Tour de Missouri

History has proved that there are few things more precious (Yahoo IM is probably one) to Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder and the staff who work for him than the Tour de Missouri French-style bicycle race.  In fact, it seems that even folks who leave his office have a hard time letting go of their connection to the Tour.  

Take Jerry Dowell.  According to reports, Dowell recently took an unpaid leave of absence from Lt. Gov. Kinder's office in order to run the Congressional campaign of Blaine Luetkemeyer (who was a key cog in the Tour de Missouri via his role as director of the state's division of tourism, natch).  But in some ways it's like Dowell never left.  In fact, Dowell is still listed as the Executive Director of the Tour de Missouri on the tour's website contact page.

So is the Tour de Missouri just slow to update its website and excise Dowell's name, or is Dowell retaining the executive director title and all the inexplicable sway that apparently comes with it in MOGOP circles, even though he's on a "leave of absence" from the state? 

After all the recent coverage it's received in blogs and national publications, few of us are probably unaware of the silly ad run by a wounded and desperate Sam Graves attacking Kay Barnes for what he calls her "San Francisco style values" because of a recent event she attended on the west coast.

But does Sam Graves reject the "San Francisco style" values of his fellow GOPers?  It's a relevant question after thumbing through the Personal Financial Disclosure of one of our statewide elected Republicans who'll be running again with Sam Graves this fall. 

The financial disclosure form filed by Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder with the Missouri Ethics Commission on April 2 of this year includes one compelling entry.  On the "Lodging and Travel" portion of the disclosure, on which officials are required to report any trips paid for by third parties, Kinder cops to accepting paid travel to --Gasp!!-- San Francisco.   Story Continued »

Peter "Every Dollar Counts!" Kinder's French-style bike race keeps eating taxpayer dollars.

Kinder recently diverted job creation money to fight the Bush recession cover red-ink from his 2007 race.

Now he has line-up a no bid, sole source contract from the state for his 2008 race.

The Missouri Development Finance Board is set to meet on April 15th.

With jobs drying up, these are tough times for the state's economy. 

But the big question for Tuesday's meeting is whether Board Chair Peter Kinder will continue to insist on using the Board's limited job creation resources... paying off the debt of his 2007 French-style, novelty bike race.

And Peter "Every Dollar Count" Kinder hasn't even provided the board a detailed accounting of his race's spending, including that on GOP cronies.

Stay tuned.  Story Continued »