Odd Omissions

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.

For whatever reason, Ron Richard's strong support of the legislation killed by Tilley was not mentioned in the Globe story.  In fact, Richard's doesn't appear in the story at all. Isn't it a little odd that The Most Powerful Man in Missouri doesn't get a single quote in his hometown newspaper, especially when he's already on the record in at least two other newspapers on the subject? 

Here's what Richard told the Daily Tribune about Burcham's lawsuits and Tilley's blocking of legislative fix:

"The majority leader [Tilley] wouldn’t let me put it on the calendar," Richard said. "He said he wasn’t ready to talk about it just yet. I told the Municipal League, 'We need some help to convince the majority leader there are a lot of cities [e.g., Joplin] that are in jeopardy.'" [...]

"This fellow doing the lawsuits [Burcham] is trying to line his pockets, and I’m just trying to put in the statues what we thought was a letter given to the cities that said they can do that," Richard said. "I was in a mind to fix it, but I just couldn’t get it to the floor."

Also conspicuously absent from the Globe story were the facts reported by the Springfield News-Leader's Chad Livengood.  For instance, Burcham refuses to sue his own town, Farmington, for "stacking" local taxes even though he's trying to enrich himself with lawsuits against towns who do the same thing. Also relevant: Burcham told Farmington it was completely legal to "stack" its taxes when he was Farmington's City Attorney in 2007.

It's also too bad the Globe didn't follow up on Burcham's claim that his Missouri Leadership Committee gave money to "literally dozens, maybe in excess of 100, candidates a year." If they had, they would have found the committee hasn't done anything of the sort.

In 2008-2009, filings with the Missouri Ethics Commission show contributions to just seven candidates from the MO Leadership Committee. 

• Rep. Steve Tilley (R-Perryville), $110,000
• Rep. Mike Parsons (R-Bolivar), $25,000
• Mit Landrum for Farmington Mayor, $6,500
• Louie Seiberlich, HD107 Candidate from Park Hills, $650
• Rep. Tim Jones (R-Eureka), $2,500
• Former Rep. Mary Kasten (R-Cape Girardeau), $5,000
• Former Rep. Shannon Cooper (R-Clinton), $2,500

The MO Leadership Committee also gave money to a few PACs and party committees as well.

• HRCC, $25,000
• MO GOP, $20,000
• Missourians United for Life (the Ed Martin organization) ,$10,000
• 14th Legislative District Republican Cmte, $4,500
• 16th Legislative District Republican Cmte, $4,500
• 17th Legislative District Republican Cmte,$4,500
• 3rd Senatorial District Republican Cmte, $4,050
• MO Rental Dealers Assoc, $1,000

Not exactly "dozens' or "in excess of 100," is it?