Sinquefield Lobbyist Moves to Mayer's Official Staff
There's a new addition to the staff for Senate President Pro Tem Rob Mayer: Mark Tucker, the Majority Caucus' new Policy Director. In Mayer's press release announcing his leadership team, Tucker is blandly described as someone who "comes from the private sector." What the press release doesn't say is that he was a register lobbyist until last week. For whom? Two firms with direct ties to Rex Sinquefield, who just happens to have a few wish list items in the hopper for the upcoming session.
Tucker first joined the Sinquefield team of lobbyists in 2007, and lobbied directly for Sinquefield though July 2010. When he officially ended his lobbying on Thursday, December 30, his three clients were Sinquefield's Pelopidas, LLC, the lobby shop of Travis Brown (another Sinquefield lobbyist), and The Avery Group, LLC.
Tucker was also the treasurer for a Sinquefield PAC created last year called "Progress for the Saint Louis Region." That PAC existed for almost two months to move $100,000 from Sinquefield to former Rep. Ted Hoskins (D-Berkeley), Sen. Joe Keaveny (D-St. Louis) and former Rep. Don Calloway (D-St. Louis) -- each received $30k -- and to the Rice Strategy Corp in St. Louis ($10k).
