GOP Infighting

If the 2008 election cycle was characterized by one phenomenon for Missouri Republicans, party disunity would probably lead the list.  Driven by a contentious and damaging gubernatorial primary and the nomination of a GOP Presidential candidate whom almost no prominent Missourians supported in the primaries, Republicans spent as much time in 2008 battling one another as they did fighting the Democratic opponents.  

As we approach the new year, it appears likely that trend will continue.  Bruised egos and hurt feelings stemming from Lieutenant Gov. Peter Kinder's betrayal of ticketmates have reportedly not yet been salved, and may lead to some return disloyalty on the part of Republican legislators. 

Chief among the aggrieved is Sen. Brad Lager, who as Treasurer candidate lost the closest of the 2008 races for statewide office.  Lager was the candidate who likely suffered most from Kinder's decision to throw his pals on the Republican ticket under the bus with a sample ballot distributed across the St. Louis area which pushed Kinder and...the four other statewide Democratic candidates, including Lager's opponent.­

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To anyone who's read the papers over the last month, it's become abundantly clear who has become the de facto leader of the Missouri Republican Party.  

Though the various factions and (few remaining) prominent Republican electeds have been unable to decide on who should hold the official title of party chair, Crazy Eddie Martin has emerged unchallenged as the public voice of Show Me State GOPers.

Martin, despite having recently been unquestionably outed for his embarrassing role in the a series of events that effectively ended Matt Blunt's run for re-election, is now apparently the chief authority on the political and policy priorities of Missouri Republicans.­  

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With talk of a criminal investigation involving Kit Bond swirling, some GOP legislators may be re-thinking their shameless and long-standing practice of naming public infrastructure after him.

Their thinking might go like this: rather than waiting for the next shoe of a criminal investigation to drop and then awkwardly scrambling to strip Bond's name off public infrastructure, perhaps it's better to quietly remove Bond's name now.  The fate of the last "King of Earmarks," Ted Stevens, can't be far from their minds either.

Let the re-branding begin.  Story Continued »

More bad news for Kit Bond and GOP comity. 

Matt Blunt has announced his split with Bond over the the auto industry rescue plan.

Already under fire in GOP circles as the "King of Earmarks," the announcement leaves Bond further isolated within his own party.­

 

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David Steelman, husband of State Treasurer Sarah Steelman, is weighing in on his wife's letter to federal prosecutors about Kit Bond's conduct.

A lawyer by training, David Steelman doesn't bob, hedge or weave on the significance of Kit Bond's conduct around the firing of US  Attorney Todd Graves and his wife's letter to federal prosecutors about it.

Here's an excerpt from Jo Mannies coverage:

David Steelman says the letter to the Justice Department and the dispute over earmarks are being miscast as "a personality clash" between Bond and the Steelmans. What's really at stake are policy differences and — in the case of the U.S. attorney controversy — "very serious allegations of a crime," Steelman said.

It's illegal, said Steelman, for politicians to pressure U.S. attorneys to take certain actions or risk losing their jobs.

Hard-working members of the press might catch a glimpse of the Senator (and perhaps his "patriotic" reading of the 5th Amendment) at the upcoming Missouri Farm Bureau meeting at Lake of the Ozarks.  Even if Bond dodges their questions, reporters are likely to find dozens of quotable Republicans with strong feelings about crime and earmarks.  And with a little luck, they might witness an elevator shoving match between Bond, a Graves brother and Jeff Roe.­  Story Continued »

Matt Blunt has a new nemesis to issue hourly "truth-watch" press releases against--- his own budget office.

Matt Blunt is sharply disagreeing with Matt Blunt's Budget Office over the depth of his Administration's red-ink.

Matt Blunt's Budget Office agrees with Governor-elect Nixon's team and pegs the the Fiscal Year 2009 shortfall at  $340 million.

Matt Blunt disagrees with Matt Blunt's Budget Office, but can't provide a detailed red-ink projection.  Matt Blunt does, however, agree with Matt Blunt on the issue.

In a related development, the Capital Police have put the Blunt Administration on murder-suicide watch.  Story Continued »

Sarah Steelman has written to federal prosecutors offering evidence against Kit Bond and his motive in the illegal firing of US Attorney Todd Graves.

According to a story by veteran reporter Terry Ganey in the Columbia Tribune and the St. Louis Beacon, Steelman's attorney has written to the Justice Department offering evidence of Kit Bond's vendetta against Graves/Steelman political operative Jeff Roe.  Steelman cites a conversation with Bond as the source of the incriminating evidence.

The Justice Department has formally acknowledged receipt of the Steelman evidence.

When asked about Steelman's charge, Bond essentially took the 5th Amendment:

"I don't go into private conversations that I have with fellow Republicans."

Stay tuned for more on this developing escalating story.  Story Continued »

Senator Kit Bond (R-Wild Turkey) and Peter "Every Other Dollar Counts" Kinder are reportedly in a pitched fight for control of the Missouri Republican Party.

