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.
Pay to Play applies Sam Graves as well. With Big Oil profits in the billions per quarter (every 3 months). Sam Graves voted against a bill (H.R. 5351) to roll back billions of dollars in tax breaks to big oil companies. By voting against this bill he voted against the Wind Farms being constructed and the ethanol plant in his district. Sounds like Sam Graves would rather see our tax dollars go to Texas instead of coming back to Missouri.
Posted by: Full Disclosure | February 29, 2008 at 11:11 AM
Oil companies have a lower return on investment than most industries. Just because you have record profits doesn't mean that you are making a record return on your investment. How much does a refinery cost or a drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico?
Posted by: kcfact | February 29, 2008 at 03:56 PM
KCfact: Ever try to spend a margin point. Margins aren't legal tender in Missouri or any where else.
It's dollars that the oil companies are earning and its dollars that Sam Graves gave them.
Posted by: Political Moderate | February 29, 2008 at 08:48 PM
Fool Dizclozer, seems to have about as much knowledge of the energy business, as most other subjects he/she offers opinions on. Wind farms, did "Uncle Teddy" have something to say about wind farms in Mass.? The petroleum industy requires a massive capital investment and is a risky proposition.
Posted by: Boatswain Mate | February 29, 2008 at 08:54 PM
Apparently Full Disclosure understands the energy industry better than the Seaman. The profits reported are NET profits not gross profits. The capital investment in a Wind Farm is not small potatoes. King City, Missouri happens to be in Sam Graves’ district. I’m not familiar with any oil drilling sites or refineries in northwest Missouri.
Seaman: Why don’t you tell us what cities in Missouri and specifically in Sam Graves’ district, the oil companies benefiting from Sam Graves vote operate…?
Posted by: Full Disclosure | March 01, 2008 at 10:23 AM
Oh by the way the Seaman probably isn't smart enough to know that a Wind Farm exists in northwest Missouri in Nodaway and Gentry counties. Sam Graves took money away from his district and gave it to Texas oil companies.
Posted by: Full Disclosure | March 01, 2008 at 10:29 AM