The Source

Kemper Killers

In a move pushed by former Mayor Kay Barnes, AEG was awarded the Kemper Arena management contract last year. Barnes obviously thought the lopsided contract she wrote with AEG for the Sprint Center wasn’t generous enough.

The problem is that Kemper now has almost no events. AEG has pulled every money making event to the Sprint Center, leaving Kemper a cold and dark place.

A quick look at the Kemper website calendar shows just seven events booked over the next five months. The city still has a debt load on Kemper and the fact that it is sitting empty for 95% of the year does not help pay off that debt. Thus, Kemper is adding to the city’s overall indebtedness.

The Source calls on the city and AEG to provide a line by line accounting for the Kemper contract and for the Kemper facility as a whole. We also call on the Kansas City Star to further investigate what is fast becoming an obvious “pay-for-play” scheme involving Barnes, Cordish and AEG.

Who Can Help?

This is a car belonging to State Representative Al Liese. According to our sources, the car is often parked in the circle of the capitol building all day long, despite a two hour time limit. Why, you might ask, does a State Representative, who has a spot in the garage, need to park his car illegally on a daily basis? We think we may have the answer, but we need your help!

We think it is lobbyist Chris Liese, Al’s son, who is actually using the car. Supposedly, Chris can’t stand walking a few blocks to work so he uses his dad’s car (and plates) to get himself a few steps closer. We aren’t sure if this breaks any ethics laws, but it has to come very close.

Here is how you can help The Source find out for sure. We have pictures of the car parked illegally. Now we need pictures of a driver pulling up, leaving, entering or exiting the car. Here is your chance to enter the world of investigative blogging!

You may send your pictures to mosourceinfo@gmail.com. We will publish any verifiable pictures with your name and city (or anonymously if you desire). Good luck!

Montee Audit Finds Nixon Shortchanged State

State Auditor Susan Montee recently completed an audit of Attorney General Jay Nixon’s use of (and reimbursement for) his personal and campaign use of a state vehicle.  Montee says Nixon and his staff underpaid the state by over $8000.

Nixon, who would not admit for months that his use of the state vehicle was illegal, made a big deal about paying the state back.  When he did, several blogs questioned his math, and wondered why he was allowed to pick his own penalty. 

Of course, one thing Montee did not do was to go back beyond this election cycle.  One has to assume that Nixon used a state vehicle his entire career as Attorney General.  He ran for office every four tears during that time and The Source would bet he used that vehicle for campaign purposes back then as well.  The Source calls on Montee to finish the job and audit Nixon’s prior use of state property or staff.

Spence Disses Nixon, Missouri

25th District State Representative Candidate Sean Spence held a kick-off event yesterday in Columbia. Attended by a sparse crowd of about 20 people, the event featured some interesting comments by the candidate in both his speech and in an interview afterward with Jason Rosenbaum of the Columbia Tribune Politics Blog.

Let’s see what Spence had to say:

“Every Missourian can be educated, employed and insured.” - Well, yes, Sean, they can be. That is the American Dream. The problem is you think it is the government’s job to make sure that they ARE. That is the American Nightmare.

“In the next two to six years we’re gonna see a Democratic House and a Democratic Senate.” - Obviously Spence doesn’t think Jay Nixon will win the Governor’s race this fall because he doesn’t mention that as a gain. Is this a slap at Nixon for finding an opponent for him?

“Guarantee you I am the only person in this race who has supervised staff overseas. I’m the only person in this race who’s held a significant position in a Fortune 500 corporation.” - Since when does supervising a staff overseas mean anything to a State Representative race, Sean? Maybe you should apply for a State Department or Commerce job.

In other parts of his speech Spence slams other Missouri universities seeming to think Columbia is the only worthy choice. He does a similar thing slamming other Missouri areas who “aren’t doing it overall nearly as well as we are doing it in Columbia” when it comes to public education.

Mainstream Media Leader Holds Punch to Help Democrats

Yesterday’s New York Times story on John McCain and his supposed relationship with a female lobbyist is just more proof that the liberal Times and its mainstream media friends use their clout to influence, rather than just report, news.

If you read the Times story (or a related Washington Post story) you will see there is no new information in the story. It is basically a rehash of earlier stories sprinkled with occasional new quotes. So why release it now?

The answer is simple. Now that John McCain is the presumptive Republican nominee, a media attack on him helps the Democratic nominee, whoever that is. Had the Times released their “report” earlier, it the outcome may not have had the impact they wanted.

Note that the Times endorsed McCain for the New York primaries. Does anyone believe that the editors didn’t know about this story when they wrote that endorsement just weeks ago? Why did they not mention it then, when it could have had local impact?  The answer, again simple, is that they wanted McCain to win so their story could have more impact.