According to the KY3 Political notebook, Kinder is backing long-time Emerson aide Lloyd Smith.  Bond is backing former State House Speaker Catherine Hanaway

Some state house observers are wondering why Kinder would opposed Hanaway.  After all, the two joined forces to try to spend taxpayer money on a new Cardinal's stadium.­  Story Continued »

There is growing resentment in GOP ranks over the way Peter Kinder worked against the GOP ticket in the closing days of the campaign.

According to GOP sources, Kinder and his allies distributed thousands of sample ballots in urban areas on Election Day.

Rather than suggesting voters support the GOP ticket, the sample ballots recommended only Democrats, except for the  Lt. Governor's race.  For that contest alone, a Republican was suggested---- Peter Kinder.

One sample ballot even sandwiched Kinder's pocked mug between the photos of Barack Obama and Democratic Congressman Lacy Clay.

Stay tuned to Fired Up for more on fratricide within the GOP.

UPDATED, 8:43am: Photos below the jump...

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Perhaps taking a page from the playbook of slow-to-reconcile primary opponents Congressman Kenny Hulshof and Sarah Steelman, GOP political consultants are getting their hands dirty with negative campaigns of their own against their consulting business competitors.

Republican regulars were clucking last week about a slew of "brown envelopes" delivered anonymously to dozens of GOP incumbents and candidates for state office.  Those communiques were focused squarely at discouraging GOP candidates from hiring outgoing Speaker and paid political strategist Rod Jetton to assist in their campaigns. 

The attack packets reportedly engaged in assaults on Jetton's personal character and posed to candidates the question of whether social conservative candidates could be adequately served by a consultant with faults which they ascribed to the Marble Hill legislator.

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Nearly two weeks after the GOP gubernatorial primary, Sarah Steelman still can't name one Republican candidate for Governor she will support.

After watching Kenny limp across the primary finish line, I don't blame her. 

When Missouri Right to Life decided to base its legislator scorecard ratings on votes other than the ones that Republican legislative leaders told them they should, Republican regulars like Ed Martin leapt into action.

Tired of having to cater to a special interest group that didn't serve their political goals to an absolute tee, Martin and friends did what any self-respecting Republicans would do: create a new front-group organization on which they themselves would pull the strings to ensure that only candidates of whom they approved would get "pro-life" endorsements.  Thus was born an entity known as Missourians United for Life.

Of course, a critical element of building an organization that could usurp the clout of an existing "pro-life" organization is making yours an endorsement that candidates actually want.  Based on the initial range of Missourians United for Life endorsements, it isn't clear that folks will be clamoring for the thumbs-up from Ed Martin's front. 

Consider this: in the pre-primary period, Missourians United for Life endorsed a total of nine candidates running in primary elections and just three of those candidates won. 

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Two of the major components of Sarah Steelman's campaign for governor have been her repeated blasting of Rod Jetton for his questionable ethics as Speaker of the House and her persistent hectoring of Kenny Hulshof for his history of profligate spending.  Yet Steelman has demonstrated little willingness to stand up on these counts in the context of a position which she already holds, as an ex oficio member of the Board of Trustees of the Missouri State Employees' Retirement System (MOSERS).

Back in March of this year, Speaker Jetton demonstrated his lax ethical standards propensity for self-dealing by shoehorning himself into a House-appointed slot on the Board of the state employee retirement system, MOSERS.  Steelman, who is also a member of the MOSERS board by virtue of her elected position as State Treasurer, had nothing to say about Jetton's self-appointment at the time, despite her now-regular campaign harping over the Speaker's ethical struggles.

What's more, Steelman --though she's constantly ready to read from a list of wasteful government spending supported in Congress by her opponent Kenny Hulshof-- has shown no desire to speak out against wasteful spending over which she presumptively has some measure of control. 

A prime example: though Jetton didn't see fit to make it to an annual meeting of the MOSERS board to which he appointed himself just months earlier, he did manage to travel to London in the last week on the dime of MOSERS, which is of course funded with taxpayer dollars. 

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Peter Kinder's web guru David All is featured prominently in a Washington Post story today about disillusionment amongst young GOPers, and he has some comments that don't reflect too kindly on the Lieutenant Governor.  Per the story, All says:

"I think the Republican Party is staring down a very long, dark, quiet night,"

And why does All have such a pessimistic view of the Republican Party's chances?

"When Reagan was president, I was 9 years old, doing cannonballs and watching 'Rambo,' " says All, 29, who prominently displays the requisite grip-and-grin photos of himself with President Bush in the office of his own L Street consulting firm. He recalled that first Republican presidential debate of the 2008 campaign, held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California; it was a veritable Reagan love-fest, with each contender claiming to be more like the conservative icon than his opponents. They sounded like old fogies and intoned the icon's name at least a dozen times.

"For me, I don't even know what that means," All says. "The Republicans are sort of talking down to Gen-Nexters, not bringing them in."

All cites never-ending Reagan worship as part of the reason why the GOP has failed to attract a generation of younger voters. 

What does this have to do with Kinder?   Story Continued »

Rod can read it.

The intra-party spat is not good for a party that faces an uphill battle in November, Jetton said. He said it isn't shaping up as a good year for Republicans because of the unpopularity of the president, rising gas prices and continued concern over the war.

"Voters are frustrated," Jetton said.

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