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Press Releases

05-08-2008	Hulshof Misses More Votes than Rest of Missouri Congressional Delegation Combined The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports today that U.S. Rep. Kenny Hulshof (R-Columbia) has missed more votes since announcing his gubernatorial run than the rest of the Missouri Congressional delegation combined.
05-05-2008	RE: Defeat of Anti-Affirmative Action Ballot Initiative “I want to congratulate Missourians for standing up for civil rights and women’s rights,” said John Temporiti, Missouri Democratic Party Chairman. “The failure of Ward Connerly’s group to get their misguided petition on the ballot shows that Missourians will not tolerate the politics of deception and division. While we have a long way to go as a society to reach Dr. King’s dream, the defeat of this initiative demonstrates that Missourians will not arbitrarily deny hope and opportunity to women, students and minorities based on the whims of a deceptive out-of-state interest group.
05-01-2008	Congressman Hulshof Avoids President Bush in Missouri, But Embraces His Economic Policies in Washington Although Congressman Kenny Hulshof says he has a “scheduling conflict” that will prevent him from standing with President Bush in St. Louis tomorrow, the Congressman has enthusiastically embraced Bush’s economic agenda in Washington. Despite one of the highest unemployment rates in the country and skyrocketing gas prices, Congressman Hulshof recently said that Missouri’s economy “remains strong.”
04-23-2008	Insider Deals from Graves and Blunt Families May Sink Local Ethanol Plant The St. Louis Post-Dispatch is reporting that the now infamous Show Me Ethanol LLC does not have the necessary funds to finish production of an ethanol plant in Carollton, MO or begin operations and "may not begin producing during the second quarter, ‘if at all.’"
04-21-2008	Are Congressman Hulshof and Treasurer Steelman Ready for Primetime? Following a rough week on the campaign trail, political observers and everyday Missourians alike are wondering whether Congressman Kenny Hulshof and Treasurer Sarah Steelman are ready to run for the state’s highest office.
04-18-2008	Congressman Hulshof Back Tracks on Campaign Contribution Limits and Fee Office Reform Less than two months after saying he would sign a bill repealing campaign contributions limits, Congressman Kenny Hulshof today flip-flopped his position and came out in favor of raising the limits. Likewise, last month Hulshof said he would end the political patronage that surrounds the current fee office system, only to back track and promise that “only operators ‘that don’t meet certain benchmarks’ would lose the right to run those offices.”
04-15-2008	Congressman Hulshof Flip-Flops on Campaign Contribution Limits Today Congressman Kenny Hulshof showed exactly why Missourians don’t need a Washington politician running our state, when the gubernatorial candidate said he now supports campaign contributions limits, even though 54-days-ago he said that he would in fact sign a bill to repeal them.
04-08-2008	Congressman Hulshof Hires Matt Blunt’s Political Team to Help Him Run on Matt Blunt’s Agenda Today, to the surprise of nobody, news broke that Congressman Kenny Hulshof has hired John Hancock, Gov. Matt Blunt’s chief strategist, to run his campaign for Governor. Congressman Hulshof is, after all, running for Governor on Blunt’s agenda. “Congressman Hulshof is running for Governor on Matt Blunt’s agenda, so it’s not surprising that he would hire Blunt’s team to run his campaign,” said Jack Cardetti, Missouri Democratic Party spokesman. “From embracing Blunt’s health care cuts to praising Blunt’s handling of the economy, Congressman Hulshof has offered unwavering support for the Blunt agenda. If Congressman Hulshof thinks Missourians want more of Matt Blunt’s failed policies, then he truly has been in Washington for too long.”
03-31-2008	Congressman Kenny Hulshof Offers Washington-Style “Ethics Reform” Plan to Missourians While Congressman Kenny Hulshof likes to talk about cleaning up Jefferson City, his Washington-style “ethics reform” proposals will only result in more access for special interests and more insider deals for connected politicians. In recent weeks, Hulshof has disclosed that he supports: (1) allowing legislators to take unlimited sums of money from special interest groups, and (2) allowing legislators to vote for bills that would directly benefit themselves financially.
03-25-2008	Democrats Oppose Blunt, Hancock’s Attempts to Weaken an Already Toothless Ethics Commission The Missouri Democratic Party today announced its opposition to a proposal from Gov. Blunt and his campaign spokesman, John Hancock, to weaken the Missouri Ethics Commission’s ability to enforce ethics violations by prohibiting the commission’s staff from generating complaints when they find instances of ethics violations.
03-14-2008	Rep. Kenny Hulshof Continues to Put George W. Bush Ahead of Missouri Children Last night, Rep. Kenny Hulshof rubber-stamped George W. Bush’s fiscally irresponsible budget that would allow thousands of Missouri children to go without the health insurance they need and deserve.
03-10-2008	McCain Calls Worst Job Loss in 5 Years “Not Terrible”; Previously Admitted He Doesn’t Understand the Economy Just days after accepting President Bush’s endorsement, Republican Presidential nominee John McCain will travel to St. Louis today in hopes of persuading Missourians to embrace his status quo economic agenda. While Missouri families are being hard hit by the Bush administration’s economy, John McCain locked up the Republican nomination by promising a third Bush term full of the same failed policies.
03-05-2008	Steelman Exposes Her Own Hypocrisy on Illegal Immigration Today, Treasurer Sarah Steelman appeared before a Senate committee to grandstand on illegal immigration, but she failed to tell Missourians that she took nearly $9,000 in campaign contributions from a company she previously chastised for its involvement in employing illegal immigrants. Then after receiving the contributions last year, Steelman and her staff approved giving the company millions of dollars in state tax credits.
03-03-2008	Hulshof Supports Blunt’s Pro-Voucher, Pro-MOHELA Sale Education Agenda At Saturday’s Cooperating School Districts’ legislative breakfast in St. Louis, Republican gubernatorial candidate Kenny Hulshof announced his support for a controversial voucher program pushed by Gov. Blunt, but opposed by educators, the majority of Missourians and a bi-partisan majority of Missouri legislators.
02-28-2008	Hulshof and Steelman Reaffirm Support for Blunt’s Health Care Cuts On the same week that Rep. Kenny Hulshof and Treasurer Sarah Steelman filed for governor in hopes of succeeding Matt Blunt, the two Republican candidates again embraced the massive health care cuts made by the Blunt administration that left 400,000 Missourians without the coverage and benefits they need.
02-25-2008	Missouri Democrats Urged to Attend Their Local Caucus on Feb. 28 to Become a 2008 Democratic National Convention Delegate The Missouri Democratic Party today urged Missouri Democrats interested in being a delegate to the 2008 Democratic National Convention to attend their local caucus on Thursday, February 28. A list of caucus locations can be viewed below or online at http://www.missouridems.org/2008DelegateSelection/caucuslocations.asp
02-21-2008	Hulshof Supports Repealing Campaign Contribution Limits Congressman Kenny Hulshof showed his true colors on campaign finance laws today, weaving and bobbing with all his might – and finally admitting that he backs legislation abolishing Missouri’s voter-supported contribution limits.
02-19-2008	Democrats Fight to Tighten Campaign Contribution Limits, GOP Seeks to Allow Unlimited Money from Special Interests The Missouri Democratic Party today called on Republican legislators to halt efforts to eliminate campaign contribution limits, which would result in a return to a system that allows wealthy corporations and special interests to give millions of dollars to candidates for public office. The Party also called on Republican gubernatorial candidates Sarah Steelman and Kenny Hulshof to denounce this effort to increase the influence of money and special interests in government.
02-18-2008	Sam Graves Continues to Rubberstamp Bush Agenda During the Missouri Republican Party’s Lincoln Days event a week ago, Sam Graves called on Congress to cut Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Graves’ desire to cut these vital programs to Missouri seniors comes on the heels of President Bush releasing his 2009 Budget that includes $200 Billion in cuts to Medicare and Medicaid over the next five years.
02-08-2008	Missouri Democratic Party Awards 36 Delegates to Both Obama and Clinton Following Thrilling Missouri Primary The Missouri Democratic Party today preliminarily awarded 36 delegates each to Senator Barack Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton following their thrilling performances in Tuesday’s Missouri Presidential Primary. By virtue of his 10,479-vote victory statewide, Senator Obama won Missouri’s statewide delegates by a 13-12 margin, while Senator Clinton won Missouri’s congressional district delegates by a 24-23 margin.
02-07-2008	Super Tuesday Shows Preview of November: Missouri Democrats Energized, Republicans Demoralized In a possible preview of the November election, Missouri voters Tuesday overwhelmingly decided to cast their ballots for Democratic candidates in the Presidential Primary, while Missourians felt uninspired by the Republican nominees. On Super Tuesday, 58.22 percent of Missourians voted for a Democrat in the Missouri Presidential Primary, compared to only 41.64 percent of voters choosing a Republican ballot.
02-06-2008	Hulshof’s (2nd) Announcement for Governor: No Platform, No Ideas, but Plenty of Praise for Matt Blunt Because Rep. Kenny Hulshof’s oddly-timed gubernatorial announcement tour went largely ignored by Missourians (it was the day before Super Tuesday), the Missouri Democratic Party today released a short video compilation of Hulshof’s events as a resource for voters. In short, Hulshof offered no platform, no ideas, and no solutions for Missouri families - just lots of praise for Gov. Matt Blunt.
