Ratepayers Beware!

Missouri ratepayers should hold onto their wallets.  There's another Blunt lobbying on behalf of energy giant Ameren UE.  It seems that Governor Blunt's sister, Amy, has recently signed them on as a lobbying client.

Fired Up! readers are already well aware that Gov. Blunt's brother, Andy, also represents Ameren UE, and helped push through legislation this session that will permit Ameren to hike consumer rates without PSC oversight.

Gov. Blunt also fired John Coffman, Missouri's Public Counsel, a position designed by statute to be a consumer advocate on utility matters.

Here's an excerpt from a story in the DC Examiner:

In Jefferson City, Mo., Republican Gov. Matt Blunt's sister recently "registered as a legislative lobbyist," according to The Associated Press. She has been with the Kansas City law firm Blackwell Sanders Peper Martin since last year.

Amy Blunt registered earlier this year with the U.S. Senate to lobby for two of the firm's Missouri-based clients, energy company Ameren Services and Intellistrobe Safety Systems, a company that created a "portable traffic signal," according to registration documents.

Lobbying is nothing new for the Blunt family. Amy and Matt's brother, Andy, has several clients, including Philip Morris USA. And their father, Roy, who is the third-ranking Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives, married another Philip Morris lobbyist, Abigail Perlman, in 2003.