This manipulation of news is why the press in general has such a declining reputation. Unfortunately, the Times still gets covered when they make news. The Source wishes they would stick to just reporting the news instead.

Carnahan Loses Again

It what has become a regular occurrence, a Jefferson City judge slapped back Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan today for re-writing ballot summary language. This time, the judge upheld much of the original summary language for an amendment proposed by Cures without Cloning.

Circuit Court Judge Patricia Joyce, in her ruling, called Carnahan’s ballot summary language “insufficient and unfair.” The last time Carnahan was in court for re-writing a ballot summary the judge called it “troubling” and said her argument had “no merit.”

Carnahan’s history of putting her personal political opinion over the will of the people should be troubling to Missourians. The ballot initiative process was created so that the average person could have a voice and a fair day at the polls. Carnahan’s attempts to thwart that process should scare us all.

LA Kay

The best The Source can tell, neither New York nor Los Angeles is anywhere near, nor anything like, the Sixth Congressional District. Still, that is where candidate Kay Barnes is spending her time and resources these days to raise money.

According to yesterday’s Prime Buzz, Barnes will spend today with left coast liberals like Nancy Pelosi at an LA Staples Center fundraiser. The event is being hosted by none other that Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), the company who has a city contract to manage not only the Sprint Center, but Kemper Arena as well. Like Cordish, it seems AEG must want to make sure Barnes gets paid back for giving those lucrative contracts to AEG.

In the Prime Buzz piece, Barnes mouthpiece Steve Glorioso is quoted as saying that The Source is attacking the Kansas City business community by pointing out these payback contributions. Glorioso seems to forget the fact that Cordish is in Baltimore and AEG in Los Angeles. The main contractor building the Sprint Center was from Minnesota and most of the restaurants in the Power and Light District are national chains. Barnes was never shy about helping out-of-the-area businesses get a piece of Kansas City’s tax dollars.

Barnes isn’t shy about taking their money either. The vast majority of her contributions, over 85%, are from outside the Sixth District already. Fundraising events in New York and Los Angeles are not likely to help that number.

Hillary's New Campaign Manager Has Checkered Past

In this week's shakeup at Hillary for President, Kansas City native Maggie Williams was named the new Campaign Manager. Perhaps only true fans of politics remember that name, but everyone should.

Maggie Williams was Hillary Clinton's Chief of Staff in the White House. As such she was not only privy to all the backroom dealing; she was often knee deep in it.

Early in the Clinton presidency, Williams was implicated by a secret service agent, under oath, for taking files from Vince Foster's office after his suicide. While she denies the allegation, this was one of only several times Williams was forced to pay for a lawyer to defend herself or Hillary.

Perhaps Williams's most public mistake was her relationship with controversial donor Johnny Chung. It was Williams who chummed up to Chung and gave him access to the White House (including access to her personal meal pass). It was Williams who allegedly took a check from Chung in the White House, in violation of campaign laws. Two days after that check was handed over, Chung and friends attended a taping of President Clinton's radio address. Chung later pled guilty to various federal charges related to the contributions he made to Bill Clinton.

Williams was also involved in controversy surrounding Clinton's Senate race. Her firm received a check for over $37,000 dollars. When asked what it was for, the Clinton campaign backtracked and said the payment should have been for less than $5000 for travel reimbursement. No word on if the money was ever returned.

The real question is why Hillary would risk dredging up all of this muck by naming Williams? Does Williams bring that much to the table that Hillary is willing to take the risk?

Sean Spence Brushed Aside?

It seems that the easy road Sean Spence thought he had to grab a State Representative seat just got a lot rockier. Mary Still, a long time Democratic Party favorite, has decided to run for the 25th District seat, the seat Spence craved.

Just last week Spence was crowing on his blog about having “a good time” campaigning with students at MU (who likely came for the free pizza, not Spence.) No word today from Spence.

Still, a former aide to Gov. Bob Holden and AG Jay Nixon, announced her plans to run for what was Judy Baker's seat. Word is that her most current boss, Nixon, has been actively involved in recruiting legislative candidates. The Source had heard rumors that Spence’s past political career, including a loss in Idaho when he ran for state representative there, worried Democratic Party officials. It makes sense that they looked close to home to replace what they assumed would be a weak link for the party.

The Source wouldn’t be surprised if Spence embarrassingly takes one for the team and abandons his run. This race, especially running against the party favorite, isn’t the place for a guy who often can't stand the heat of politics.

P.S. Note to Sean: You may want to check the spelling of your boss’s name on your campaign website.

Cordish Kay

Last week’s disappointing news that the Power and Light District is still not ready for a Grand Opening may be devastating for Kansas City’s budget. Word in the Star is that The Cordish Company will now spread out openings all throughout the year and that No official grand opening will occur before the Big 12 Tournament, the event Kay Barnes announced as the savior of the new arena and downtown redevelopment.