01-29-2008	Hulshof in Lock-Step with Failed Bush Agenda, Out of Touch with Regular Missourians Although it appears Rep. Kenny Hulshof didn’t even leave Washington, D.C. to announce he’s running for Governor of Missouri, he should nevertheless be honest with Missourians about his unwavering support for the President Bush and the failed agenda that has moved Missouri and the nation backwards.
01-26-2008	Steelman Supports Same Failed Policies; Refuses to Oppose Health Care Cuts On her first day as a candidate for governor, Treasurer Sarah Steelman made it clear that she’s going to support the same failed policies that have moved Missouri backwards these past three years. Specifically, Steelman refused to condemn the Blunt Administration’s 2005 health care cuts that slashed coverage and benefits from more than 400,000 Missourians.
01-24-2008	Would-Be Republican Candidates Have One Thing in Common: Support for the Same Failed Blunt-Bush Agenda As Democrats stand united behind Jay Nixon in the Governor’s race, the only thing uniting the would-be Republican candidates right now is their support for the policies of Gov. Matt Blunt and President George W. Bush that have taken Missouri and the nation backwards.
01-22-2008	Report: Missouri’s Economy Plummets Under Blunt Yesterday, yet another independent organization gave Missouri a poor grade for economic performance and noted that the state’s economy has plummeted significantly during Gov. Matt Blunt’s three years in office. The rating comes one week after a new report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that Missouri’s unemployment rate is now among the highest in the nation (5.5%).
01-18-2008	MDP Announces Opposition to Ballot Initiative that Turns Back the Clock on Women’s Rights and Civil Rights The Missouri Democratic Party today announced its opposition to a proposed ballot initiative that would deny opportunities to Missouri women, students and minorities. The initiative would eliminate all affirmative action programs that currently exist in Missouri and that have contributed to the progress Missouri has made over the last half-century in the fight for civil rights and the rights of women in the workplace.
01-17-2008	Graves Becomes First Congressman to Be Rewarded for Partisan Loyalty with Fundraisers from Both Bush and Cheney On Feb. 1, Rep. Sam Graves will become the first congressman in the country this cycle to have his partisan loyalty rewarded with fundraisers by both President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.
01-15-2008	In Democratic Response to State of State, Attorney General Jay Nixon Calls for Change in Direction of Missouri, Immediate Restoration of All Health Care Cuts In tonight’s Democratic response to the Governor Matt Blunt’s State of the State address, Attorney General Jay Nixon said it’s time for change in Missouri, starting with the immediate restoration of health coverage and benefits for every single Missourian who had it slashed by Gov. Blunt in 2005.
01-09-2008	Reports Are In: MO HealthNet is a Mess from Day One Last year, Gov. Matt Blunt went to a Jiffy Lube in Springfield and signed a bill into law that made his 2005 health care cuts permanent and officially dismantled the state’s Medicaid system. Now, the early reports on MO HealthNet and Insure Missouri are in, and they show that Blunt’s new system has been a mess from day one. Even Republican lawmakers are admitting that MO HealthNet has more to do with Matt Blunt’s re-election campaign than fixing Missouri’s broken health care system.
01-07-2008	Attorney General Jay Nixon to Deliver State of the State Response Jefferson City, MO --- The Missouri Democratic Party announced today that Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon will deliver the Democratic response to Gov. Blunt’s State of the State address on Tuesday, Jan. 15.
01-06-2008	Oil Prices Hit Record $100 Per Barrel as Sam Graves Stands up for Oil and Against Missourians Reports last week that oil prices had passed $100 per barrel highlight the fact that President Bush and Sam Graves need to stop ducking behind their failed energy policies and work to reduce oil costs as the country prepares to deal with these outrageous prices.
12-21-2007	Blunt Can Run to the TV Cameras, but He Can’t Hide Support for Bush Immigration Plan In his latest attempt to appear tough on illegal immigration, Gov. Blunt appeared on the Lou Dobbs Show last night and denied supporting President Bush’s immigration reform plan, which many conservatives (including Dobbs) denounced as amnesty for illegal immigrants. However, on the morning after Bush formally proposed his plan to the nation in 2006 and stated that illegal immigrants “should be able to apply for citizenship,” Blunt commended the president for “setting forth a solid plan to address the challenges we face in immigration.”
12-17-2007	Gov. Blunt Supports Bush Plan on Illegal Immigrants, Economic Amnesty for Their Employers Today Gov. Matt Blunt held yet another series of press conferences on illegal immigration, but again forgot to mention two very important facts: He supported President Bush’s “comprehensive” immigration reform plan, and instead of taking action against employers who hire illegal immigrants, Blunt has given them economic amnesty by awarding them state contracts and state tax credits.
12-13-2007	Another Election Year Promise to Hide Years of Failed Leadership Today Gov. Matt Blunt made his latest election year promise in the hopes of distracting Missourians from years of failed leadership. The latest promise relates to the state’s support for higher education - which has ranked “dead last” in the nation under Gov. Blunt.
11-26-2007	Blunt, New Chief of Staff Should Release Backup Tapes, Cooperate with Independent Investigation Nearly a week after his Chief of Staff quit in the midst of his document destruction scandal, Gov. Matt Blunt has yet to release backup tapes containing missing emails and memos, nor has he announced whether his administration intends to cooperate with an independent investigation into violations of the state’s Sunshine and record retention laws.
11-20-2007	Statement on Resignation of Blunt Chief of Staff Ed Martin “Ed Martin should have lost his job before this scandal ever emerged. This scandal goes way beyond the careless actions of one staff member. It’s about a Governor who broke the law, lied about it, and then tried to cover it up. Gov. Blunt must come clean about the documents his administration is trying so hard to hide and release all of the back-up tapes.”
11-05-2007	Blunt Continues to Break Law, Cover It up and Lie about It After a full week of Gov. Matt Blunt’s lawbreaking, cover-ups and lies, the Missouri Democratic Party today released a web video calling on Blunt to release the documents that his former attorney Scott Eckersley provided him relating to his violation of the state’s Sunshine laws and retention policies.
11-01-2007	BOMBSHELL: BLUNT CAUGHT ON CAMERA Former Blunt attorney Scott Eckersley has said that he alerted Gov. Matt Blunt and his staff that they were breaking the state’s Sunshine and retention laws. For the second time this week, Gov. Blunt said today that no documents exist proving that Eckersley alerted him or his staff of their law breaking – and that it never happened. After Blunt made that blanket assertion again today, a reporter told the Governor that she has seen – with her own eyes – emails proving that Eckersley did in fact alert the Governor that he was breaking the law.
10-31-2007	Time for the Truth: Blunt Should Allow Eckersley to Release Documents According to the Associated Press, Gov. Matt Blunt asserted that his former deputy counsel Scott Eckerlsey never advised him on Sunshine laws or retention policies. Blunt’s deputy administration commissioner, Rich AuBuchon, confirmed the Governor’s assertion, saying that “Mr. Eckersley never once voiced a concern, never once wrote an e-mail, never once talked to other employees in the office evidencing any concern that the governor’s office was not complying with the Sunshine Law or any record retention policies.”
10-30-2007	Blunt Denies Eckersley’s Assertions, Condones Character Attacks and Hides Behind Attorney-Client Privilege Today Gov. Blunt ended his silence on the Scott Eckersley scandal – but his comments lead to far more questions than it answered. Watch Blunt’s comments here on You-Tube.
10-29-2007	Latest Blunt Scandal: Governor Breaks Law, Fires His Own Lawyer for Speaking Up In the most disturbing Matt Blunt scandal since the Fred Ferrell sexual harassment cover-up, newspapers are reporting that Blunt fired his own attorney, Scott Eckersley, last month after Eckersley told Blunt that he was illegally destroying government documents. Instead of listening to Eckersley’s correct legal advice, Blunt continued to break the law – then fired Eckersley and made false character attacks in an attempt to silence him.
10-17-2007	Blunt Misuses Governor’s Mansion for Political Fundraisers, Campaign Events Following news that Matt Blunt’s campaign’s reported holding fundraisers at the Governor’s Mansion and admitted to using the Mansion to host campaign events, the Missouri Democratic Party called on Blunt’s campaign to make public complete lists of all attendees from these inappropriate Lincoln Bedroom-style events so that Missourians can assess their campaign contributions to Blunt.
10-10-2007	** ALERT: BLUNT HITS PANIC BUTTON, CANCELS MEETING ** In the 30 minutes since the release below went out, Gov. Blunt has hit the panic button and reportedly canceled his scheduled lunch with Rep. Jack Jackson. “More clear proof that Matt Blunt is running scared,” said Jack Cardetti, Missouri Democratic Party spokesman. “If he can’t look Rep. Jackson in the eye and defend his agenda, how is he going to face thousands of Missouri voters whose health care he slashed?”
10-05-2007	Blunt Refuses to Reimburse State for Political Travel on Taxpayers’ Dime Gov. Blunt’s campaign spokesman today confirmed that Gov. Blunt will not reimburse the state for using state vehicles to travel to political events, despite the fact that Attorney General Jay Nixon and Lt. Governor Peter Kinder are voluntarily doing so.
10-02-2007	Matt Blunt: Breaking Laws, Campaigning On The Taxpayers’ Dime By launching merit-less attacks against Attorney General Nixon and his security detail, Gov. Blunt is clearly trying to distract reporters from his own documented pattern of campaigning on the tax-payer’s dime and recent reports that he violated the state’s retention law.
09-28-2007	Missouri Democrats: Matt Blunt Must Stop Breaking Open Government Laws and Destroying E-mails The Missouri Democratic Party today called on Gov. Matt Blunt to stop breaking open government laws by destroying official state e-mails, and to immediately develop, and abide by, an email retention policy that is in accordance with state law.
