Monday, October 28, 2013

Martin Tax Lien?

Each week the Business Journals list various public records they deem as “leads.”  This includes lawsuits filed, real transactions, corporate formations, for example.  It also lists tax liens.  A few weeks ago it listed Ed Martin with a tax lien.  The address of the lien corresponded to the Ed Martin who is the chair of the Missouri Republican Party. 

I put this nugget under my “bits” one day.  But I recently received this from Matt Willis, Director of Communications for MRP:

I wanted to make sure you knew about an update on Chairman Martin.

Last week it was reported that the Chairman's law office had a tax lien against him, for "Sales and Use." The Chairman asked MODOR to look into this matter and after a review completed Friday, they found no record of any tax owed.

I looked it up on Casenet (Case# 1322-MC03417), and the record is there.  The Department of Revenue won a judgment against Martin for $12,934.09 on 7/11/2013. Furthermore, it says that “satisfaction not on file.”

So we have a mystery.  Or it is, as Willis, writes “weird.”  His reply to the Casenet record:

DOR informed Ed on Friday that they did not have a record for him owing anything. Weird really considering he was never served on this notice.

KC Business Journal Against Research Tax

Meanwhile on the other coast, the Kansas City Business Journal’s editorial Friday criticized next week’s research tax proposal as too vague and unaccountable.

Pull Quote: “[We have] pointed out that the area’s big need – if it is to optimize the economic benefit of the life sciences – is not another translational research lab, but investors… Even voters in favor of the establishment of a Jackson County Institute for Translational Medicine owe it to themselves to give more than a cursory review to the 20-year investment proposal.  After engaging in this process as an editorial board, we believe the present tax proposal suffers from a lack of detail, insufficient public discussion and too little accountability to taxpayers.”

Does Nixon’s Education Pledge Have Holes?

Rudi Keller in the Columbia Daily Tribune reports on Governor Jay Nixon’s pledge to education leaders to fully fund the foundation formula.  Read it here.

Pull Quote: “For the first time since he took office in 2009, Nixon said, he could promise to ask lawmakers for enough to fully support the Foundation Formula, the state's basic aid program for public schools. To do so this year would cost $600 million, said Ron Lankford, deputy commissioner of education. Nixon said he intends to reach the goal over three years. But he warned additional funding could be jeopardized by new efforts to cut taxes.”

During the previous budget downturns, the Nixon administration cut a number of programs which aid education but fall outside the foundation formula.  For school board and superintendents wrestling budgets, those monies can be equally essential.

As Keller points out, “School transportation funding this year is $99.7 million, $68 million less than when Nixon took office. The $37.5 million Career Ladder program was eliminated, and support for the Parents as Teachers program is $21 million below fiscal 2009 levels.”

So the question is whether those programs will be returned to previous levels as well.

Jailed By Mistake

Sunday front-page Post-Dispatch reports on a St. Louis problem of putting the wrong person in jail!  Read it here. 

Pull Quote: The Post-Dispatch identified 100 people arrested in error over the past seven years.  Collectively they spent over 2,000 days in jail – an average of about three weeks each… Almost all the mistakes could have been prevented – or at least fixed immediately – had authorities paid attention to what fingerprints tried to tell them from the start.”

eMailbag: Some GOP Not Enamored With New Fiscal Conservatives

Interesting piece in the eMailbag Friday (Pro-Jason Smith cheer).  Here is what that endorser of Jason Smith is missing.  After the most recent debacle in Washington DC the last couple of months (the government shut down and playing with the debt ceiling) Republicans, as witnessed by the National Chamber of Commerce, are splitting from the “new generation of fiscal conservatives.”

$5K+Contributions

Missourians for Equal Credit Opportunity - $395,000 from Missourians for Responsible Government.

House Republican Campaign Committee Inc - $5,005 from Missourians For Tim Jones.

Committee for Research Treatments and Cures - $20,000 from St. Lukes Foundation.

Committee for Research Treatments and Cures - $100,000 from The Civic Council of Greater Kansas City.

Jackson County Democratic Coalition - $15,000 from Committee for Research Treatments and Cures.

Integrity In Law Enforcement - $6000 from Jackson County Democratic Coalition.

Birthdays

Happy birthday to Katie Steele Danner.