Amy Blunt

On Tuesday afternoon, a judge rebuked the Blunt Administration's Department of Natural Resources, stopping the department and its attorneys from intervening in the ongoing case regarding the collapse of the Taum Sauk reservoir in late 2005.  The court ruled that Attorney General Jay Nixon properly represents the state of Missouri in the matter, despite the Department's earlier hiring of Lathrop & Gage to intervene on the state's behalf in the case.  

So just how much of the state's money did the Department of Natural Resources spend to give what amounted to a no-bid contract to Lathtrop & Gage --a firm that hired first-sister Amy Blunt just a couple months prior to its retention by the DNR?

The Washington Post yesterday had another look behind the curtain at the increasingly politicized Department of Justice – with regard to the round of firings of US Attorneys who were investigating Republican officeholders, including Bud Cummins who led the investigation on Governor Blunt’s fee office schemes.

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.

Last week, GOP House Speaker Rod Jetton co-sponsored legislation that would end dedicated state funding for Early Childhood Care and Education.  The bill would end over $36 million in annual funding for Missouri's Children and redirect it to veterans related capital improvement projects.

The bill is apparently the handy work of a task force appointed by Matt Blunt and Chaired by  Peter Kinder.  According to recently released Missouri Veterans Commission minutes, ending  Early Childhood funding is apparently recommendation #11 of the Blunt-Kinder task force.

Inexplicably, Blunt failed to mention the end of the Early Childhood funding at a recent Child Advocacy Rally at the Capitol.

The greed of the Blunts has become so shocking and brazen that no one seems to even notice anymore.  The latest news is that they will all profit off the AmerenUE fiasco.  We all know that Andy Blunt is a registered lobbyist for AmerenUE.  But apparently the main stream media has forgotten that about 60 days ago, Amy Blunt went to work for the GOP's favorite law firm, Lathrop & Gage (they're the ones that set up the license fee office LLC's). 

Here's a great one from the KC Star.  Since good old Doyle Childers believes Atty General Nixon is not to be trusted, he's found a new bunch of lawyers to stand up for Missouri in its dealings with Ameren over the Taum Sauk disaster.  Thank heavens we have devoted public servants like Doyle watching out for us all. 

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/15857081.htm

Until a month ago, the Friedman Foundation was a client of Andy Blunt's. Click below to watch Andy's client advocate for the legalization of drugs.

Do you suppose Lathrop & Gage is getting ready to change their name and become a wholly-owned Blunt subsidiary?

Seems unlikely. But why do we ask?

Normally, calls from Lathrop & Gage from the main number of the firm, the number 816-292-2000 shows up on the caller ID, as does the firm name, "Lathrop & Gage."

But today, the firm name that came up? "Blunt, Amy R Attorney." And the call wasn't from Amy.

As we reported earlier this week, Amy Blunt is expected to move from Blackwell Sander to Lathrop & Gage. We can only assume that phone company made an error during the transition.

Here's some nice work by the PR wizards at AmerenUE.

They want St. Louis residents to know that they didn't charge you for power usage during the week that your electricity was off.

And, oh by the way, we leaked some nuclear waste at our Callaway Plant, but it was the good kind, not the kind that will make you sick.

From KMOV-TV:

She hasn't yet shown up on their attorney listing yet, but sources tell us you can look for Amy to reappear at the Blunt/Graves favorite law firm of Lathrop & Gage.

Yesterday, AmerenUE announced its intention to seek massive rate increases from the Missouri Public Service Commission. Ameren proposed average annual increases of 17.7%.

We need to let Governor Blunt know that we'll be watching as this rate case goes forward. Click here to sign an open letter regarding this proposed rate increase.

As you know, Andy Blunt, the Governor's brother, represents Ameren, as did the Governor's sister, until just a few weeks ago.

Ameren's profits are at record levels, and their stock price has climbed nearly 20% during Governor Blunt's term.

Insiders speculate that Ameren more likely deserves a rate decrease, not a rate increase. But for that to happen, the PSC will have to be allowed to do their job.

Given the expiring terms, it appears that Governor Blunt will probably make at least one appointment to the PSC during this rate case. It's critical that the Governor appoints someone who believes that protecting the interests of consumers is important.

Governor Blunt has been known to allow Ameren to write his press releases, we can't stand for him to let them pick his PSC commissioners too.

Make your voice heard, click here to sign the open letter regarding these proposed rate increases.

Last week, Congressman Roy Blunt filed legislation that would limit the number of gasoline blends that can be sold in each region of the country.

In a statement, Blunt said that "if we create a larger market for a greater amount of gasoline, we’ll help drive prices down."  Perhaps what he should have said was, "if we increase the demand for Blunt Brand Ethanol beyond Missouri, it will drive more money into my family's pocket."

Today's Post-Dispatch editorial is a must-read.  You have to go read the whole thing.

For those of you who don't have time to go now, think of it as a "Blunt Administration Corruption Greatest Hits" piece.

When Governor Blunt's Appointments Director, James Harris, was listing who should be awarded fee offices, for the High Ridge office in Jefferson County, he handwrote that it should go to the "Indepdent Craftsmen Union (sic)," a "union" controlled by Fred Kelley of Cape Girardeau.

In Spring of 2005, when Jewell Patek and Jillian Lair signed up a new lobbying client from Cape Girardeau, a company formed by Fred Kelley of the Craftsman International Union, Patek went to great lengths to attempt to conceal who he was actually working for.

Patek's client set up an LLC and a political committee with the MO Ethics Commission with a name designed to create confusion with a unrelated Democratic PAC. In fact, Patek's client even amended the name of their PAC to make it more likely to be confused with the Democratic PAC. And when Patek registered to lobby for this group, he used the address of the Democratic PAC, not the LLC or the Political Committee that he was actually representing. Patek and Lair did not correct what appears to be an intentional effort to conceal their true client until they became the target of a front page story in the St. Louis Post Dispatch. (There's a chart below the fold to help you follow along. Click here.)  Story Continued »