09-27-2007	Blunt Refuses to Take Stand on S-CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2007 As a result of Governor Blunt’s massive health care cuts in 2005, more than 127, 000 Missouri children do not have health coverage. Yet, Governor Blunt refuses to take a position on a bill (HR 976), passed by Congress and sent to the President, to reauthorize the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP) -- a critical program that insures millions of low income children across the country.
09-26-2007	Does Matt Blunt Support the Bi-partisan SCHIP Bill Passed by U.S. House? After slashing more than 28,500 Missouri children off SCHIP, bringing the total number of uninsured Missouri children to more than 127,000, one has to wonder whether Matt Blunt supports the SCHIP reauthorization bill passed last night by the U.S. House of Representatives. Following Gov. Blunt’s massive health care cuts of 2005, more than 73,000 children in Missouri have lost their state-sponsored health insurance. The Governor’s latest health care initiative will do nothing to cover these uninsured children.
09-26-2007	Sam Graves Turns His Back on Missouri’s Children Congressman Sam Graves last night voted against a bipartisan bill to reauthorize and expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), which is set to expire on September 30. The legislation, which would provide health care coverage to 10 million children nationwide, has widespread support from Republicans, including Missouri Sen. Kit Bond and Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, but is opposed by President Bush.
09-25-2007	Missouri’s Unemployment Rate Soars under Blunt A monthly report released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that Missouri’s unemployment rate soared last month from 4.9% to 5.3%, the largest monthly increase of any state in the nation. Missouri was one of only 18 states where the unemployment rate increased last month and Missouri now has the 11th highest unemployment rate in the country.
09-24-2007	Blunt Continues to Defend Massive Health Care Cuts; Drafts New Plan After "Organized Regular Meetings with Lobbyists" According to an article in last Wednesday’s Saint Louis Post-Dispatch, "Blunt made no apology for the cuts." In Sunday’s Post-Dispatch, Blunt developed his "Insure Missouri" plan after the Governor’s staff "organized regular meetings with lobbyists representing hospitals, health clinics, business groups and insurers."
09-20-2007	Blunt’s Health Care Plan: Wrong for Missouri Nearly three years after slashing the health care from hundreds of thousands of Missourians, Gov. Matt Blunt held a press conference on Tuesday to declare himself a champion of accessible health care. While Missourians won’t be fooled into believing that Blunt suddenly cares about access to care, they should know that his latest proposal is riddled with holes, inconsistencies and problems. It is simply wrong for Missouri.
09-12-2007	Top 10 “Hardships” You May See Matt Blunt take to the Missouri Ethics Commission to Justify Keeping Special Interest Millions Yesterday the Missouri Ethics Commission ruled that candidates must return over-limit contributions unless that candidate can show a “hardship” that prevents them from returning the money. So as we all wait with anticipation as Matt Blunt and his team of lawyers struggle to come with “hardships” to justify keeping the millions Blunt has taken from the lobbyists and wealthy special interests, the Missouri Democratic Party presents Matt Blunt’s Top 10 "Hardships".
09-11-2007	Statement Regarding the Missouri Ethics Commission’s Campaign Finance Decision “By establishing a procedure for candidates to refund their excessive contributions, the Missouri Ethics Commission took power away from lobbyists and wealthy corporations and gave it right back to regular Missourians, where it belongs,” said Jack Cardetti, Missouri Democratic Party spokesman.
09-11-2007	Blunt Administration Refuses to Say if Victim of Ed Martin’s Tirade was Fired The Blunt administration today is refusing to say if state employee Jim Torres was fired after alerting Gov. Blunt to what Torres called a demeaning “table-thumping tirade” by Blunt Chief of Staff Ed Martin.
09-04-2007	Blunt on Illegal Immigration: Do as I Say, Not as I Do After three years of silence and inaction on the issue, Gov. Matt Blunt last week proclaimed himself to be tough on illegal immigration. However, the Governor failed to tell Missourians is that he took $40,000 in campaign contributions from a company he knew had been caught hiring illegal immigrants. After receiving the contributions, the Blunt-Appointed Missouri Housing And Development Commission then approved the company, Gundaker Commercial Group, to receive state tax-exempt bonds.
08-28-2007	Statement on Blunt’s Continued Attempts to Justify Keeping Millions from Special Interests “Now that Jay Nixon is no longer advising the Ethics Commission, we’re waiting to see what ‘hardship’ Matt Blunt’s comes up with next to protect the millions he’s taken from the special interests,” said Jack Cardetti, Missouri Democratic Party spokesman. “It’s clear Blunt will say anything and everything in order to convince the Ethics Commission he should keep his special interest millions.”
08-28-2007	National Republicans Tell Blunt He’s Too Weak to Lead After spending $2.6 million on Gov. Matt Blunt’s 2004 campaign and electing him as vice chair, the Republican Governors Association (RGA) has decided Gov. Blunt’s weak leadership in Missouri has left Blunt too vulnerable to become Chair of their association.
08-27-2007	Statement on Campaign Finance Ruling “Today’s ruling is a victory for those Missourians who believe elections should be fought on a level playing field,” said Jack Cardetti, Missouri Democratic Party spokesman. “The Supreme Court and the Ethics Commission agree that this ruling should be applied retroactively.”
08-22-2007	Statement Regarding Anti-Stem Cell Initiative “The people of Missouri spoke on this issue last year and voted for hope and opportunity,” said Jack Cardetti, Missouri Democratic Party spokesman. “The Missouri Democratic Party will oppose any effort to overturn the will of the people and criminalize potentially life-saving research that could cure everything from juvenile diabetes to Alzheimer’s.”
08-16-2007	Despite Lagging Economy, Blunt Uses Special Session to Enrich Lobbyist Brother, One Wealthy Developer Gov. Matt Blunt today called the Missouri Legislature into a special session to work on $70 million worth of special interest giveaways, including a law allowing ticket scalping that will directly benefit his lobbyist brother, Andy Blunt, whose client Ticketmaster wants to resell tickets on the Internet.
08-09-2007	Statement on Republican Rep. Nathan Cooper’s Felony Guilty Plea Missouri Democratic Party spokesman Jack Cardetti: "Today’s guilty plea pulls back the curtain on the culture of corruption created by Matt Blunt and his legislative allies. It’s no wonder that Missourians are ready for change."
08-01-2007	Statement on Sen. Koster’s Decision to Leave the Republican Party MDP spokesman Jack Cardetti: “This announcements shows just how extreme and out of touch Matt Blunt and other Republican leaders have become. You know there are problems in Missouri when a former Republican Attorney General candidate can’t stomach the direction Matt Blunt is taking this state.”
07-31-2007	Blunt Will Say Anything to Keep Millions in Special Interest Money Based on the legal brief filed today by the Missouri Republican Party with the Missouri Supreme Court on behalf of Gov. Matt Blunt, it’s clear that Blunt will say anything to justify keeping the millions he’s already taken from wealthy corporations, special interest lobbyists and big developers. The brief directly contradicts the position of Blunt’s own Ethics Commission.
07-26-2007	Does Gov. Blunt Stand with or Against His Own Ethics Commission? The Missouri Ethics Commission and the Office of the Attorney General filed a legal brief with the Missouri Supreme Court arguing that the Court’s ruling on campaign finance reform should be retroactive as a matter of fundamental fairness. Hours later, Matt Blunt’s allies circulated an array of wild conspiracy theories. But one very simple question remains: Where does Matt Blunt stand on the issue of retroactivity?
07-24-2007	The tale of two Governors: When staffs are caught playing politics with the State Police, one Governor takes action, one Governor says nothing Last week, the Kansas City Star reported that Gov. Matt Blunt’s staff irresponsibly used the state’s Highway Patrol to attack Jay Nixon, a political opponent. Today, news broke of a nearly identical situation in New York, where the Governor’s staff was caught using the state police to attack a political opponent.
07-17-2007	Blunt’s 2nd Quarter Finance Plan: Sell State Government for $478,250 in Campaign Contributions Less than a year after getting rid of campaign contribution limits in Missouri, Gov. Blunt’s fundraising strategy is becoming crystal clear: sell off state government piece by piece in exchange for unlimited campaign contributions.
07-02-2007	Blunt Completes Broken Campaign Promise; Makes Health Care Cuts Permanent Gov. Matt Blunt signed legislation today that makes his Medicaid cuts of 2005 permanent, officially completing his broken promise not to cut Medicaid.
05-29-2007	A New Ethical Low for Missouri Republicans; Speaker Pro Tem is Paid on the Side by Nursing Home Lobby Besides serving as the Speaker Pro Tem of the Missouri House, Republican Carl Bearden also receives a paycheck from the powerful nursing home lobby, the Missouri Health Care Association. Bearden’s recently filed personal financial disclosure listed the MHCA along with other lobbying groups.
05-23-2007	Blunt’s MOHELA Raid Will Make College Less Affordable for Missouri Families The Missouri Democratic Party today condemned Gov. Blunt’s signing of a bill to that would take millions of dollars out of MOHELA, the program that provides low-interest student loans to Missouri students.
05-18-2007	2007 Legislative Session: Matt Blunt’s Wrong Priorities Leave Thousands of Missouri Families Behind Following another legislative session of Gov. Matt Blunt putting the needs of the special interests ahead of Missouri families, Missouri Democratic Party spokesman Jack Cardetti released the following statement: "Instead of parading around the state holding press conferences, perhaps Matt Blunt should use the next few weeks to explain to the people of Missouri why 121,000 children still don’t have health insurance and a college education is further out of reach for more families. The people of Missouri deserve a leader who will find creative solutions to the state’s problems, not creative ways to appease the special interests."
