Missouri Democratic Party Declares Victory While Losing All Control Over Lawmaking Process

The Missouri Democratic Party is out with a statement today cheering how successful they were in the elections:

The Missouri Democratic Party rose to the challenge in the 2012 election cycle, with victory in five of six statewide races on the ballot. This electoral success shows the Party is alive and well, even when Republicans outnumbered Democrats at the polls and Mitt Romney carried the state.

Don't get me wrong; Missouri Democrats did win important contests.  They prevented Rex Sinquefield from buying the Secretary of State's office.  They put themselves in good position for the next gubernatorial contest.  They soundly thumped Ed Martin. And thank the holy heavens Claire McCaskill beat Todd Akin!

But the real problem is that Republicans won seats in the Missouri House of Representatives, and now have a veto-proof majority in both the house and senate.  So even though we have a Democratic governor, Republicans can basically pass any law they want, provided they can get their caucus to support it.  

And this flop is after a disastrous 2010 election where Democrats lost seats as well.  I just don't understand how Missouri Democrats can be so bad at losing house and senate elections in a state where Democrats can win 5 out of 6 statewide races.  Yes I realize, as the Post-Dispatch editorial board pointed out,  that the redistricting process is less-than-ideal.  But even so, it makes absolutely no sense that Republicans would control 67% of the House Seats and 70% of the Senate seats in a state where Obama wins 44% of the vote.  

Who is in charge of recruiting and training good house and senate candidates, if not the Missouri Democratic Party?  Is there any indication that they're even paying attention to this part of the political process?  Their statement of "victory" doesn't indicate that they are.  If Democrats don't want  the state completely in control of birthers like House Speaker Tim Jones, they need to start figuring out how to compete at the House and Senate level.

Update: Jeff Mazur weighs in on Twitter:

So to clarify, based on Jeff's point, the legal institution known as the Missouri Democratic Party shouldn't be blamed for the disastrous situation in the Missouri legislature, as that's not really their responsibility.  However, there's clearly disfunction in the leadership of the Missouri Democrats, which has now led to Republicans having virtually unchecked power.

Momentum!

Question: if you are an organization created by a multimillionaire for the sole purpose of doing that multimillionaire's bidding, does it really count as "momentum" when that guy gives you more money? Apparently it does according the the Let Voters Decide "coalition", who received a donation from Rex Sinquefield, the only guy in the state who actually believes it'd be a good idea to gut state government and shift the tax burden to the poor and middle class by eliminating income tax and shifting exclusively to a sales tax. Check out this hilarious headline from the "coalition" referring to Rex's new donations of $1.2 million dollars:


In light of this genius idea, I've decided to start off every day with some extra "momentum" by giving myself $20. Look out world! I've got momentum!

Today In Interesting Twitter Exchanges

I had an Twitter exchange just now after casually mentioning that I was glad that newspaper editorial boards apparently can't be bought off quite as easily in Missouri as politicians. My comment was in relation to the fact that multimillionaire-warrior-for-the-1% Rex Sinquefield is throwing around boatloads of cash trying to get people to pretend that they really really like his disastrous Everything Tax that would bankrupt the state and many municipalities in addition to shifting the current tax burden away from the wealthy and onto the backs of the poor and middle class.

Anyway, here's how it went. Me:

State Representative Mark Parkinson (whom I don't think I've ever interacted with before):

Me:

State Representative Mark Parkinson:


Goodness, this guy is sensitive. To be honest, with the unlimited campaign contributions, frequent wining and dining by sketchy lobbyists, and the fact that many Missouri Republicans' legislation was actuallly written by corporations, I just kinda assumed that there wasn't even any reason for them to take illegal bribes. But now that Representative Parkinson mentions it, I guess the current legislature is both corrupt and incompetent enough it wouldn't surprise me one bit if they did.

Parkinson does, by the way, receive donations from Rex (not that there's anything illegal with that).

Great Man of History Brian Nieves

Apparently, some people are criticizing State Senator Brian Nieves because he allegedly bullied several of his constituents and then was caught on video calling one of his constituents "sub-human" over the radio and announcing the constituent's home address. Don't worry though, Nieves informs us that this is just the typical reaction of lesser lifeforms when they come in contact with a Great Man of History:



Now you may think that makes Nieves sound pretty obnoxious, but that just proves even more how Great he is.

Working Families in St. Louis Join Statewide Week of Action

Press Release:

Working men and women bring Forget Me Nots and a message: Start Standing Up for the Middle Class

On Monday, June 13 at 11 am, Workers, community members and religious leaders will speak out at a press conference in St. Louis as part of a statewide week of action to hold elected officials accountable for choosing the interests of CEOs ahead of middle class Missourians. Although both Republicans and Democrats stood up against Wisconsin-style attacks, including SB202, Representatives Fuhr and Haefner took the side of CEOs and corporate special interests against their own constituents.

