Freddy the Fondler

Kurt Schaefer, a former Blunt administration lawyer, is taking a close look at a bound-to-fail challenge to Democratic Senator Chuck Graham. 

As the filing deadline approaches, women --and men who oppose sexual harassment, for that matter-- residing in the 19th Senate District might look back through the clips for a taste of how Schaefer feels about certain policy issues.  How about his enlightened take on employment law...

Matt Blunt released today the 111 questions he is asking Supreme Court nominees.

If you had expected him to have learned something during his tortured two and a half years of interviewing people, you would be... wrong.

What does New York have in common with Missouri?  Many would say that there isn't much, but in a story today in the NY Times, it is apparent that both have Governors' offices that have abused the State's Police Offices for political gain.  However, that's where the similarities end, because all we have to do is look to how the New York Governor handles these revelations and how Matt Blunt does.

Its no secret that Matt Blunt abuses his authority with the Highway Patrol.  Last week the KC Star had an amazingly detailed story of how the Governor and his cronies forced the Highway Patrol to enter the world of partisan politics and attack Jay Nixon.  Story Continued »

You might think that --after having heaped upon her unwanted sexual advances, a retaliatory firing, and an insensitive and illegal investigation of her claims by the Highway Patrol-- Missouri Republicans were done trying to victimize Heather Elder, the woman who was sexually harassed by former Agriculture Director Fred Ferrell.

Of course, you would be dead wrong. ­ No matter how low our state's GOP powerbrokers get, they can always go one step lower.  

Sources tell Fired Up! Missouri that Heather Elder was recently fired, without cause, from a job as a legislative secretary to a Republican House member on orders of GOP House Counsel Don LoGrasso. 

This poem is titled "The one word Republican answer for everything"

When Republicans internally fight,
And the Governor gets filled with fright; Ameren

When people don’t want you selling off student loans,
And even Republican opposition has grown; Ameren

When Right to Life calls you a fake,
And there are awful polling numbers your can’t shake; Ameren

When your Ag Director is a dirty old man,
 Story Continued »

I wonder if he'll be able to get through the seminar with a straight face? On April 20th, Kurt Schaefer --who must have either absolutely zero self-awareness or a very well-developed sense of irony-- will teach a Continuing Legal Education unit on "Communication, Management Skills & Staff Issues" for the Missouri Bar Association. From the agenda:

3:10-4:00 General Counsel Leadership: Communication, Management Skills & Staff Issues
Missouri Department of Natural Resources, Kurt U. Schaefer, General Counsel, Jefferson City ...

Don’t miss this opportunity to network with some of Missouri’s top legal officers. They will share their knowledge on corporate culture, the function of a general counsel, communication and management issues, work and life balance for the general counsel, conflicts of interest, multi-jurisdictional practice, and internal invest-igations.

 Story Continued »

It's "told you so" time. Even though it was more than a month and a half ago, it seems like just yesterday that FiredUp was reminding the Missouri Senate that it should under no circumstances approve the appointment of Jane Drummond as Director of the Department of Health and Senior Services given unresolved questions about her judgment. The most recent Post-Dispatch story from Virginia Young justifies the wariness:

Recently, the Missouri Department of Revenue began seeking the input of Missourians on the design of the state's new automobile license plates. The DOR allows three choices:

But an Associated Press story today about a license plate initiative being pursued by legislators in the state of Ohio indicates that perhaps our revenue officials are missing the boat on another whole subset of tags. The story explains...

In Jo Mannies' column today, GOP mouthpiece Paul Sloca explains

"When she (Steelman) has the full facts, she will likely understand that this was handled as well as a difficult matter of this nature could be."

Now we all know that Blunt and his pals are trying to keep Steelman out of the Governor's race, but this quote shines quite a bit of light into the Ferrell cover-up scandal. Apparantly the Governor is not willing to share all the facts about his cover-up, perhaps Sloca will be willing to enlighten us.

Ah, memories.

In an interview with MissouriNet conducted at the end of August 2006 --some three months after the Highway Patrol sent him its investigative report on Agriculture Director Fred Ferrell's sexual harassment activities-- Governor Matt Blunt personally defended Ferrell. Contrary to his current claims, Blunt sounded not at all appalled with Ferrell's history of sexual harassment. To listen to the interview again, Blunt sounded downright proud of the man:

"Fred Ferrell continues to serve as the Director of Agriculture. I think he's doing a very good job." --quotation at 0:36 into the Brent Martin interview

Washington D.C.'s Jim Talent went to Chillicothe a few weeks ago to kick off his Farm and Ranch Campaign Effort, and the tenor was no surprise. The farm and ranch team event was a canned and predictable attempt by Talent --whose adult life has been split among the big cities of St. Louis, Chicago, and Washington-- to gain credibility among the rural and farm set. Standard campaign operation.

About the visit, the Chillicothe Constitution-Tribune wrote:

U.S. Sen Jim Talent on Saturday launched his Farm and Ranch Team in Chillicothe, a coalition of supporters who want to send him back the the Senate. The event was held at the Beetsma Family Farm west of town where Ron Beetsma grows corn and soybeans.

Less foreseeable was that Talent would choose a Packwoodesque figure like Agriculture Director Fred Ferrell (in photograph above, with Talent) to chair the farm outreach efforts and share with him the Chillicothe stump. But he did, selecting Ferrell to stand side-by-side with him as he pressed the flesh with Missouri farmers. Perhaps Talent figured that Ferrell was particularly suited to flesh-pressing. Whatever the reason, the embattled department director became a part of Talent's rural campaign at the Beetsma farm kickoff.

Talent's selection of Ferrell matters, of course, by virtue of its coming on the heels of Fred's very public suspension from and reinstatement to his Ag Department post following multiple claims against him of sexual harassment. Further, Ferrell's misfeasance was the catalyst for Gov. Matt Blunt's breaking the law by using the highway patrol to investigate claims against him. The Blunt administration would later go on to cover up that investigation's findings.

This would seem to make Ferrell a curious choice as campaign buddy by an incumbent US Senator from a party which already suffers from its fair share of ethical lapses and lawlessness. Talent's grip-and-grin partnership with Ferrell requires some explanation to those of us in the anti-harassment caucus.