Free Ride is a Moving Violation
With an implausible excuse worthy of a shirtless drug dealer on an episode of COPS, Matt Blunt is again in trouble with the law.
According to the Associated Press, Blunt never paid for the campaign tour bus he used extensively during the last election.
And he just appointed the bus owner to the powerful State Highway Commission. The appointee claims he rented the bus to Blunt, but never got around to billing him for it. Really?
Missouri law is clear that when someone gives you something of value (a tour bus rental) and doesn't make you pay for it, it is a contribution to your campaign--- in this case, far in excess of the legal limit.
After Democrats filed an ethics charge against him, Blunt grabbed an early spring fig leaf and tried to cover himself. He filed an amended campaign finance report attempting to show he owed the appointee money. But without time to get together with his hacks and the appointee to make up a full story, all he could muster was a lame story. His new report says he owes his appointee… at least $1.Â
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Blunt and Kehoe: Stop the Diversions
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.â€Â 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:
Pattern of Contrivances?
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?
Selling Out Highway Safety in North Missouri
What happens when a Governor does the wrong thing for the wrong reason?Â
Even your friends desert you. The Hannibal Courier-Post reports today that Republican Senator John Cauthorn believes Kehoe's appointment by Blunt was â€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.Â
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.Â
Â
Zapruder 2004
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.
Bus Boy sings "on the Road Again"
With apologies to Willie Nelson:
On the road again
Just can't wait to get on the bus again
The life I love is takin' kickbacks from my friends
And I can't wait to get on the bus again
On the road again
Kehoe drives because he thinks I'm gonna win
Seein' towns that IÂ will never see again,
And I can't wait to get on the bus again.
On the road again
Like a band of nazis we roll down the highway
We're the best of friends
Insisting that the world be run in our way
And my dad's way
Is on the bus again
Just can't wait to get on the road again
The life I love is takin kickbacks from my friends
And I can't wait to get on the bus again