley's once-strong claim to the top spot in the House has been carted away by the authorities, an odd piece of detritus among the records seized as part of an ongoing federal investigation.

A story in last Wednesday's Post-Dispatch --largely unremarked upon at the time due to its mid-holiday publish-- detailed the strange facts surrounding the federal seizure of records from a healthcare clinic owned by Rep. Tilley's wife. Investigators from the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services took billing records and told clinic officials that the business would be audited. The story also reported, buried near the end, a fact that has proved extremely inconvenient for Tilley:

Former GOP legislator Tom Burcham used a legislative committee he controls to move thousands of dollars, at least $5000 of which came from his own pocket, to Rep. Nathan Cooper in the wake of receiving the Farmington fee office. Cooper, a close friend and ally of Blunt appointments director James Harris, used his campaign and legislative district committees to facilitate the receipt of money from more than a half-dozen individuals who received fee offices, including Burcham.

On February 9, 2005 former state representative Tom Burcham was one of more than one hundred individuals whom the Blunt administration announced would be the new fee agents for license offices around Missouri. One month later would begin a series of transactions that would span the course of a year and during which more than $6900 would move from entities controlled by Burcham to committees controlled by Nathan Cooper. These transactions utilized legislative district committees at both ends to obscure the source and destination of those dollars, and used faulty reporting to further cloud the exchange.

A legislative district committee controlled by Rep. Nathan Cooper (R-Cape Girardeau) has regularly served as a repository into which contributions are paid by recipients of fee offices and out of which thousands of dollars in fees have been paid to companies connected with Blunt appointment secretary James Harris, according to Missouri Ethics Commission reports.

Most notably, ethics filings indicate that --just one week in advance of the public announcement of fee office awardees-- the 158th Republican legislative committee paid a fee of $4,000.00 on February 2, 2005 to an outfit called Winning Solutions LLC. (Some may remember Winning Solutions as the corporation likely incorporated fraudulently by someone who signed the name of a former Cooper law partner to the formation documents.) The 158th legislative committee reported making payment to Winning Solutions addressed at P.O. Box 222, Jefferson City, MO 65102.