05-18-2007	Blunt, GOP Legislators Poised to Make Disastrous Health Care Cuts Permanent On the last day of the legislative session, Missouri Republicans are poised to hastily pass legislation that would make Gov. Matt Blunt’s 2005 health care cuts permanent. "Matt Blunt’s wrong priorities are taking our state further in the wrong direction and making it harder for Missouri families to make ends meet," said MDP spokesman Jack Cardetti.
05-14-2007	Kay Barnes Announces for Congress with Family in St. Joseph St. Joseph, Missouri, native Kay Cronkite Barnes today announced her candidacy for the United States House of Representatives from the 6th Congressional District. “It is great to be able to be with family and friends who formed the base of my support group when I was growing up in St. Joseph" she said. "The values I learned from my mother and late father and all my teachers, classmates and family friends are the same ones that helped me be successful in Kansas City.”
04-17-2007	Blunt Gives Major Appointment to Donor Two Weeks after $50,000 Contribution Thursday morning in front of the Senate Gubernatorial Appointments Committee, Neosho banker Ruby Farber will have to answer whether Gov. Blunt appointed him to Missouri government’s most powerful commission because of a $50,000 contribution he gave Blunt two weeks before his nomination was announced.
04-16-2007	Nixon Campaign Reports Nearly $2.6 Million Raised in Campaign for Governor Attorney General Jay Nixon’s campaign today reported receiving nearly $2.6 million from over 4,000 donors since he launched his campaign for governor. With over $1.9 million cash on hand, the Nixon for Governor campaign has set a new record by raising more than any non-incumbent campaign for governor 20 months prior to Election Day. During the last reporting period Nixon’s campaign received over 2,000 contributions totaling more than $1.3 million.
04-14-2007	Missouri Democratic Party Names Ken Franklin New Executive Director The Missouri Democratic Party today announced that Ken Franklin from St. Louis will be the party’s new Executive Director.
03-20-2007	Sam Graves Rolls Out the Red Carpet for President Bush and Big Oil As President Bush looks today to escape the ever expanding U.S. Attorney scandal in Washington, he’ll visit the district of one of his most loyal rubberstamp allies — Missouri Congressman Sam Graves.
03-16-2007	Fired U.S. Attorney Fears that Public Corruption Investigation of Gov. Blunt Cost him his Job Fired U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins told the LA Times in a story today that he fears he was fired because we was investigating criminal charges against Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt concerning his awarding of lucrative motor vehicle fee offices. “It now becomes clear that the Bush administration was willing to fire a U.S. Attorney just because he was doing his job and investigating corruptions charges against fellow Republican Matt Blunt,” said Jack Cardetti, Missouri Democratic Party spokesman.
03-16-2007	Missouri Democrats Interested in Attending 2008 Democratic National Convention Urged to Sign Up Online for Delegate Selection Process The Missouri Democratic Party today urged Missouri Democrats interested in attending the 2008 Democratic National Convention to visit www.missouridems.org to get information on how to be selected as one of Missouri’s 88 delegates or 12 alternates.
03-13-2007	Statement on MOHELA Missouri Democratic Party spokesman Jack Cardetti: ""Tonight the Missouri Senate, led by Senate Democrats, wisely fought against attempts to make college less affordable and less accessible for Missouri students and their families. Senate Democrats took a principled stand that it was unacceptable to mortgage our children’s future in return for short-term construction projects that wouldn’t have improved our state’s economy or research capacity."
03-04-2007	Statements on the Passing of Sen. Tom Eagleton "For half a century Tom Eagleton has been the face of public service for Missouri Democrats. His selfless dedication to his state and his country has made Tom Eagleton a personal hero to a generation of Missourians, including myself. The Missouri Democratic Party will work every day to stay true to the examples and ideals that Senator Eagleton has set for us." — John Temporiti, Missouri Democratic Party Chairman
03-01-2007	Court Records Expose Blunt’s Plan to Hide Details of Sexual Harassment Settlement from Public Yesterday during a Capitol news conference, Gov. Matt Blunt vigorously denied that his administration had sought for months to keep details of a possible settlement with a sexual harassment victim secret. However, court records show that lawyers for the Blunt administration insisted that the victim sign a "confidentiality clause" in their proposed settlement to cover up the scandal.
02-26-2007	Statement on Gov. Blunt’s Decision Not to Fire Fred Ferrell Last May "It’s offensive that only after Gov. Blunt’s attempts to cover up sexual harassment in his administration failed, did our governor finally fire Fred Ferrell," said Jack Cardetti, Missouri Democratic Party Spokesman.
02-14-2007	Blunt Asleep at the Switch as 1,300 Missourians lose Jobs; Now Won’t Fight to Reverse the Cuts Only hours after Chrysler announced they would cut 1,300 jobs at the South Fenton plant, it is becoming clear that Gov. Matt Blunt will not fight to reverse these devastating cuts to our economy. “Gov. Blunt has made it perfectly clear that, unlike other states, he has absolutely no desire to fight for these 1,300 high-paying Missouri jobs,” said Jack Cardetti, Missouri Democratic Party spokesman.
02-14-2007	Missouri Democratic Party Elects John Temporiti as Chair, Yolanda Wheat as Vice Chair The Missouri Democratic Party State Committee elected John Temporiti of St. Louis as party chairman and Yolanda Wheat of Kansas City as vice chair. "I look forward to working with Democrats from across Missouri to build on the great momentum our party gained from our victories last November," Temporiti said.
02-12-2007	Rep. Rachel Storch to Chair House Democratic Campaign Committee House Minority Leader Jeff Harris has appointed Rep. Rachel Storch (D- St. Louis) Chair of The Missouri House Democratic Campaign Committee for the 2008 election cycle. Storch replaces Rep. Clint Zweifel, who led the HDCC during the 2006 cycle when they picked up a net gain of five seats in the Missouri House of Representatives.
02-07-2007	Republicans Sell Out College Students and Won’t Even Build Research Facilities in Return A Missouri Senate committee this afternoon voted to move forward with the sale of the state’s student loan program, MOHELA, despite the fact that the plan no longer includes the construction of multiple research facilities on college campuses, which Gov. Blunt once described as a way to "help make Missouri a leader in technology and science research."
01-31-2007	Joe Carmichael Tapped to Head Search Committee for New Democratic Party Chairman The Missouri Democratic Party today announced that Joe Carmichael has been tapped to head up the seven-member committee that will pick the new chair of the Missouri Democratic Party to replace outgoing Chairman Roger Wilson. Carmichael, of Springfield, served as chairman of the Missouri Democratic Party from 1994-2003 and has previously served as the national chairman of the Association of State Democratic Chairs.
01-30-2007	Blunt Acknowledges Plan will only Restore Health Care to 10,000 Missourians Yesterday in St. Louis[1], Gov. Blunt finally acknowledged that his new health care plan will only restore coverage to 10,000 of the Missourians he cut off of Medicaid.
01-25-2007	President Bush Will Attempt to Sell Middle Class Tax Increase to Missourians During Visit Today When President Bush visits Missouri today, he’ll try to convince middle class Missourians that they should start paying taxes on the health care coverage they receive from their employer. More than half of all Americans receive health care coverage through this employer-sponsored system.
01-24-2007	Nixon: We Can Move Missouri Forward By Restoring Health Care Cuts, Supporting Public Schools and Creating Jobs Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon said today that Missouri is falling behind other states on health care, education and job creation because Governor Matt Blunt has the wrong priorities.
01-17-2007	Jay Nixon to Deliver Democratic Message in Response to Gov. Blunt’s State of the State Address The Missouri Democratic Party today announced that Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon will deliver the Democratic message in response to Gov. Blunt’s State of the State address on Wednesday, Jan. 24.
11-02-2006	Is Jim Talent a proud Bush Republican? On the eve of President Bush’s visit to campaign for Jim Talent, the Missouri Democratic Party today asked Jim Talent to answer the question: "Are you a proud Bush Republican?"
11-02-2006	MDP files ethics complaint against Ed Robb’s campaign committee The Missouri Democratic Party today filed an ethics complaint against Friends of Ed Robb regarding a campaign mailer-like legislative newsletter that was produced with campaign funds but was mailed to constituents a month before a hotly contested election using taxpayer dollars. Ed Robb is the Republican candidate for the 24th Legislative District.
10-31-2006	Missing Weapons in Iraq: Another Oversight Failure from Jim Talent In 2004, Jim Talent suggested there was too much red tape in the spending of U.S. taxpayer dollars in Iraq. But this week, we learned that the U.S. has lost hundreds of thousands of weapons intended for Iraq security forces and paid for by U.S. taxpayers. Of course, this is just the latest in a long line of oversight failures from Jim Talent and the Bush Administration.
10-30-2006	St. Charles County Elections Director asked to Recuse Himself over Election Day Conflict Involving Son The Missouri Democratic Party today called on the father of Jim Talent’s spokesman to recuse himself for the General Election as St. Charles County Director of Elections, citing a potential conflict of interest. Rich Chrismer, earned more than $90,000 last year working for Talent’s Senatorial staff and is now his campaign spokesman.
