GOP split on auditor: House backs Icet; Schweich gets Kinder
JEFFERSON CITY — Thomas Schweich is hoping his big name trumps a bunch of smaller names backing his Republican opponent for state auditor, Allen Icet.
Today Schweich announced the endorsement of the defacto head of the Republican Party in Missouri, Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, who’s been getting his name in the paper a lot in the past week advocating for the Tour of Missouri.
Kinder helped broker the deal that got Schweich to back out of a primary against Congressman Roy Blunt, a candidate for U.S. Senate. So his endorsement isn’t a big surprise.
But the endorsement contains a bit of a challenge for Kinder, as nearly the entire House delegation already is backing Schweich’s opponent, Icet. One of Kinder’s principal jobs in the next year, besides planting the seeds for his gubernatorial run against Gov. Jay Nixon, will be to help those House members get re-elected.
In his endorsement, Kinder cited Schweich’s experience in the federal government, on the Waco investigation and in the State Department, as reasons why he’d make a good auditor.
The winner of the Republican primary will face incumbent Democrat Susan Montee.
Working with facts and numbers that are black and white in context will more likely be a much better place for Icet.
Correction:
Should have stated, Black [or] white above.
Wow, I am lost. I only know what I read in the newspapers and online, but it seems that the Lt Gov isn’t as tough as he likes to talk. This isn’t the guy I voted for in 2004.
We need a flow chart of Kinder subservience:
Roy Blunt takes it from ___________(fill in name of any lobbyist w/checkbook)
Schweich talks tough and then folds to Blunt like a cheap lawn chair.
Kinder bends over for Schweich in ‘09, and the GOP establishment in ‘08.
Kinder has now added himself to the problem with the Republican party.
Kinder/Blunt/Schweich- We can be rid of all of them by 2012 Then maybe a party of small government, individual liberty, fiscal responsibility, will return.