GOP Infighting

All week, Sarah Steelman and Kenny "Fred Thompson" Hulshof have been engaged in a pitched battle for the GOP gubernatorial nomination.

What will the winner get for their trouble?

The right to be trounced by Jay Nixon.

A new Survey USA poll has Nixon beating Steelman by 25 points and Hushof by 24.

Moral of the story: Be very careful what you wish for.  Story Continued »

It's now three weeks since we learned that Spence Jackson, former media mouthpiece and stalwart defender of Matt Blunt, was joining the Sarah Steelman campaign as its spokesperson (We haven't checked, but presumably Jackson is actually being paid by the campaign for performing those duties, rather than by the Department of Economic Development or the Treasurer's office).  Shockingly, that entire three weeks has passed without Jackson's having yet made a single embarrassing and inappropriate outburst to the media or comparing political opponents to a mass murderer of women and children.  

The law of averages tells us that's not gonna last forever.   

What'll it be that puts Jackson over the top and precipitates a return of The Spaz to the statewide scene?  Will it be...­

So here's the question of the week: if Matt Blunt was willing to endorse one of the Republican candidates in the GOP gubernatorial primary, would either of them actually want him to?  Is the stamp of approval of the Least Popular Governor in the United States something that Kenny Hulshof or Sarah Steelman believes would be an asset to his or her campaign?

As we wrote last week:

Blunt was, after all, at a robust 56% disapproval rating among Missouri voters back in the middle of April.   And that was before Blunt and his top aides were fingered as having directly ordered the destruction of electronic backup tapes --a story which cannot have helped his numbers.

That's in addition to the fact that the state's economy has gotten very, very soft under Blunt's watch, with jobless numbers climbing and revenue estimates appearing as though they'll fail to reach the levels planned for by Blunt in upcoming budget years.  Accompanying those sad circumstances is the realization that Blunt's chief legislative accomplishment, the sale of MOHELA's assets, has left the loan agency teetering on the brink of insolvency and forced to scale back its educational mission. 

After a week of pitched GOP in-fighting, an issue finally came along that was so compelling, it moved former intra-party combatants to beat their political swords into plowshares and leave small-village thinking behind.

That unifier?

From the Post-Dispatch, without additional comment:

We've written before about the candidacy of Republican Mike Lair for the 7th House District and how his campaign is largely financed by Blunt administration fee agents installed by son-in-law James Harris.

Harris, who served as the Blunt administration's appointment secretary and now counts the gubernatorial campaign of Sarah Steelman among his clients, looks to be sharpening his talons on Mike Lair's opponent in preparation for Kenny Hulshof.  

Tough day for GOP unity in Jefferson City

The Kansas City Star  is reporting that GOP House Speaker Rod Jetton is facing a coup attempt by fellow Republicans.

And the Associated Press is reporting that Sarah Steelman is calling GOP Senators cowards for limiting her authority as Treasurer.

Missing in action was Kenny "Fred Thompson" Hulshof.  According to GOP sources, Kenny was taking his daily nap during the GOP-on-GOP crime spree.  Story Continued »

As you all know, yesterday Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama appeared in Cape Girardeau, MO to talk about the economy.

A spokesperson for the Missouri GOP was trying to spin that everything was just fine in Southeast Missouri and sent around this pic as proof.

Unsurprisingly, KC Star reporter Dave Helling picked right up on the GOP spin and quickly put up this smarty pants post trying to suggest that the Obama campaign was foolish to be appearing in Southeast Missouri because unemployment is "so low" in Cape Girardeau County.

In what is perhaps the best use of political cash ever embarked upon by the Missouri Republican Party, campaign finance and other documents show that the MOGOP has, for the last nine months, been paying an internet consultant who runs a political blog that regularly attacks GOP gubernatorial candidates and other elected officials.

According to reports filed with the Missouri Ethics Commission, the Missouri Republican State Committee paid $5,000 on August 31, 2007 to a committee called Missouri Spectrum.  Missouri Spectrum quickly turned around in September of 2007 and made a payment of $2,500 to an outfit called NLB Enterprises. 

NLB Enterprises is, according to its own website, a political communications consulting firm headed by a man named Christopher Arps.  NLB Enterprises LLC was registered on October 8, 2007 with the office of the Secretary of State, and lists Christopher Arps as one of the LLC's organizers on its state filings. 

Interestingly, while it doesn't mention the $14,000 judgment entered against him after a suit by the Ethics Commission, Arps' profile on the site does list a couple of the websites for which he claims responsibility.  One is the MO Spectrum website.  From his Facebook bio:

Does John McCain approve of these tactics employed by Kenny Hulshof's minions at the Missouri GOP, and why hasn't the media asked that question?

Who knew?  Apparently, The Source is still an active blog.  I long ago stopped checking it, but a friend of mine pointed out that Jeff Roe wrote another of his screeds attacking me today.

I normally wouldn't bother to comment, as I treasure Jeff's disdain for me as a testament to my good character.

However, his comments today are worthy of a response.  In his most recent post, he refers to "Roy Temple and his henchmen." 

That is way out of line.  Henchmen?  Really?

That is profoundly unfair. 

So we asked this morning for Freddy Hulshof and Sarah Steelman to weigh in on Matt Blunt's alleged involvement in ordering the destruction of computer backup tapes.  Sarah courageously refused to answer the question:

Meanwhile, at a news conference to announce her intention to make a variety of tax cuts if she’s elected governor, state Treasurer Sarah Steelman said it would be inappropriate for her to comment on the lawsuit.

It would be "inappropriate" for her to comment, she says.  More inappropriate, even, than the Governor and his top aides leaning on subordinate employees to break the law and destroy public records?  This seems a strange conception of propriety.  

I wonder if the bleached bones of Joe McCarthy will preside over these MOGOP loyalty tribunals being held today in Jefferson City?

According to an email from some Missouri supporters of Ron Paul, sent late Sunday night, the state Republican Party has scheduled a special “credentials meeting” for 10 a.m. Monday at the  Blue Armory in Jefferson City.

At the meeting, according to the email, about 300 of the 1,900 elected delegates to the state GOP convention May 30-June 1 must disprove allegations that — presumably — accuse the targeted delegates of not being bona fide Republicans and/or not committed to supporting John McCain for president.

Reason number 2,829 to be glad you're not a Republican.

Jo Mannies reports today that the Steelman for Governor campaign has signed up Spence Jackson to serve as campaign spokesman.  Now Steelman just needs to figure out what slot on the Treasurer's Office payroll Jackson will fill.

Some say Steelman's first choice was former MOGOP communications director Paul Sloca, but Sloca decamped to the high-profile Congressional campaign of Blaine Luetkemeyer before she could snatch him up.