Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Radio Waves
Loesch Unloads on Lager
Tea Party Diva Dana Loesch attacked Sen. Brad Lager’s ties to Cerner Corporation on her radio show yesterday. Because Cerner could benefit from the passage of the federal healthcare law, Loesch suggested at Lager’s employment there was contradictory with his public stance on the legislation.
She posted her attack on the popular Tea Party website “Big Government.” See it here. In her post she says that “Lager's job with Cerner is officially titled as a ‘senior strategic analyst’ in Cerner’s Government Affairs section, though he’s been accused by some of being a lobbyist for Cerner while simultaneously serving as a State Senator.” Lager vehemently rejected the “charge” that he was lobbyist on Loesch’s show.
By the Way
Cerner’s CEO Neal Patterson is one of the hosts for a Lager fundraiser next Monday. (Other hosts include Chuck Caisley, Greg Graves, Stan Herzog, and Terry Bassham.) If Camp Kinder wants to make the Cerner connection an issue, that’ll be the next catalyst.
Reardon Piles On
A few hours later, Lager appeared on KMOX, and host Mark Reardon continued the same thread, asking about his bio and why it didn’t include Cerner. Listen to it here.
As the Reardon interview drew to a close, Lager wearily concluded that Kinder’s team had supplied the radio host with his line of questioning, a suggestion that Reardon did not dispute.
Meanwhile Rush Loves Kinder
And then in the commercial breaks… what do you hear as you’re listening to all this?... Rush Limbaugh giving a glowing endorsement to Kinder. Listen to it here.
And
From Wikipedia: “Kinder’s mother, who died on January 4, 2008, sang duets with the mother of Rush Limbaugh for 50 years; Rush Limbaugh even attended the funeral.”
Kinder’s Team on the Offense
They’re fired up now and ready to pick apart any discrepancies they’re finding to discredit Lager. One question they’re raising is his relationship with LMS Communications which they say isn’t on his personal disclosure form. The point in all this: the next month is going to be blow-for-blow in this primary. Good news for Democratic front-runner Susan Montee.
Various Bits from Different Republicans…
House Republicans – who generally prefer any Republican to a Republican state senator – cheerfully predict that the Limbaugh endorsement sealed the election for Kinder. The power of the Limbaugh brand in Republican primaries can’t be underestimated, they proclaimed.
"Don’t like the Supreme Court decision but like the politics of it…” That is, it rejuvenated the issue for Republicans.
No more committee chair announcements from Speaker-elect Tim Jones until after the elections.
Republicans assume more money (i.e. Humphreys, Sinquefield) will be flowing to Rep. Mike McGhee in Senate 21. For those who put education reform high on the list, they view Sen. David Pearce as a roadblock.
House Republicans don’t see any “trouble-makers” emerging from this crop of senate candidates. By trouble-makers, that is someone who would replace Sen. Jason Crowell as a black hole of legislation. In fact, says one southeast Missourian about the Senate 27 primary, “Cape people are just excited to have a senator that won't work against them.”
Late is New On Time?
After Politico ran a story yesterday that John Brunner was late with some tax payments, the Brunner team parried by acknowledging the error and pointing out that every one of their opponents have also been late with tax payments.
From the statement: “In 2000 and 2001, John Brunner inadvertently missed the filing deadline for the property taxes on his residence. In 2007 and 2008, late payments were made on some of the family's personal vehicles… In each instance outlined above, the oversight was immediately
corrected and all taxes, penalties, and interest were paid in full.
“However, Brunner is not the only U.S. Senate candidate to have been late on his property taxes. Sarah Steelman, Todd Akin, and — as is well-documented — Claire McCaskill have all been late on their residential property taxes, as well as their personal property taxes.
“According to the Phelps County Collector’s Office, U.S. Senate candidate Sarah Steelman was late in 2010 on paying both the real estate tax owed on her home and the personal property tax owed on her Infiniti SUV.
“Furthermore, St. Louis County records demonstrate that real estate taxes owed by Todd Akin on property owned either fully or in part by him were paid late in 2003 and 2010. Additionally, his 2004 personal property taxes on his vehicles were late as well…”
Nixon Bill Signing Time
With the July 14 deadline for Governor Jay Nixon to either veto or sign legislation, he did a fair amount of signing yesterday. AP has the story here. Most prominently, he signed the workers comp law.
Ed Ad
Ed Martin put his first ad on the web. No announcement about a buy yet. See it here. Pretty predictable given that he’s been telegraphing this message for months – Obamacare, Obamacare, Obamacare, Obamacare.
Schoeller Fundy
Looks like a big even for Rep. Shane Schoeller in Sen. Scott Rupp’s backyard… July 19 at the home of Sen. Jan Cunningham… The headliner is John Ashcroft. Also on the host committee: Sally and Bill Canfield, Dr. Kathy and John Maupin, Rachel and Travis Brown, Sharon and Rich McClure, Jerry Hunter, Nancy and John Prentis, Arlene and Jack Jackson, Jeanne and Rex Sinquefield, Joan and Kent Kehr, Kathryn and Menlo Smith Brainerd W. LaTourette, Margaret and Pat Walker, Kirk Mathews, and Becky and Aaron Willard.
Endorsements
In the 1st Congressional, Russ Carnahan announced the endorsement of the St. Louis Local 788 Chapter of the Amalgamated Transit Union.
In Senate 7, Crystal Williams announced two labor endorsements: SEIU Missouri/Kansas State Council and AFSCME Council 72.
John Brunner announced that he’d picked up Sen Brian Munzlinger’s endorsement.
Lobbyists Registrations
From the Pelopidas website:
Neal English added Creve Coeur Fire Protection District.
Robert Barrett deleted Sheet Metal Workers Local 36.
$5K+ Contributions
American Insurance Association PAC - $13,000 from American Insurance Association State Corporate PAC.
House Republican Campaign Committee - $12,500 from RightCHOICE Managed Care Inc.
Birthdays
Happy birthday to Rep. Wayne Wallingford (66) and Claudia Sands.