Crossposted from Show Me Progress
The statewide Dem candidates have said they're prepared to return over-the-limit campaign contributions, but Republicans? Their grab-all-you-can legislation created the mess, and now, clutching the boodle to their breasts, they whine about giving it back like a five year old who wants to keep the neighbor kid's toys.
Rep. Jane Cunningham, a St. Louis County Republican who is running for the Senate, said refunds would be unfair because that would help slow-starting campaigns instead of those who hustled to raise funds early. She could be forced to return $35,800. "It's not the American way to advantage people who have sat on their thumbs," she said.
If Republicans "hustled", to use her word, the definition that applies would be this one: to earn one's living by illicit or unethical means.
Case in point:
Last June, Matt Blunt took tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from individuals affiliated with the Dairy Farmers of America, a large milk marketing organization with offices in Kansas City.
Now comes word that the Blunt Administration is providing a five year, no-bid contract to DFA to conduct "state" safety testing on the milk it sells.
Yup, they've been hustling.
Case in point: Hard working citizens near Roaring River are fighting the licensing of a CAFO near the state park there. The Ozbun family, who applied for the CAFO license, isn't wealthy, but the poultry processor with whom they contracted, George's, has the scratch to hire well-connected legal talent.
The lawyer the Ozbuns have hired to represent their interests in Jefferson City is Michael Schmid, an associate in the firm of Schreimann, Rackers, Francka & Blunt in Jefferson City. The Blunt in the firm is Andrew Blunt, son of U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt and brother to Gov. Matt Blunt. Matt Blunt appointed Doyle Childers to head the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, which licenses and oversees large CAFOs in Missouri.
There is no record of Schmid giving money to Matt Blunt's 2004 campaign, but the principals in the law firm now representing Ozbun, or the principals' relatives, gave at least $7,600 to directly underwrite Matt Blunt's political ambitions in 2004, according to the database maintained by the National Institute for Money in State Politics.
What a bunch of crooks and liars.