Incompetence or Disregard? Reports Show Treasurer Steelman Doesn't Understand Numerical Limits

It is perhaps a minor thing in terms of dollars but it may nevertheless be indicative of a larger problem for Sarah Steelman's gubernatorial campaign.  Steelman, who has served almost a complete term as State Treasurer, is apparently unable or unwilling to follow clearly delineated numerical dollar amount limits that Missouri law imposes on her campaign. 

The Treasurer should, at minimum, be able to tell if one number is larger than another number, no?  Judging by reports of contributions to Steelman, such skill may not be a hard and fast job requirement.

Consider a couple of contributions accepted by the Steelman for Governor campaign during the first quarter of 2008.  In one instance, Steelman accepted a contribution from the 29th Legislative District Republican Committee in the amount of $13,500.  She also accepted a $13,500 contribution from the 5th Judicial Circuit Republican Committee.  So what's the problem, you may be asking?

Steelman's problem is that Missouri's campaign finance law explicitly caps the amount that a statewide candidate can accept from a Party committee (like the 29th District and 5th Judicial Circuit GOP committees) at $13,450.  In other words, Steelman has accepted checks from two party committees in excess of the legal limits.

As I mentioned at the top, $100 is certainly no huge deal.  What is a big deal is that the woman who wants to be Governor (and whose sole current job is to make sure numbers balance out) is either too incompetent or too disinterested to comport with easily understandable campaign finance laws. 

And this is not the first sign of incompetence.  We probably all remember Steelman's bogus testimony in which she touted wildly implausible numbers regarding the costs to the state of illegal immigrants.  If there's any silver lining for Sarah, it may be that her incompetence is offset in her primary contest by her opponent Kenny Hulshof's lackadaisical approach to his campaign and the corresponding Fred Thompson-esque start to which he's gotten off.

Quite a choice faced by GOP primary voters this year.