10-27-2006	Talent Should Return Contributions from War Profiteers like Halliburton In light of Dick Cheney’s visit to Missouri today, the Missouri Democratic Party has called on Jim Talent to return more than $50,000 he received in contributions from Halliburton and other war profiteers. As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Talent sat idly by as war profiteers, like Dick Cheney’s former company Halliburton, wasted millions that could have gone to arm and protect our troops with body armor and other lifesaving equipment.
10-24-2006	Paper Demands that Talent “Pull Ads” that “Deceive Voters” The Kansas City Star has demanded that Jim Talent pull ads he is currently running after agreeing with a nonprofit watchdog group that found that the ads are "misleading" and "deceive voters."
10-23-2006	Talent Blindly Insists on Staying the Course in Iraq The war in Iraq is going so badly that the Pentagon’s top generals, intelligence officials and a number of Republican Senators are all raising concerns, and many that once supported the war are now suggesting that it is time to change the course in Iraq. But Jim Talent continues to "stay the course." Talent even continues to claim that progress is being made in Iraq as the country is rapidly declining into a civil war.
10-20-2006	Social Security Privatization Group Engages in Massive Campaign Mailing for Pro-Privatization Advocate Jim Talent The Missouri Democratic Party today warned Missourians about a mailing being disseminated by a deceptive pro-privatization group, The Seniors Coalition, asking Missourians to re-elect Jim Talent. "Jim Talent and the Seniors Coalition are afraid to be honest about their intentions to risk the Social Security benefits of Missouri seniors with privatization plans that put money in the pockets of their friends on Wall Street," said Jack Cardetti, spokesman for the Missouri Democratic Party.
10-19-2006	Prosecutor Refers Investigation into Sandra Thomas Campaign to Federal Prosecutors News reports indicate that the Cole County Prosecutor Bill Tackett has referred an investigation into whether the Sandra Thomas campaign illegally used state property for campaign purposes to federal prosecutors.
10-17-2006	Talent Campaign Funded by War Profiteers Missourians may have a better insight into why Jim Talent oddly proclaimed recently in a debate on "Meet the Press" that the $300 billion spent in Iraq was "not a lot of money." It turns out that Jim Talent has used his seat on the Senate Armed Services Committee to collect more than $50,000 in contributions from war profiteers such as Halliburton and Parsons Corp.
10-16-2006	Gov. Roger Wilson Applauds Supreme Court’s Voter ID Ruling The Missouri Supreme Court ruled today to uphold a lower court’s decision that Senate Bill 1014 is unconstitutional. SB 1014 would have required Missouri voters to show an unexpired, state or U.S. government-issued photo ID on Election Day. The lower court had ruled that the bill was unconstitutional because it unfairly burdened Missouri’s seniors and women who may have more difficulty obtaining photo IDs because of lost birth certificates or surname changes.
10-10-2006	Talent and Missouri Farm Bureau Support Animal ID Program that Will Cost Family Farmers, Lead to More Agriculture Consolidation The Missouri Democratic Party is calling on Jim Talent and the Missouri Farm Bureau to oppose an animal ID program that would cause tremendous expense to family farmers and further solidify corporate agriculture’s grasp on the industry.
10-06-2006	Gov. Roger Wilson Wishes Rep. Jason Brown a Safe Recovery from Injuries Sustained in Iraq Gov. Roger Wilson, Chairman of the Missouri Democratic Party, today issued the following statement upon hearing news that State Rep. Jason Brown had been injured in Iraq.
10-05-2006	Talent’s Opposition to Stem Cell Research Denies Hope to 12,000 Missouri Parkinson’s Patients Jim Talent’s opposition to stem cell research is denying hope and opportunity to individuals like Michael J. Fox, who suffer from Parkinson’s disease. More than 12,000 Missourians currently suffer from Parkinson’s, and one in 200 is expected to be diagnosed with the disease at some point in their life
10-04-2006	Will Jim Talent Show Leadership during Foley Scandal? The Missouri Democratic Party today called on Jim Talent to break his silence involving the Mark Foley scandal that broke last week so that serious questions don’t remain unanswered.
10-02-2006	Democrats Call on Gov. Blunt to Donate Money from Alleged-Pedophile Mark Foley The Missouri Democratic Party is calling on Gov. Matt Blunt to donate campaign contributions he received from alleged-pedophile Congressman Mark Foley to a worthwhile charity. Congressman Foley resigned on Friday after e-mails surfaced showing he sent sexually suggestive messages to under-aged Congressional pages.
09-28-2006	State lawmakers call on Talent to prevent cuts to Children’s Health Insurance Program Leaders in the Missouri General Assembly are calling on Jim Talent today to help keep 22,000 Missouri children insured by reauthorizing funding for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.
09-22-2006	Missouri Seniors Now in Donut Hole Because Jim Talent put Drug Company Profits ahead of Seniors and Taxpayers Today the average Missouri senior will begin hitting the so-called "donut hole" in the Medicare Part D prescription drug law costing them thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket expenses. This problem could have been avoided if Jim Talent would have voted to allow Medicare to negotiate lower prescription drug prices with drug companies through bulk purchasing, which would have lowered costs to seniors and saved taxpayers billions.
09-08-2006	Auditor Candidate Sandra Thomas Called on to Fire Staffers Caught Using State Resources for Campaign The Missouri Democratic Party is calling on Sandra Thomas to fire any staffers involved in using state resources to support her campaign and to preserve any evidence related to such occurrences. The request comes in response to the recent discovery that a campaign news release (attached) sent on her behalf was disseminated from a computer in a state senator’s Capitol office.
09-08-2006	Bad News for Missouri Families: With Third Presidential Fundraiser, Talent Solidifies Indebtedness to Bush Today in Kansas City, President George Bush will hold a record third fundraiser for Jim Talent this cycle, which means that no other Senate candidate will be so indebted to George Bush. Talent has rewarded Bush’s generosity over the past year by supporting billions in tax breaks to oil companies, opposing stem cell research, opposing increases in the minimum wage, and casting the tie breaking vote to cut $14 billion in Medicaid.
09-05-2006	Talent Caught on Tape Saying Amnesty Works In a stunning act of hypocrisy, Sen. Jim Talent has been caught on tape appearing to tell a voter, “That’s the lesson we learned several years ago. Not that amnesty doesn’t work, but that you don’t call it amnesty.”
09-01-2006	Gov. Roger Wilson Admonishes Film Depicting Bush Assassination Gov. Roger Wilson today publicly denounced a film that features realistic documentary-style footage of the President being shot in the stomach outside an event in Chicago.
08-29-2006	Talent Refuses to Answer AARP Questionnaire; Instead, Touts Fake Senior Group Endorsement Backed by Abramoff and Drug Companies Jim Talent refuses to answer a questionnaire from the country’s largest senior organization. The AARP questionnaire asks where Jim Talent stands on important issues such as privatizing social security and allowing Medicare to negotiate lower prescription drug prices. Talent does, however, brag on his Web site about an endorsement by a fake group funded by the pharmaceutical industry called the United Seniors Association.
08-28-2006	Jim Talent Hides Support from Drug Companies by Using Deceptive Front Groups, Including One Led by Jack Abramoff The Missouri Democratic Party is calling on Jim Talent to stop using the support of Republican front groups to hide the financial backing he receives from the pharmaceutical industry.
08-18-2006	Jim Talent Failed to Fight For 1,850 Missouri Boeing Jobs Sen. Jim Talent’s failure to fight for Missouri jobs in the U.S. Senate hit home today as it was announced that 1,850 Missouri Boeing jobs are in jeopardy after Congress eliminated the C-17 program. Talent, who sits on the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee that has direct authority over the C-17 project, has failed to attend 65 of the committee’s 95 hearings — almost 70 percent — since he came to the Senate in 2003.
08-18-2006	External Audit Blames Errors by State Auditor Candidate Sandra Thomas for Platte County’s missing $195,000 An external audit conducted for Platte County yesterday faulted County Auditor Sandra Thomas for $195,000 in funds that were missing for almost a year. The external audit, conducted by a political contributor to the Sandra Thomas for State Auditor campaign, found four major mistakes by Thomas’ office that contributed to the missing $195,000.
08-15-2006	New Head of Highway Patrol Called on To Release Investigation Report into Allegations that Blunt Appointee Harassed Employees The Missouri Democratic Party today called on the new head of the Missouri State Highway Patrol to release the investigation report the patrol conducted for Gov. Blunt into allegation that Blunt’s Agriculture Director Fred Ferrell harassed state employees.
08-14-2006	Missouri Democratic Party Endorses Pay Raise for Missouri Workers, Calls on Democrats to Vote Yes on Minimum Wage Increase Gov. Roger Wilson, Missouri Democratic Party chairman, announced today that the party officially has endorsed an initiative to increase the state’s minimum wage and called on all Missouri Democrats to vote yes on the measure.
08-10-2006	Missouri Democratic Party Announces Campaign to Assist Voters in Obtaining Required Photo ID The Missouri Democratic Party today unveiled its plan to assist voters in obtaining the photo ID now required to vote under Missouri law. “While we certainly support legal action to overturn this undemocratic law, the Missouri Democratic Party will attempt to help all Missouri citizens obtain the necessary identification,” said Gov. Roger Wilson, Missouri Democratic Party chairman.
08-08-2006	Talent Refuses to Take a Stand as Minimum Wage Increase Heads to Ballot While an initiative petition to increase Missouri’s minimum wage today was officially placed on the November ballot, Sen. Jim Talent continues to refuse to take a stand on this important issue.
