The Source

Carnahan’s Conflicts of Interest Go Unquestioned

Russ Carnahan’s wife, Debra Carnahan, serves on the Board of Directors for Planned Parenthood. Yet as far as we can tell Russ does not abstain on votes potentially effecting Planned Parenthood grants and contracts. In fact, according to Project Vote Smart, “Representative Carnahan supported the interests of Planned Parenthood 100 percent in 2006.” In their finance report from last year, Planned Parenthood shows over $300 million dollars in such federal funds as revenue. That is about 30% of their budget. Who is asking Rep. Carnahan about this conflict of interest?

Russ Carnahan’s brother, Thomas Carnahan, runs a wind farm energy company. Yet as far as we can tell, Russ does not abstain from any energy bills (Such as HR6 in 2007) which will potentially affect tax credits or other government programs for such businesses.

Who is asking Rep. Carnahan about this conflict of interest? The answer, of course, is that no one is asking these questions. The more salient question may be, “why not?”

FiredUp! Magic

With a little slight of hand and a lot of innuendo, FiredUp! Missouri asks its readers to believe the Republican candidates for Governor are all but criminals. Never mind that neither Kenny Hulshof nor Sarah Steelman is implicated in any wrong doing. Roy Temple and his henchman don’t care much for the facts.

Even the basis for the petty poke by FiredUp! is bogus. Let’s follow the trail. Jay Nixon is running for Governor. He thought he was running against Matt Blunt. Nixon uses his state office to launch a partisan investigation against Blunt. Blunt, for other reasons, decides not to run. Nixon’s investigation then makes charges against Blunt, but since he isn’t running that isn’t good enough for Nixon. Nixon calls Roy Temple who tries to tie the bogus Blunt charges to Nixon’s real opponents on his blog. The whole thing is a magic trick worthy of David Copperfield.

The Source is, of course, not surprised that FiredUp! won’t look in their own dirty laundry. On their side, it is the candidate himself who is rife with ethical problems. Not only does he have email problems of his own, he was caught misusing state resources for his campaign. No wonder FiredUp! is trying to distract voters from the truth.

But, those of you who have ever been to a magic show already know, the real trick is getting the audience to not see what is really happening. Consider this trick busted, Roy.

Barnes Owes Kansas City Answers

A story appears in this week’s edition of the Kansas City Business Journal about Cordish, Kay Barnes, and the supposed promise to keep Cordish’s “festival district” exclusive.  The headline says that Barnes “disagree(s)” with Cordish, but, oddly, Barnes is never actually quoted in the article.

Instead, Barnes sends someone else to speak for her.  Unable to stand up to the company that is funding her congressional run to the tune of $8000, Barnes hides behind a spokesman.  While her spokesman swears he is speaking for Barnes, wouldn’t it be better to hear from the former mayor herself?  Isn’t it time for Barnes to sit down with a reputable reporter and answer these questions, without dodging.

Why did she negotiate such soft contracts with Cordish?

Why did the city give so much financially to get so little? 

Was Cordish promised exclusivity in any sense for open container laws?

Why the Cordish contract did allow them to set their own opening date?

Why does the Cordish contract allow them to set parking rates?

Why has she accepted campaign contributions from Cordish, given her personal role in negotiating with them?

Kay Barnes has a history of ducking hard questions.  It is about time the local media held her feet to the fire.  The Cordish contracts are as good a place as any to start.

Gas Tax Holiday

First proposed by Republican Presidential candidate John McCain, the concept of a gas tax holiday for the summer months is gaining steam nationally and in Missouri. Even McCain’s potential Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, is endorsing the idea as a way to combat rising gas prices.

Here in Missouri the House easily passed gas tax holiday legislation yesterday. The House version sets up a rebate program where consumers can apply with the state for reimbursement on all taxes paid from Memorial Day to Labor Day. The bill now goes to the Senate for approval.

With gas prices continuing to rise, and the first major summer holiday around the corner, the Missouri and national gas tax holidays are reasonable efforts to keep prices in line for consumers. While liberals prefer to target oil companies, the government itself has been guilty of raising the price of gasoline by adding taxes at both the state and local level.

A brief respite from that tax stream will hurt government only a little, while the effect will help consumers and the economy. If consumers decide not to travel, too many industries, including many whose profits are also taxed, will lose business. If consumers know they will be eligible for a refund on their travel expenses, they are much more likely to vacation in Missouri’s tourist spots.

Collison Chokes on Cordish Column

We never thought we’d say this, but The Pitch has out-reported The Kansas City Star. On the same topic, in the same week, The Pitch’s coverage was more timely, more on point, and more accurate.

The Source has reported now several times on The Cordish Company’s attempts to squash local competition by bullying the city and state into not passing a new festival districts law. We have also documented the thousands of dollars Cordish executives have given to Kay Barnes’s congressional campaign as payback for her support in getting them a favorable contract and for her help in getting favorable legislation in Jefferson City.

Within hours of our last report the Pitch published a hard hitting blog post which not only covered the issue well, it brought to light new information. For instance, The Pitch points out that Cordish’s lawyer, the same lawyer who is now bullying the city, also contributed to Barnes’s campaign to the tune of $4600. The article also produced the first copy of the letter sent to the city. Most importantly, The Pitch counters Cordish’s silly suggestion that campaign cash may be driving the city’s decision by pointing out the hypocrisy of Cordish’s efforts to buy favor with Kay Barnes.

Contrast that with this morning’s Kansas City Star piece by Kevin Collison. The Star, five days late, covers the basics of the story, but adds nothing new. Unbelievably they proffer Cordish’s theory about contributions driving the city’s position without ever mentioning Cordish’s own history of buying their way to favorable results. While Collison gets comments from some of the players, none really adds facts to the story; in fact the most telling comment may be a “no comment” from the Cordish lawyer.

Cordish has been on the front burner of Kansas City news since their inability to open the Power & Light District when promised. The inability of The Star to cover this story properly reflects badly on their overall ability to cover the stories that really matter to Kansas City voters.

Photo I.D.

The U.S. Supreme Court decided yesterday that requiring a voter to show photo identification was not an undue hardship. The Court upheld Indiana's photo I.D law, and in the process opened up the possibility that other states will follow suit.

Missouri has already passed a photo I.D. law, but it was struck down by the Missouri Supreme Court. The Source would expect to see legislation next session which will offer a constitutional amendment to correct that decision and bring Missouri in line with yesterday's decision.

Of course, opponents to more fair elections are balking at the SCOTUS decision. In the oddest argument possible, Secretary of State Robin Carnahan said that Missouri would not be affected, saying "I think this ruling doesn't really change anything. 

Yet Carnahan admits that the Supreme Court found that "justices didn't think there was sufficient evidence of burden and sufficient evidence of voters that would be harmed."  That was precisely the argument used by Carnahan and others to fight against Missouri's law, and it is now proven untrue by the highest court in the land.

Carnahan, and all Missouri politicians, should support letting the voters decide the issue. The courts have spoken, now it is our turn. Even if she doesn't support the end result, Carnahan should back a vote on a constitutional amendment as soon as feasible.

Update: Running or Working

The Source continues to look at state-wide Democratic candidates to follow up our story on absenteeism at the capitol. It seems State Representative and Treasurer Candidate Clint Zweifel is the worst offender of all his colleagues.

Zweifel missed almost every roll call vote taken last week. He only voted a few times in order to collect his per diems. A quick count showed Zweifel missing over 95% of the votes taken.

The Source wonders if the folks in Florissant know they have virtually no representation in Jefferson City.