Kinder Deflects Questions About Lawsuit Financing With Conspiracy Theories, Junior High Logic

In at least three different radio interviews (for Missourinet, KMOX and KFTK), Peter Kinder deflected questions about his refusal to let the sunshine in on the finances of his Health Care In Action, LLC and Healthcare In Action, Inc. organizations.  Instead, Kinder tried to muddy the waters by raising questions about a lawsuit challenging the August ballot's Proposition C.  That lawsuit alleges legal and constitutional violations because the resolution passed by the General Assembly "strayed from the Introduced Bill's original purpose [and] include[d] more than a single subject." 

But instead of just calling for the plaintiffs of the lawsuit challenging Proposition C to reveal their donors, Kinder repeatedly declared that George Soros, "SEIU thugs" and "the corrupt ACORN crowd" were behind the suit.  I don't have any idea who's funding the anti-Prop C lawsuit, and Peter Kinder doesn't either. But that didn't stop him from presenting speculation about that suit as fact. 

Kinder's statement to Missourinet's Brent Martin:

We will disclose our donors. Look, this is a smokescreen, of course, that we would expect from the source in the statement [the Missouri Democratic Party].  I've said we will disclose our donors.  Who's funding the lawsuit is a side issue. It will be answered.

By the way, the same left-wing Democrats funded, no doubt, by the SEIU, by the corrupt ACORN crowd, by Mr. Soros with his billions, have filed a bogus lawsuit in this state two weeks ago seeking to deny Missourians the right to vote, four weeks from yesterday, August 3rd, at the primary election, on the Health Care Freedom Act.  Now, what do they fear about Missourians having their say? 

I have said this morning at the press conference, I'll disclose my donors when they disclose theirs. Why don't you go back to the Missouri Democratic Party and tell them to disclose their donors.  On the day that they do that, you'll get disclosure of mine.  But I've committed to doing that anyway at a point later this year.

Speaking on KMOX with Mark Reardon:

KINDER: We will be disclosing our donors later this week, and...I'm sorry, later this year.

MARK REARDON: So they will be -- they will be made public.

KINDER: We will disclose our donors as we're required to do with a not for profit LLC. Let me just talk about the hypocrisy of my critics on that side issue -- and it is a side issue...

REARDON: Yeah, because the Democrats have been hammering you on this a little bit, saying that you haven't released a list of donors.

KINDER: They've been beating at me for three months.   The same people just sponsored the filing of a lawsuit to deny Missouri voters our chance to vote on the Health Care Freedom Act four weeks from yesterday at the August 3rd primary ballot...

These people, funded by the left wing, probably funded by George Soros, but they won't tell us who. Probably the same corrupt ACORN crowd and SEIU thugs are funding this lawsuit.  When we finally find out.

But they wont' disclose theirs, so I said to 'em this morning.  By golly, folks, I'll disclose mine the day you disclose yours.

Speaking on FM NewsTalk 97.1 with Dana Loesch:

Those are my critics on this lawsuit who say I haven't disclosed the contributors on my lawsuit, and I don't have that many contributors yet. I've said I will be disclosing them.

But, you know what?  That lawsuit you mentioned is a bogus, probably Soros-- George Soros-financed or SEIU thug financed lawsuit. Ok? 

[...]

And so they are denying -- they are saying they will not release their contributors. I say I'll release mine the same day they release theirs.  That's fair, isn't it?

How does Kinder know that the lawsuit he hates so much is "no doubt" funded by George Soros and "SEIU thugs?" He doesn't. And why does Kinder use the MDP, George Soros, SEIU and ACORN interchangeably?  Because he sounds more evil.

So far as I can tell, there are no real negative consequences when Kinder spews this kind of junk. He may lose standing with reporters who roll their eyes when they hear it, but the craziness doesn't get printed or broadcast.  Kinder received no pushback from Martin, and his accusations didn't make the Missourinet article about their interview.  Reardon and Loesch let it slide, because they agree with him, or because asking hard questions of Republican on air isn't what they're on earth to do.

Furthermore, Kinder's playground challenge to the plaintiffs in the anti-Prop C suit is just ridiculous. Indeed, his promise to release his donor info "the same day" that the evil librul plaintiffs might release theirs indicates that he could publish the data at any point -- but chooses not to.

The bigger point is that the plaintiffs in the private lawsuit are private citizens.  He's the Lieutenant Governor.  When he cashes checks from donors who might benefit from an official Kinder action, the public deserves to know.  

If full disclosure of donors is the right thing to do, as Kinder claims, then why does he need someone else to do it first?