Ed Martin is the perfect embodiment of the St. Louis tea party leadership: he pretends to be an "outsider" trying to "revolutionize" politics when in reality he wants nothing more than to return to the George Bush years marked by military aggression, pandering to corporate interests, and, ironically,
no reduction in our deficits whatsoever (in fact there was a huge increase). More evidence of this will be on display tonight as George W. Bush's close friends Stephan and Kimmy Brauer are hosting Ed Martin, along with fellow Republican relics from the Bush years Matt Blunt and Jim Talent, for a "cocktail reception" schmooze fest at the "main house" of the Brauers' estate. The Post-Dispatch
reports:
Of course, the support has strings attached; the event makes it easy for Carnahan's campaign to tie Martin to some of President Bush's old buddies, a liability that could come back to hurt him.
Uhh, yeah. That's because Martin is and has always been a political insider in the Republican Party.
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Ed Martin's guest Stephen Brauer spoke at the Martin Rally--it's easy to see now how Martin's had so much campaign funding. His troops are canvassing in earnest on the 'Webster side' of the 3rd Congressional District, traditionally solid Democratic turf.
ReplyDeleteMartin, via Brauer, is saddled with very strong ties to the National Republican party, particularly to Dick Cheney and tacitly to George Bush--both times. Brauer has been a long-time board member of Ameren, who in turn (and under the directorship of that company) lobbied heavily for ratepayer structures that, through complicated formulae, aren't bound to the Public Service Commission's mandates.
The Hunter Corporation, which Bauer chairs, gave several then-corporate-limited campaign contributions (via several officers' compensation packages) to John McCain's campaign. Parts of the 2010 debate topics skimmed over utility conglomerates' 'rate standardizations' that analysts explained were really veiled intentions to 'detach' Public Service Commission control of rate hikes.
Brauer's Martin's largest contributor (based on the gala-sized fund-raising events thus far and their booking arrangements) and Martin will assuredly feel bound to lean toward utilities if he's elected to Congress in November. That he'll win in the August MO primary is a foregone conclusion, and he's thought to be thus far easily outspending incumbent Russ Carnahan, D-MO.