Cordish’s inability to open the district in October, along with the Sprint Center, was a shock to the current Mayor and his staff. They were not warned, it seems, that Cordish’s contract gave Cordish massive leeway as to when to open, how to open, how to regulate parking and other issues. How could they have possibly known since it seems incredible that a city would have negotiated such a one-sided contract with a developer?

Incredible, that is, until you look at Kay Barnes’ most recent Congressional campaign filing. Remember, it was Barnes who pushed for Cordish to be the developer on the Power and Light District project. It was Barnes who, along with close senior staff and her personally hired City Manager, handled negotiations.

Now it turns out that there is a direct payback for Barnes’ soft negotiating stance. Barnes received contributions from six Cordish officials equaling $6000 in her fourth quarter fundraising.

Cordish, Blake       $1000    The Cordish Company    Information Requested

Cordish, Jonathan  $1000    The Cordish Company    Information Requested

Cordish, Reed        $1000    The Cordish Company    Information Requested

Smith, Zed            $1000    Cordish Co.                   Vice President

Cordish, David       $1000    Cordish Company          President

Weinberg, Glenn    $1000    Cordish Company          Development Director

The Source is confused by the “Information Requested” notes. First, David Cordish could certainly provide this information. Second, a ten second web search shows that:

“All three of David Cordish's sons, Jonathan, Blake and Reed Cordish are active in the business. Blake and Reed Cordish are Vice Presidents in the real estate arm of the Cordish Company with responsibilities over the entertainment/mixed-use and restaurant/club divisions. Jonathan Cordish is the Chairman of its media/film division as well as an advisor to the private equity investment division.”

If Blake and Reed are active in the entertainment arm, you would think Barnes would have dealt with them during negotiations and know their titles. Even if she had not met them, her lack of research prior to filing her campaign report is indicative of her lack of research on the Cordish contract itself. Unfortunately, the city will end up paying for the latter.

Taking money from such “friends” isn’t a first for Barnes. Her campaign reports are peppered with contributions from businesses and individuals who have benefited from city or county contracts all the way back to her days as a county legislator and city council person. The Source will continue to investigate.

Explaining Our U.S. Tax System with Beer

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.

The fifth would pay $1.

The sixth would pay $3.

The seventh would pay $7.

The eighth would pay $12.

The ninth would pay $18.

The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that's what they decided to do. The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. 'Since you are all such good customers,' he said, 'I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beers by $20. Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.'

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?'

They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so: The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).

The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).

The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).

The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).

The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).

The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before and the first four continued to drink for free, but once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings. "I only got a dollar out of the $20," declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man, "but he got $10!" "Yeah, that's right,"exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got TEN times more than I!" "That's true!!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!" "Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!" The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something very important....they didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D. Professor of Economics University of Georgia

And Then There Were Four

As expected, the historically large fields for both party’s presidential nominations have been narrowed down early in the race.  While many expected Super Tuesday to be the defining moment for exiting the race, most of the withdrawals happened even earlier.  Yesterday’s announcement by Mitt Romney that he was suspending his campaign left each party with two serious contenders.   

On the Democratic side the race continues to be close in delegates and in fundraising for Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.  It is the party establishment candidate versus the agent of change, hardly a new political story.  Looking ahead it is easy to see a scenario where either wins.  Still, the most likely winner is Clinton who has the organizational advantage in most key states.  With primaries spreading out a bit after this next week, Clinton can take the time (and has the money, even if she has to dip into her own pockets) to build a strong infrastructure.  Obama meanwhile is building a strong case for change within the party, and can pull an upset if he continues to new voters to the primary polls.   

On the Republican side, the pundits have almost all called the race for John McCain.  It is true he has a significant delegate lead, but there is still a bit room for doubt.  With only one conservative left actively campaigning, will the conservative wing finally unite their votes either for Mike Huckabee or against McCain?  Note the endorsement yesterday from Dr. James Dobson and the several state right-to-life endorsements Huckabee has garnered.  While we expect a civil campaign from here on out, we also expect to see a few surprises as Huckabee picks up support from the party base.  McCain remains the favorite, Huckabee keeps it interesting.

Missouri Races Take Shape

Filing for Missouri state-wide and legislative offices opens in just under three weeks on February 26th.  While most of the state-wide candidates are known, it is likely a few more brave souls may emerge, especially for some of the newly opened down ballot races.   

At the legislative level we expect as many or more challengers as we had two years ago.  With term limits and with legislators moving up or running for higher office, more seats become available and more deeply populated races become likely.   