08-04-2006	Democrats Demand that Talent Finally Crack Down on Big Oil After gas prices soared 20 cents overnight, the Missouri Democratic Party this morning called on Sen. Jim Talent to support legislation that would give the Federal Trade Commission new authority to crack down on oil and gas companies that engage in predatory pricing.
07-31-2006	Ethics Complaint Filed after Blunt Illegally Takes $38,000 from Republican National Committee The Missouri Democratic Party today filed an ethics complaint against Gov. Matt Blunt after his campaign accepted a $38,982.45 from the Republican National Committee in violation of Missouri’s campaign finance laws. The contribution, which was made in April 2006, is above the legal contribution limit and constitutes an illegal transfer of funds between political committees.
07-28-2006	IRS Records Show that Blunt’s Gaming Commission Appointee Funneled $45,000 to RGA; Even Republicans Agree Blunt Has Set Up ‘Pay-to-Play’ Just one day after a Republican legislator called on Gov. Blunt to stop putting cronies’ interests ahead of taxpayers, Democrats have uncovered IRS records showing that Blunt’s Gaming Commission appointee funneled $45,000 to the Republican Governors Association.
07-27-2006	Talent’s Failures to Stand Up for Law Enforcement Officers, Secure Borders Contribute to Meth Crisis Sen. Jim Talent’s opposition to vital anti-meth law enforcement programs and failure to crack down on the flow of methamphetamine into the United States from Mexico shows just how out of touch Missouri’s junior senator is on this important issue. Because of repeated opposition from Talent and the Bush Administration to increased funding for border and port security, as much as 80 percent of the meth now consumed in the United States is produced in and imported from Mexico, and Mexican meth imports are growing steadily every year.
07-26-2006	FEC Complaint Filed as Talent Refuses to Disclose Who is Paying for Campaign Ads The Missouri Democratic Party today filed an FEC complaint against Jim Talent after it was discovered that a half-page ad in the St. Louis Metro Sentinel supporting his troubled bid for reelection deliberately shields who paid for the ad.
07-21-2006	Talent Claims to Protect Military Families, Doesn’t Really Crack Down on Predatory Lenders Sen. Jim Talent’s idea of protecting members of the military and their families from predatory lenders is allowing these companies to charge them interest at an exorbitant annual percentage rate. The 36-percent APR cap Talent is touting is exorbitantly high by any standard -- more than twice the rate most people pay.
07-20-2006	Talent Attempts to Reinvent Himself with Early TV Ads to Revive His Floundering Reelection Bid and Remake His Partisan Image In the face of sagging approval numbers and with his reelection bid slipping away, Jim Talent today -- almost three weeks before the primary -- started running television ads throughout Missouri in a feeble attempt to reinvent himself in the eyes of Missourians.
07-19-2006	Bush and Talent Deny Hope to Missourians with Life-Threatening Diseases by Opposing Stem Cell Research With Sen. Jim Talent’s support, President Bush today vetoed legislation to expand stem cell research, which would have provided hope and opportunity to those with life-threatening diseases. The veto comes one day after the U.S. Senate passed the stem cell bill in bipartisan fashion.
07-14-2006	C-17, Missouri Jobs: Victims of Talent’s Failure on Armed Services Committee The Missouri Democratic Party today called on Sen. Jim Talent to explain to the 2,000 Missouri Boeing Co. workers whose jobs are in danger why — instead of fighting for their jobs — he has been AWOL from the Senate Armed Services Committee, which has direct authority over the C-17 project on which they work.
07-13-2006	Talent Campaign Admits Ethanol Flip-Flop Jim Talent’s campaign admitted today that Missouri’s junior senator has flip-flopped on the issue of ethanol. While serving in the Missouri House of Representatives, Talent was an outspoken critic of ethanol.
07-11-2006	Democrats Call on Blunt to Order Fee Offices to Come Clean on Financial Relationships with Shadowy Management Companies Just one day after Republican legislators proposed a plan to outlaw third-party management of fee offices, the Missouri Democratic Party today called on Gov. Matt Blunt to order all of his fee office operators to disclose their financial arrangements with management companies, so the public can know where their money ultimately is going. Democrats also want Blunt to order the management companies, which the governor’s friends run, to disclose all of their owners.
07-07-2006	Talent Opposed Key Ethanol Measures as St. Louis Representative, Now Belatedly Jumps on Ethanol Bandwagon Years before U.S. Senator Jim Talent voted to give billions in tax breaks to oil companies at the expense of ethanol producers, then-State Rep. Jim Talent voted in 1990 to support Gov. John Ashcroft’s veto of Democratic legislation that would have created one of the first ethanol programs in Missouri.
06-29-2006	Speaker Jetton Joins Democrats in Urging Blunt to Reverse Himself and Call Special Session on Medicaid Republican Speaker of the House Rod Jetton has now joined efforts by Missouri Democrats to urge Gov. Matt Blunt to reverse an earlier decision and call a special session to restore Medicaid coverage to nearly 4,000 Missourians with disabilities.
06-28-2006	Bush and Talent Take Care of Themselves While They Deny Missouri Families a Raise Today as President Bush helps Senator Jim Talent rake in hundreds of thousands in campaign contributions over dinner at the Ritz-Carlton in St. Louis, Missouri families continue to suffer under a 10-year-old minimum wage.
06-27-2006	Talent Campaign Calls Stealing U.S. Flag a Prank Not Deserving of Serious Punishment In a bizarre twist for a United State’s Senator who spends a lot of time talking about protecting the flag, Jim Talent today is standing by a vote he made in 1985 as a state legislator against increasing penalties for those who steal U.S. flags from public buildings.
06-26-2006	Talent Voted Against Increasing Penalties for Stealing the U.S. Flag While Jim Talent makes a big show in an election year about protecting the integrity of the American flag, his legislative record in the Missouri State House reveals a hypocrite who did not see fit to protect the flag.
06-26-2006	Poll: Democrats Providing Leadership on Important Issues, While Republicans are Out of Touch with Missourians A poll released yesterday by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and KMOV-TV shows Democratic candidates consistently beating Republicans because Democrats are in touch with Missouri voters when it comes to issues like increasing the minimum wage, supporting stem cell research, restoring Medicaid coverage, and opposing efforts to prevent seniors and the disabled from voting by requiring a voter ID.
06-16-2006	Talent Turns to Former Felon for Cover after His Support for Companies that Hire Illegal Immigrants is Exposed Jim Talent today showed just how close he is to companies who hire illegal immigrants when his campaign trotted out Tyson Senior Vice President Archie Schaffer to defend Talent’s continued support of amnesty for companies that hire illegal immigrants.
06-13-2006	Missouri Democratic Party Chairman Calls on Blunt to Repudiate Spokesman’s Terrorist Allegations “There is absolutely no place in government for this type of character assassination. Timothy McVeigh executed 168 people in the deadliest attack on our nation by a domestic terrorist. Spence Jackson’s comments are an embarrassment to the State of Missouri, and Governor Blunt should take immediate action to correct the harm his administration has done to Roy [Temple] and to the Office of the Governor."
06-06-2006	Missouri Democratic Party Endorses Stem Cell Initiative Missouri Democratic Party Chairman Roger Wilson announced that the Democratic State Committee unanimously endorsed the Missouri Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative at its meeting Saturday in Columbia.
06-02-2006	Talent Tells Voters not to Judge Him on His Past 14 Years in Washington, Including His Billion-Dollar Gifts to Big Oil Today, Jim Talent started an eight-city tour to revive his floundering reelection bid by telling voters not to judge him on what he’s done during his 14 years in Washington but to trust that he can be an agent of change to clean up the mess he helped create.
06-01-2006	Talent’s Attempt to Reinvent Himself During Kick-Off Tour Doesn’t Square with His Washington Record Over the next two days, Sen. Jim Talent will fly to eight of Missouri’s biggest cities in an attempt to distract voters from the mess he has helped create in Washington in hopes of reviving his floundering reelection bid. Touting false claims about his effectiveness as Senator, Missouri Democrats fully expect Jim Talent to try to distance himself from his own record of working on the side of special interests over the past 14 years as both a lawmaker and lobbyist in Washington.
05-24-2006	After Voting 10 Times against Increasing the Minimum Wage, Jim Talent Now Won’t Take a Stand on Giving Missourians a Raise It would seem crystal clear where Sen. Jim Talent stands on increasing the minimum wage in Missouri, seeing as he has voted against it 10 times during his legislative career. Yet, in another election year game of hide and seek, Talent now refuses to take a stand on this important issue, which will be on the ballot in November, when he runs for reelection.
05-18-2006	Blunt Stacks the Deck at the Ethics Commission; Democrats Call on Governor to Fill Opening to Return Partisan Balance Missouri Democrats again today called on Gov. Matt Blunt to fill the remaining opening on the bipartisan Missouri Ethics Commission. Blunt’s failure to appoint the remaining Democratic commissioner has left the commission with a 3-2 Republican bias as it meets today in Jefferson City.
05-17-2006	Looking for Political Cover with Seniors, Flip-Flopping Talent Belatedly Changes Position on Prescription Drug Deadline Much like he did on the issue of stem cell research, Sen. Jim Talent has again flip-flopped on an issue important to Missouri families due to mounting pressure. This time Talent has announced that he now supports dropping the penalty that seniors will pay for missing the May 15 deadline to sign up for the new Medicare prescription drug program, despite that fact that 24 hours early he remained opposed to extending the deadline.
