A Presser for the Ages: Kinder & Icet spread rumors, blame own legislature for "runaway spending"

Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder and GOP House Budget Chair Allen Icet organized a conference call this afternoon to discuss their concerns with Gov. Nixon's Caring for Missourians initiative, a $40 million program to help colleges and universities train more health care professionals.  Kinder and Icet were obviously hoping for a little attention from the press, but the call is already looking like a disaster.

The main goals of the call, it seems, were to raise alarm about "rumors" and "third-hand reports" of colleges and universities not liking the program, and to complain about the runaway spending of the Republican legislature. Seriously. 

Kinder, who called into his own press conference while driving an official "My Bicycle Race" pickup truck, had no evidence to back up his charges, and was immediately called on it by the press. As Chad Livengood writes, Kinder admitted his information is based on "rumor." And here's Jason Noble's take in The Star:

Kinder freely admitted, however, that he had no evidence of such threats from Nixon.

"I said I had concerns that it might be happening..." Kinder said. "I have no proof of that or first-hand knowledge."

He went on to say he hadn't contacted any university administrators about the issue and didn't believe it was part of his "due diligence" to check with them.

Rather, he seemed to say, his role was to spread rumors in the media.

No proof or actual knowledge. And no actual time to confirm the validity of the rumors he was happy to spread, or even any intention of following up with the universities (that's the reporters' jobs!). But why let such minor details get in the way of spreading rumors and embarrassing yourself in a public forum?

Or why, for that matter, would you let the fact that both chambers are GOP-controlled get in the way of your warnings about "the Missouri Legislature's runaway spending." The two men decrying said fiscal irresponsibility, of course, were the House Budget Chair and the President of the Senate.  Icet, you'll recall, was criticized during the creation of the state budget for amassing too much power and controlling the whole process in a secretive manner.  But now, after HE navigated the budget through the House, we're supposed to believe that he was steamrolled by unnamed forces, and forced to spend more federal stimulus money than requested by Governor Nixon.  Kinder, for his part, is President of the Senate, and ostensibly the leader of the Missouri GOP.

I guess Kinder may have been right in assuming that reporters would check with their local colleges and universities. But this sort of reporting may not be what Kinder had in mind (from KY3):

"It's full steam ahead for us," [Missouri State University Chief of Staff Paul] Kincaid said. "We think it's a great idea. We understand that it's one-time money. But we think we may have some ways to phase it in and make it work beyond the first year," he explained. "We're planning to stretch it out maybe to 2 years."

Asked if the university felt pressured to accept the one-time funding, Kincaid responded, "absolutely not." "We felt this was a great idea from the beginning," he said.

And to make things even more absurd, Kinder told reporters on the call that "his interest in Caring for Missourians was sparked"  by a Daily Dunklin Democrat article published June 7,  three weeks after the budget was finalized. I suppose such an admission from the Lieutenant Governor supports the theory that he was completely unaware of what was going on in the state budget -- but that's an even more horrifying scenario, no?

Calling a press conference for the express purpose of spreading "rumors" and criticizing the state legislature (controlled by your own party) for runaway spending. Truly amazing stuff.