One of the newly opened seats will be Mike Gibbons old Senate seat.  Gibbons seems to have a clear run to the Republican nomination for Attorney General.  Last week Gibbons helped the man he hopes will replace him to launch his campaign.  Opening his home, Gibbons hosted a kick-off fundraiser for Eric Schmitt who is running for the 15th District State Senate seat.  Sources tell us that well over 150 contributors attended the event, a pretty impressive number for a pre-filing event.   

Schmitt has already proven successful at fundraising, out-raising his potential opponent in a mere forty-five days last quarter.  Now word is that he is assembling a pretty staunch team of supporters, both prominent political players and political newcomers.  Look for the Schmitt campaign to continue to impress.

Super Tuesday Analysis

Super Tuesday lived up to the drama of the Super Bowl, especially here in Missouri. On both sides the delegate counts are still shaking out, so stay tuned. Here are some of the big stories.

Democrats

Overall, no one walks away the big winner. Barack Obama won a few more states than Hillary Clinton but it looks as if the delegate count overall will be close.

Obama won in two eastern states that Clinton counted on her win card before the day began, Delaware and Connecticut.

Clinton won what many thought was a close California race by a significant margin.

Obama won Missouri despite only winning in about eight counties. His urban wins in Kansas City, Columbia and Saint Louis wiped out Clinton domination everywhere else.

Republicans

Mike Huckabee started the day with a huge win in West Virginia. Rumors abound about a secret deal with McCain forces, but a quick look at the round one versus round two vote counts show it was mainly Ron Paul voters who put Huckabee ahead after Paul was eliminated. This loss was the first sign of problems for Mitt Romney.

John McCain dominated where he was supposed to and won close battles in Missouri and Oklahoma. McCain won nine states to seven for Romney to five for Huckabee. McCain has a two to one delegate lead over Romney with Huckabee right on his heels.

No pundit we have found had Huckabee with five wins. The fact that he won where he was not supposed to against McCain, and Romney could not, was the surprise of the night.

Missouri was a barnburner with McCain’s leads in the big cities just too much for Huckabee’s solid strength in the southwest and northeast. Romney finished third in votes and never dominated anywhere.

This may well be a two man race now as Romney’s team is meeting today to discuss the future and do some “soul searching.” Several insider reports suggest he may drop out, not willing to spend his fortune chasing second place delegates.

Super Tuesday

The day political junkies have waited for is finally here. In each party, more than twenty states are at stake. Some are large, like California and New York. Some are smaller, but give all their delegates to the winner (on the Republican side), like Missouri.

On the Democrat side Hillary Clinton still leads in most of the polls, but Barack Obama is screaming upwards. Obama seems to have taken the lead in California. He holds leads in many southern states. And while Clinton still holds a rolling average lead here in Missouri, the last poll released showed Obama up. The Source would not expect a clear winner to emerge today between Obama and Clinton. In fact, we look for something odd to happen, like Clinton winning the most states, but Obama winning the most delegates.

The Republican side is even more tangled. While John McCain has the lead in most of the big states, both Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee hold leads in several of their key area states. What make it more interesting is who is second when McCain is winning, more often Huckabee in the south and Midwest and more often Romney on the coasts. Where the state is not winner take all, this breakout could determine a significant amount of delegates, and keep either in the hunt.

In Missouri, today’s weather may make the difference. Polls taken last night show McCain, Huckabee and Romney in a three way dead heat. Right now severe weather has already hit Kansas City in the form of thunderstorms with more violent storms behind that and snow behind that. The system is already approaching Columbia and heading toward St. Louis. For now, the southwest seems to be fine. With McCain’s strongholds in the bigger cities, Romney’s in the north and central rural areas and Huckabee’s in the southwest, this could bode well for Huckabee in Missouri.

Media Made

When campaign “spin” came into fashion only a few decades ago, spin was primarily limited to the context placed on issues by the candidates and their senior staffers. Now, television and radio pundits are spinning out of control as they attempt to pick the winners of the Republican and Democrat primaries.

Much of the focus is on national talk show hosts and their attempts to sway their listeners to one candidate or another. It used to be that conservative hosts were most likely to stay neutral during a primary, but many have now come out for specific candidates. Since they are commentators and opinion is their job, this is a normal, if somewhat dangerous, trend.

The real problem is with the so-called “journalists” who set the agenda in local and national print and broadcast media. In determining who gets the vast amount of coverage, whether in news stories, talk show formats or in traditional news coverage, the media has clearly decided who they want voters to choose.

Clearly our primary system is broken, partly due to our nation's thirst to be first. But the problems are enlarged by a media who seems to think it can create news, not just report on it. By ignoring some candidates, by promoting others, and by telling voters who will win before Election Day even arrives, the media is doing a disservice to democracy.