05-15-2006	Missouri Seniors at Risk Because Jim Talent Repeatedly Failed to Extend Midnight Medicare Deadline More than 257,000 Missouri seniors could face severe lifetime penalties as tonight’s Medicare drug benefit enrollment deadline passes. Democrats today condemned Jim Talent for failing to stand up to the pharmaceutical industry by rejecting numerous attempts to extend the deadline so that seniors would have more time to sign up for the complicated new program.
05-11-2006	Republicans Show True Colors on Voter ID: Senators Play Politics with Missourians Right to Vote This week Republicans in the Missouri Senate have shown what many believed all along — that a proposal to require voters to show a state issued ID was nothing more than a partisan political ploy.
05-09-2006	Does Talent Still Support His $100 Gas Rebate Gimmick Now that it Has Been Lampooned by his Fellow Republicans? Less than two weeks after presenting a plan to essentially buy votes this fall by offering families a $100 rebate as a “solution” to the high gas prices, Jim Talent’s idea has been called everything from insulting to silly to dumb to political nonsense, and those are just comments from Talent’s Republican colleagues.
05-01-2006	State’s Senior Advocate Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder Called on to Protect Seniors’ Right to Vote Missouri Democrats today called on the state’s senior advocate, Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, to stand up for Missouri seniors’ right to vote by opposing the voter ID mandate currently being debated in the legislature.
04-28-2006	After Giving Billions in Tax Breaks to Big Oil, Talent Attempts to Buy Missourians Forgiveness with $100 Rebate In an effort to dodge voter’s disgust with higher gas prices, Washington Republicans and Sen. Jim Talent today presented a plan to essentially buy votes this fall under the guise of offering consumer fuel-cost rebates as a “solution” to the high gas prices. While big oil companies continue to report record profits, thanks in part to billions in tax breaks engineered by Jim Talent and others on the Senate Energy Committee, consumers will no doubt see this GOP band-aid gas fix as a play for their votes.
04-27-2006	Missourians Again Call on Talent to Take a Position on the Stem Cell Initiative as Signature Deadline Approaches Months have passed since the ballot initiative protecting stem-cell research in Missouri was announced, yet Jim Talent still has not summoned the courage to tell the people of Missouri where he stands. Even as thousands of patients in Missouri are suffering from debilitating diseases that could be treated with stem-cell research, Jim Talent has refused to take a definitive position on the initiative, resorting instead to the type of doublespeak that could only fly in Washington D.C.
04-18-2006	Voter Id Proposal Would Put an Extra Million Dollars into Blunt’s Scandal Plagued Fee Office Scheme In an attempt to kill two birds with one stone, the Republican legislature is attempting to move forward on a voter ID bill that could potentially take away the right to vote for nearly 200,000 seniors and disabled Missourians, while at the same time putting an extra million dollars of profit into Gov. Blunt’s scandal plagued fee office scheme.
04-14-2006	Talent’s Weak-Kneed Stances Spread to Staff Jim Talent’s weak-kneed waffling on the issues now extends to his campaign staff. Lloyd Smith has signed on as Talent’s campaign manager and is now praising the Medicare prescription drug act that his other current boss, Congresswoman Jo Ann Emerson, voted against.
04-10-2006	Dick Cheney Leaked Classified Information, Putting Our Security at Risk. Now Does Jim Talent Have the Backbone to Stand Up to Him? In light of the latest reports that the President and Vice President had a heavy hand in the leak of classified security information, Missouri Democrats want to know if Talent agrees with this administration putting America’s national security at risk.
04-04-2006	Missourians Again Call on Talent to Return Tainted DeLay Money Missouri Democrats today called on Sen. Jim Talent to return $5,000 given to him by the PAC of former Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who last night announced he would resign from Congress after a second former staffer of his, Tony Rudy, pled guilty on Friday in the DeLay-Abramoff congressional scandal.
03-30-2006	Missouri Democrats Call on Former Lobbyist Jim Talent to Come Clean about Work with K-Street’s “Team Talent” In the wake of revelations about the existence of a lobbyist-fueled effort named “Team Talent” designed to protect one of its own, the Missouri Democratic Party today called on Jim Talent to come clean with the people he represents by naming the members of Team Talent.
03-20-2006	After Four Years of Talent Not Standing Up for Missouri, ‘Senator Maybe’ Seeks to Give Us More of the Same Today, as Senator Jim Talent – a.k.a. “Senator Maybe” – officially filed for reelection, state Democrats reminded Missourians of his weak record on standing up for our working families.
03-15-2006	Does Jim Talent Actually Have a Position on Sale of Mark Twain Forest? Jim Talent showed today why he is fast becoming known as “Senator Maybe” by stating his support for and opposition to the same issue and basing both positions “on principle.”
03-14-2006	As Senate Panel Drills Oil and Gas Execs Over Record Profits, Talent Reaps Benefits with No Questions Asked While top oil and gas executives testified today before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee to explain how they are reporting excessive profits while American pocketbooks are bleeding at the pump, Talent’s $14 billion in tax breaks to help this gross exploitation goes unquestioned.
03-09-2006	Talent Refuses to Take Stand on Dubai Ports Deal After taking nearly a year to say anything on stem cell research and then requiring nearly 30 minutes to actually explain his flip-floppy, "nuanced" position, Jim Talent has proven that he has difficulty speaking with conviction and clarity on important issues of the day.
02-16-2006	If Talent is Serious about Breaking Abramoff Ties, He Should Fire his Own Fundraiser The Missouri Democratic Party today called on Sen. Jim Talent to sever all ties to his campaign finance chair, Jack Oliver, because of his extensive involvement with convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
02-03-2006	Lincoln Days Keynote Speaker Bill Frist Highlights Missouri GOP’s Stem Cell Divide On June 16, 1858, President Abraham Lincoln spoke the famous words that have come to take on new meaning for the Missouri Republican Party: “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” Today, the Missouri GOP faces a divide that threatens to rip the party apart at its seams: stem cell research.
01-31-2006	GOP Candidate Scharnhorst Has Ethics Problems Stemming from $20,000 in Unreported Funds The Missouri Democratic Party today called on Republican special election state representative candidate Dwight Scharnhorst of St. Louis County to come clean with voters about an ethics case that is currently pending in the Attorney General’s Office involving him.
01-23-2006	Blunt’s Proposed Sale of MOHELA Would Cause Higher Student Loan Costs and Fewer Options for Missourians to Pay for College The Missouri Democratic Party has learned that Gov. Matt Blunt is in secret negotiations to sell the state’s student loan program, The Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority (MOHELA), which would result in higher student loan rates and fewer options for Missouri college students and their families.
01-18-2006	Missouri Democrats Praise Claire McCaskill’s Ethics and Lobbying Reform Plan The Missouri Democratic Party today applauded U.S. Senate Candidate Claire McCaskill’s recently unveiled ethics and lobbying reform plan. The plan, which can be found online at www.claireonline.com, is considered one of the most aggressive in the country in reducing the influence wielded by high-paid lobbyists, like Jack Abramoff, over Members of Congress and their staffs.
01-18-2006	Ethics Complaint Filed after Gov. Matt Blunt Accepts $103,000 in Illegal Campaign Contributions The Missouri Democratic Party filed an ethics complaint against Gov. Matt Blunt a day after he released his January campaign finance report showing that he has now accepted contributions that exceeded the state contribution limits by a total of $103,500.
01-11-2006	Senator Maida Coleman’s Democratic Message in Response to the State of the State Let the welfare of the people be the supreme law. This is the Missouri state motto, — not just some fancy words inscribed in stone in the capitol building – these words contain all the truths of practical, common sense.
01-09-2006	The Jim Talent 2005 Scorecard As we enter the New Year, the Missouri Democratic Party thought it both important and useful to provide to the media a scorecard that details what Senator Jim Talent did in 2005 on issues important to Missouri’s families.
01-06-2006	Coleman to Deliver Democratic Message in Response to Blunt’s State of the State The Missouri Democratic Party today announced that Senate Democratic Leader Maida Coleman will deliver the Democratic message in response to Gov. Blunt’s State of the State address next Wednesday, Jan. 11.
01-04-2006	UPDATE: Jim Talent Caught on Tape Trying to Con Missouri Voters In trying as fast as he can to distance himself from the escalating political scandal surrounding convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, former lobbyist Sen. Jim Talent today tripped over his own record of dealings with Abramoff and clients of Abramoff’s that are at the heart of the corruption scandal.
01-04-2006	Democrats Call on Jim “Lobster Tail” Talent to Return Contributions from Clients of Convicted Lobbyist Jack Abramoff, including Indian Gaming Tribe Now that Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff has pled guilty to three felony counts, including conspiracy to bribe public officials, Missouri Democrats are calling on Sen. Jim Talent to return contributions from Abramoff’s clients, including a key player in criminal case against Abramoff, the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan.
12-21-2005	Talent Casts Deciding Vote to Cut Medicaid, Student Loans, and Child Support Enforcement In one of the more important votes of his term in the Senate, Jim Talent today cast the deciding vote in favor of a bill that will cut $7 billion from Medicaid, $12.7 billion in student loan programs, and $1.5 billion from child support enforcement programs.
12-19-2005	A Tale of Two Talents It was the best of times, it was the worst of times to be a United States Senator running for re-election and too weak to stand up to his political base or to those funding his campaign. This is the odd predicament Jim Talent finds himself in on the eve of his re-election as he tiptoes around the subject of stem cell research while traveling throughout Missouri.
