Big money flows into Missouri governor’s race
The money game changed big-time in the race for Missouri governor after campaign contribution limits became a thing of the past on Aug. 28. In less than one week of unlimited donations, both Republican Kenny Hulshof and Democrat Jay Nixon started raking in donations of $100,000 or more.
Hat tip to Randy Turner of The Turner Report for being all over the donations during the Labor Day weekend.
Hulshof was the big winner the first few days, thanks to a $600,000 donation from the Republican Governor’s Association. Added to Hulshof’s other contributions, the Republican took in $1.2 million in the past few days.
The new law requires donations over $5,000 to be noted online within 48 hours.
Nixon also took in a chunk of change, $411,650, in the first few days of the new law. Nixon’s two biggest donors were law firms. Gray, Ritter and Graham of St. Louis gave $100,000 and the Hershewe Law Firm of Joplin gave $75,000.
Of note: For a story in last week’s Post-Dispatch, Hulshof campaign consultant John Hancock said that the new law will mean transparency because only candidates who were trying to hide the source of funds would continue to pass money through party committees.
Here’s what Hancock said (His quote didn’t make the paper):
“If somebody is employing that system once the new law is in effect, they’re doing it solely to hide the source of the funds,” Hancock said.
Well, guess what? Both Hulshof and Nixon used party committees on their latest reports. Nixon took money from one, the 82nd Democratic Legislative Committee; Hulshof used five: The 24th Legislative District Committee, the 24th Senatorial Committee, the Newton County Republican Central Committee, the Platte County Republican Central Committee, and the Boone County Republican Central Committee.
Hulshof also took $50,000 from a committee called the Lewis & Clark Regional Leadership Fund which held a fundraiser at the Ameristar Casino in April. Among the big donors to Lewis & Clark? Many of the committees set up by St. Louis millionaire Rex Sinquefield.
Some of Nixon’s recent big contributions:
Gray, Ritter & Graham - personal injury law firm, St. Louis - $100,000
Hershewe Law Firm - personal injury law firm, Joplin - $75,000
Robert Blitz - trial lawyer - $25,000
Dollar Burns & Becker - personal injury law firm - $10,000
The trial lawyers must be expecting a HUGE payday if Nixon wins. Would that be good for Missouri?
Well done, Agent Kissoff.
Thanks, Hogan. Why do you post with multiple names?
Well Nick, Iguess you don’t think thaty businesses will have a big payday either. In order to win a big judgement, you have to win the initial case. If businesses are doing “the right thing”, then they will win in court and jdgements against them will not happen.
Mabe you’ve already forgotten the Ford Pinto case where Ford made a conscious decision to let people burn alive because, in their accounting judgement, it would be cheaper to go ahead and pay damages than make the car safe. In other words, money was more inportant than safety.
I guess that tells us where your priorities are. It also may be a reason why American businesses have been comming up short to international competition. Customer satisfaction is low on their list of priorities.
And mabe you forgot that famous quote from the Enron boys who were caught saying “Burn, baby burn,” because they knew that it would drive up the price of electricity. And mabe you haven’t been paying attention to…. I could go on and on but even you should be smart enough to figure out what’s been happening. So go after the trial lawyers if you want but at least they are sharing the loot with someone who has been screwed by business. Like I said earlier, when business operates within an ethical framework, they usually have nothing to fear.
Oh, I almost forgot. You probably love George’s $6,000,000,000,000 (that’s trillion dollars) legacy to our country, not to mention the thousands of deaths and permanent injuries that Ol George has provided as his legacy. Knowing you, you probably think George is still going to get Bin Laden before he leaves.