The AP’s David Lieb is reporting that Gov. Matt Blunt’s latest nominee to the Missouri Ethics Commission, Jefferson City attorney Michael Schmid, is withdrawing his name.

Schmid — a law partner to gubernatorial brother Andy Blunt — cited lack of support from the Missouri Democratic Party, which challenged Schmid’s status as a Democrat. Blunt had named him to a Democratic post on the bipartisan commission.

“In the past few days, it has become apparent that my nomination to the commission does not have the support of my party,” Schmid said in a letter to the governor. “I am therefore withdrawing my application for the appointment.”
 
Blunt spokeswoman Nanci Gonder told the AP that the governor had accepted Schmid’s withdrawal.

When told of Schmid’s departure, state Democratic Party spokesman Jack Cardetti said, “We plan to resubmit names to the governor early next week.”

By law, different members of the sixc-person commission hail from specified congressional districts. Three must be from each major party.

  Cardetti said that the 4th District Democratic committee had submitted two names to the governor, but the two people dropped out for various reasons. Blunt then chose Schmid.

Questions about Schmid’s party bona fides, made this week, reflect a frequent line of attack by both state parties for several years.

When Democrats Mel Carnahan and Bob Holden were governor, the state GOP often raised questions about their Republican nominees to various panels. At one point, Republican leaders demanded that the Democratic governors make their GOP picks only from candidate lists assembled by the GOP.

Apparently the state Democratic Party — which often has been accused of letting Blunt name “questionable” Democrats to posts (such as the Mizzou curators, for example) – is starting to get more militant about such matters, especially since Blunt now is a lame duck.

According to the AP, “Schmid told The Associated Press on Friday that he had conversations with several members of the Democratic Party after his nomination, but declined to identify anyone in particular….”
 
The AP said that Schmid had given $250 in campaign donations to Attorney General Jay Nixon, the Democratic candidate for governor.
 
“Schmid said he made that contribution after he already had applied for the Ethics Commission position _ partly to demonstrate his Democratic credentials, and partly because he would have been barred from making political contributions once he became a member of the Ethics Commission,” the AP reported.