11-29-2005	Democrats Call on Blunt to Include Vacant Senate Seat in Upcoming Special Elections The Missouri Democratic Party today called on Gov. Matt Blunt to add the vacant 2nd Senatorial District to the two special elections he has already called for February 7. The senate seat became open when Sen. Jon Dolan (R-Lake St. Louis) resigned to take a job as the nursing home industry’s chief lobbyist.
11-21-2005	First Class Education Memo Details “Political Benefits” Behind Blunt’s 65% Education Plan A memo from the organization First Class Education, which has promoted the 65% plan for public schools highlights specific "political benefits" for Republicans like Governor Matt Blunt to promote the plan in their states.
11-17-2005	Missouri Democratic Party Sets Up Online Petition So Missourians Can Tell Jim Talent to Stop Being “Senator Rubber Stamp” The Missouri Democratic Party today launched an online petition that allows Missourians to e-mail Sen. Jim Talent to ask him to stop being a rubber stamp for the Bush-Cheney Administration and its misguided agenda. The petition was launched in response to Talent’s unwillingness to stand up to the White House and stand up for Missouri’s families, as exemplified by his near 100 percent record of support for the Bush-Cheney agenda.
11-11-2005	Talent’s Votes in Senate Don’t Honor Missouri Veterans Time and time again, Jim Talent has had a chance to protect veterans’ interests, and especially to expand access to essential health care to those who fought so hard to keep America safe. But as the Iraq War continues to create more veterans, and while 15,000 wounded troops return from fighting, Talent continues to cut veterans funding.
11-09-2005	If the Senate wants to get to the Bottom of Oil Companies’ Record Profits, They Should Just Ask Jim Talent Missouri Democrats today suggested that if Senate Republicans really want to know why oil companies are reaping record profits while squeezing consumers, it would be more productive to just ask Jim Talent instead of putting on a dog and pony show with the oil company executives.
11-04-2005	Jim Talent votes for $600 million in Medicaid Cuts, Higher Rx Drug Prices for Medicaid Recipients When Gov. Blunt kicked 80,000 Missourians off Medicaid, Jim Talent sat idly by and watched it happen. So it should come as no surprise that when the leaders of his party in Washington wanted to slash over $600,000,000 in federal funds from the Medicaid program, Jim Talent was unwilling to stand up to them and speak out on behalf working families.
10-26-2005	Jim Talent’s Stem Cell Dilemma: Will He Stand Up for His Own Values, or Sell Out for Campaign Contributions? When a reporter recently tried to speak with Sen. Jim Talent about his position on stem cell research, Talent refused to speak with him, issuing instead a written statement that neither affirmed nor denied his support for the type of research into lifesaving cures that many institutions in Missouri are hoping to undertake.
10-25-2005	Missouri Democrats Ask Blunt to Lower Flags in Memory and Honor of Rosa Parks Missouri Democrats today asked Gov. Matt Blunt to order state flags lowered to half-staff in memory and honor of civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks following her passing last night.
10-25-2005	Talent Keeps Money from Indicted Lawmaker, But Returns Contributions from Indicted Lobbyist The most recent campaign fund-raising reports filed with the Federal Election Commission by Senator Jim Talent show that his campaign returned a $2,000 contribution from his 2002 campaign to lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who is now under indictment for alleged bank fraud. Talent also returned a $1,000 PAC contribution from Abramoff’s former firm.
10-21-2005	Why is Jim Talent Taking Money from War Profiteer Halliburton? Sen. Jim Talent solicited and accepted two campaign contributions from Halliburton and invited former Halliburton CEO Dick Cheney to headline a high-dollar fundraiser for his campaign.
10-04-2005	Democrats Call on Talent to Return DeLay Money Missouri Democrats today called on Sen. Jim Talent to return $5,000 given to him by the PAC of former Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who has been indicted by two separate grand juries in the last week for money laundering and conspiracy.
09-08-2005	Senator Alter’s Debt Committee Missing More than $57,000 The Missouri Democratic Party today filed an ethics complaint against Sen. Bill Alter (R-Jefferson County) after recent campaign finance reports show that $57,860 is missing from the Alter for Senate Debt Committee.
08-23-2005	Statement Regarding the Death of Susie Skelton It is with a heavy heart that the Democratic family today mourns the passing of Susie Skelton, the wife of Missouri’s senior Congressmen Ike Skelton.
08-04-2005	Bobby Simpson Files for 150th District Race Four-term Dent County Commissioner Bobby Simpson traveled to Jefferson City to file as a candidate for the November 8, 2005 special election to elect a new state representative from the 150th district.
07-25-2005	Commission Refers Ethics Complaint against Matt Blunt for Prosecution The Missouri Ethics Commission announced today that they have referred a complaint filed against Gov. Matt Blunt for violating Missouri’s campaign finance laws to the Attorney General’s office.
07-06-2005	Blunt Should Return Contributions from Appointee with Criminal Record The Missouri Democratic Party today called on Gov. Matt Blunt to return more than $6,000 in campaign contributions received by his gubernatorial campaign from Randa Hayes, a Blunt appointee with a criminal record of theft.
07-05-2005	Blunt’s Economic Developer has Criminal Conviction for Theft Gov. Matt Blunt appointee in charge of recruiting new businesses and jobs to Missouri has previously been criminally convicted of theft.
06-29-2005	Education Proponents Decry Education IOU Democratic lawmakers today voiced their concern over Gov. Matt Blunt`s education plan, because the plan, signed by Blunt, is based on unspecified funding that fails to address the immediate challenge of keeping the schools out of court.
06-21-2005	Blunt’s Office Can’t Produce a Single Document Showing They Tried to Save Military Installations It appears that 3,700 Missouri jobs may be lost as a result of the Pentagon’s base closing recommendations, in part, because the issue was not on the governor’s radar screen. In response to a Sunshine law request, Gov. Matt Blunt’s office can not produce a single document or record showing that they ever attempted to save or lobby for the eight Missouri installations that are slated to close or lose jobs.
05-16-2005	Missouri’s Social Services Director Teaching at the University of Wyoming, but Drawing $103,000 Salary from Missouri Taxpayers On March 7 when Matt Blunt announced his choice to lead the state’s largest agency he said, “Gary Sherman is the right person at the right time to lead the Missouri Department of Social Services.” Apparently the “right time” to lead the department won’t be until August 7, when Sherman finishes teaching summer classes at the University of Wyoming. Meanwhile Missouri taxpayers continue to pay Sherman’s $103,224 yearly salary.
04-26-2005	Matt Blunt – The Best Friend any Insurance Company Could Have The Missouri Democratic Party today called on Gov. Matt Blunt to stop using his administration to protect insurance companies who conduct business dishonestly. Yesterday, Gov. Blunt’s Department of Insurance rushed into court to provide protection for insurance companies who defraud Missouri investors, and attempted to undermine Secretary of State Robin Carnahan’s enforcement action against insurance giant Waddell & Reed, Inc.
04-25-2005	GOP Lawmaker Pays Personal Tax Debts with Campaign Funds The Missouri Democratic Party today filed an ethics complaint against Republican State Representative Cynthia Davis of O’Fallon for using campaign money to pay her own property taxes on a Jefferson City residence. The complaint argues that on multiple occasions Rep. Davis has illegally converted campaign funds to personal use, including paying her real estate taxes, purchasing an automobile, and making deposits into a personal bank account.
04-19-2005	Carnahan Touts Outstanding Customer Service During First 100 Days in Office Secretary of State Robin Carnahan today marked her 100th day in office stating, “Public service is about providing good customer service. I am proud of the many ways my office has worked everyday to make a difference for Missourians.”
04-19-2005	Matt Blunt: 100 Days of Breaking Promises and Stealing Hope The Missouri Democratic Party today issued its Report Card on Gov. Matt Blunt’s first 100 days in office – a period frequently used as a benchmark to review a leader’s progress in office. Blunt received failing grades on Hope & Opportunity, Justice, Integrity, and Keeping Promises.
04-15-2005	Blunt Accepted Illegal Campaign Contribution from Jefferson City Car Dealer He Appointed to Highway Commission The Missouri Democratic Party filed an ethics complaint against Governor Matt Blunt a day after he appointed Jefferson City car dealer Mike Kehoe to a state commission that oversees the state’s $1.7 billion annual transportation budget.
04-07-2005	Barnitz, Democrats Win Big in Outstate When Democrats are united, we can win anywhere. The strong victory by Rep. Frank Barnitz in the 16th District Senate race proves that the Democratic message was clearly accepted by the voters of Missouri, who soundly rejected the shortsighted and cruel agenda of Governor Blunt and the Republicans.
03-18-2005	Spring Break for Who? The Republicans in Jefferson City have adjourned for Spring Break, leaving behind one of the most immoral beginnings to a legislative session that our state has ever seen. Matt Blunt and his Republican allies have pushed an agenda that offers less opportunity and justice to Missourians, while dragging the integrity of state government through the mud.
03-07-2005	John Edwards Rallies Democrats in Hannibal Former Vice Presidential Candidate John Edwards rallied Democrats at the annual Democrat Days in Hannibal on Saturday. Edwards said Democrats should show more passion in their beliefs in working to help people improve their stake in life. Missouri’s Democratic leaders echoed Edwards call to stand strong for providing hope and opportunity to all Missourians, offering rousing speeches of their own.
03-04-2005	Ethics Complaint Filed Against Blunt for Illegally Appointing Federal Employees to Fee Offices The Missouri Democratic Party today filed an ethics complaint against Gov. Matt Blunt, Revenue Director Trish Vincent, and two congressional staffers of Congressman Sa