“Paycheck deception, right to work for less and efforts to cut the minimum wage attack people like me that are just trying to provide for our families.” said retail worker Beth Dysart. “While I’m relieved that these bills didn’t pass last session, we need to make sure our representatives don’t forget us next year.”

Workers like teachers, firefighters and nurses are essential to the well-being of our communities, and it’s time for our leaders to come together to stop the power struggles and create good jobs. For this week of action, workers, community supporters and faith leaders will call upon their elected leaders to quit playing political games with the lives of working and middle class families, reminding politicians like Representatives Fuhr and Haefner to choose their own constituents over the CEOs that helped to create our economic troubles.

From St. Louis to Kansas City, St. Joseph to Springfield, and at the Capitol, workers will send a strong message to their elected officials: “WE are the people of Missouri and it’s time for politicians in our state to start standing up for the middle class.”

Click here for more info.

Progress and Missouri, Together At Last

I'm very excited about a new organization that I think will change the face of politics in Missouri: Progress Missouri. They describe themselves as follows:

Progress Missouri is a multi-issue progressive advocacy organization that combines cutting edge online organizing and communications with rapid and hard-hitting earned media strategies. Year round, Progress Missouri will work to engage citizens from across the state around issues of immediate state or local concern.

The executive director of the group is Sean Soendker Nicholson, who did a fantastic job at Fired Up Missouri (named the best political blog in Missouri by the Riverfront Times). And they already are perfectly on message in my opinion, asking people to get involved by making sure that Republicans don't dismantle Medicare.

Since I've been here, Missouri politics has always seemed to lack a cohesive and organized progressive voice, held back by internal politics, powerful regressive forces, and a lack of a strategic plan. I think Sean has shown a great ability to be a uniter around the issues that matter to progressives. I hope you check out the group, sign up for their action alerts, and join them on facebook.

VIDEO: Nieves Tells Co-Host To Falsely Claim Critical Letters Were From Liberal Blogs

During an unhinged facebook rant where he called one of his constituents "sub-human" approximately one week after an unhinged radio rant where he called one of his constituents "sub-human," and "less than a man," State Senator Brian Nieves announced that he'd have a lot to say about the scandal on his radio show that's co-hosted by Michelle Moore on Thursdays. Moore livestreams the program, which allows comments to be picked up when the radio is not on air. As you might imagine, Nieves says some pretty interesting things.

Prior to yesterday's show, Nieves can be seen coaching Moore to claim that three letters about him acting like a schoolyard bully were from "liberal blogs." In fact, each of the three letters about Nieves' bullying was printed in the Missourian, the newspaper for Washington, Missouri. Nieves tells his co-host that, "from a strategy standpoint," he doesn't want people to know about the letters in the Missourian and that "there are a lot of old ladies" who "want him to be nice all the time."

Watch here:

Missouri Republicans Waste $40,000 in Taxpayer Funds

Amidst the redistricting kerfluffle plaguing Missouri Republicans, where they've been bickering over which congressional boundaries would best protect their cronies while disenfranchising half the state's population, Post-Dispatch reporter Rebecca Berg made this interesting observation:

On Monday and Thursday, the House met for only a technical session, during which no floor debate takes place. The body then met for an unorthodox Friday session to take a quick vote on a revised redistricting map.

The total cost to taxpayers: nearly $40,000 for paying legislators' expenses for three days in which little public work was being done.

But remember, they really really really care about taxpayer money in the bottom of their hearts.

St. Louis Tea Party: Steve Tilley Sides With "Hardest of Hard Left"

Other than Dana Loesch and Jim Hoft, the St. Louis Tea party appears to be largely politically irrelevant nowadays. However, they sure do provide some quality entertainment.

After the St. Louis Tea Party suggested a few weeks ago that House Republican Speaker Steve Tilley is secretly doing the bidding of the New Black Panther Party by supporting local control of the St. Louis Police Department, Bill Hennessy is now suggesting that Tilley is "siding with the hardest of the hard left" because Tilley is listed as a cosponsor of a bill that would allow presidential elections to be decided by the national popular vote. In a post titled Steve Tilley vs The Constitution, Hennessy writes the following:

Make no mistake: on this issue, Tilley sides with the hardest of the hard left.

He also wrote that

Team Tilley strikes out again.

In a previous post titled, Steve Tilley vs Fiscal Responsibility, Hennessy said this:

Four men risked their political lives to help solve the problem of our lifetimes, but they forgot to massage Steve Tilley’s monstrous ego...

According to the News-Leader.com:

And Tilley said the House won’t put too much weight on what he believes the Senate wants him to do.

“I’m not going to be held hostage by a few people,” he said.

Of course not. Not unless the hostage takers are billionaires.

That last quote was apparently a reference to Tilley's substantial donations from millionaire Rex Sinquefield.

Though it's fun to read, there's really not much reason for Tilley to care about these threats. Mike Flynn of Big Government threatened to "go nuclear" on Tilley a few weeks ago if Tilley didn't "massage the tea party's monstrous ego" (my words). Tilley ignored him, and lost nothing by doing so.