Free Ride is a Moving Violation

Team Blunt is circling the wagons over the illegal contribution for appointment scandal involving Mike Kehoe, Blunt’s recent appointee to the powerful Missouri Highway Commission.

On Friday, the Democratic Party filed an ethics charge against Blunt over the illegal contribution.  At that time, Blunt’s government spokesman, Spence “Deny and Ask Questions Later” Jackson, elegantly said in a formal statement that “the Democrats will lose this stupid complaint.”  But that was before Republican State Senator John Cauthorn told the Hannibal Courier-Post that the appointment of Kehoe was a “political payback” by Blunt.

And now, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Blunt will repay Kehoe “$7,000 to $8,000” for the use of the tour bus.  Blunt political spokesman John Hancock says that the only reason Blunt hadn’t previously paid the bus “lease” was because he hadn’t yet received an "invoice" for it.

The press needs to look behind these staffer diversions and ask Blunt and Kehoe directly some hard questions:

• If Blunt was waiting for the tour bus invoice, why did he close the books on his candidate committee by formally terminating its existence with the Missouri Ethics Commission on April 13th, 2005--- only one day before appointing Kehoe to the powerful Highway Commission?

• When Blunt filed his campaign’s termination report on April 13th, why did he personally “certify that this report… is complete, true and accurate”?

• On Friday, Blunt “un-terminated” his committee and filed an amended report detailing an expenditure of $1 for the tour bus; on Monday Hancock said the bus really cost $7,000-$8,000.  How many hand-wringing weekend conference calls did it take to come up with that number?  Did Blunt participate in these calls?  Did Appointee Kehoe?  What does Kehoe charge "walk-in" renters for a tour bus, "leadership, vision, change" bus wrap and a driver?

• Why did Blunt certify that his Friday amended report was “complete, true and accurate” when on Monday his spokesman admitted it wasn’t?

• Why didn’t Kehoe speak up about the alleged pending invoice when he was appointed to the Commission?  Was it because this was really an illegal contribution?  I guess we will have to wait until his Senate confirmation hearing to hear from Kehoe.  Or not.  For the first time in Missouri history, a gubernatorial appointee may actually take the 5th Amendment at a confirmation hearing.

• Why did Hancock misstate the law and tell the Post-Dispatch that you “can’t report an expenses until you receive an invoice?”  Missouri law mandates that a candidate committee report include “the full name and mailing address of each person to whom an expenditure of money or any other thing of value in the amount of more than one hundred dollars has been made, contracted for or incurred, together with the date, amount and purpose of each expenditure.”   130.041(4)(d) RSMo.  The Ethics Commission has called it a “subterfuge of the law” not to report contracts and incurred expenditures.  Formal Opinion 95-05-124-17. 

So Spence Jackson, Bus Baby's spokesman, said the Democratic Party was in a "desperate search for contrived issues and, of course, will lose this stupid complaint."   Well, the only thing contrived is the last minute amended ethics commission filing by Bus Baby Blunt on Friday, belatedly adding this $1 expense, and all the contrived excuses by Mr. Hubris Hancock for the day late and a dollar short change following the appointment the day before of Mike Kehoe to the Transportation Commission.   These excuses remind me of those made by the blundering Blunt team for getting the gov’s offices remodeled, installing panic buttons in the securely patrolled mansion, and the “emergency” repair of the ceiling in a family member’s bedroom at the mansion.  What violations of law are those excuses trying to cover?  If none, the Blunt team sure seems to be quick to contrive after-the-fact excuses for their actions rather than making straightforward explanations and descriptions of their decisions.  There certainly is a pattern in that behavior.  Are the Blunt team's values contrived?

What happens when a Governor does the wrong thing for the wrong reason? 

Even your friends desert you.  The Hannibal Courier-Post reports today that Republican Senator John Cauthorn believes Kehoe's appointment by Blunt was ”political payback... for the individual that wants to be on the highway commission."   The net result is no representation on the Highway Commission for anyone north of the Missouri River. 

How sad for the people of north Missouri that Blunt sold their opportunity for safer roads in exchange for an illegal campaign contribution.

For their sake, let's hope Senator Cauthorn follows through on his implicit threat to filibuster the Kehoe appointment on the Senate floor. 

 

From the Jefferson City News-Tribune, an actual photo of Missouri Governor Matt "Bus Boy" Blunt accepting the illegal campaign contribution.

Law Enforcement Note: Blue satin is a favorite fabric of organized crime families.