...Avoid Garden City at all costs. GOP turncoat Chris Benjamin is now a judge there...
...A partisan hack Democrat Judge with no credentials...
Uh, getting a law degree and passing the bar exam aren't credentials? Partisan hack? Project much? By the way, it's the Democratic Party. And yes, we did welcome him with open arms:
Yep, repeat the stupidity enough and hope no one pays attention to reality. Well, we did [pay attention to the reality]. David Pearce (r - advocate of automotive deer hunting actually voted for the healthcare cuts - and the Missouri republican party celebrated it. Attacking your opponent for something you did, now that's chutzpah!
Now this is republican arrogance. "Confidence in state government" is equated with the legal problems of the Missouri republican party? That's rich.
Here's the case cited in the mailing:
04CV130560 - THOMAS GREEN V MISSOURI REPUBLICAN STATE COM
GREEN , THOMAS , Plaintiff represented by CARMICHAEL , JAMES E , Attorney for Plaintiff
...SAINT CHARLES,MO...
MISSOURI REPUBLICAN STATE COMITTEE , Defendant
ANN WAGNER, CHAIRMAN MO REPUBL
STATE COMMITTEE
204 EAST DUNKLIN
JEFFERSON CITY, MO 65101
Just to spell it out for you, the folks sending the mailing are the enablers of the folks who were sued (and then settled). Chutzpah!
This is a joke, right? "Anti-gun radicals" in the 31st Senate District? Who are these idiots trying to fool. It's embarrassing. Really. The desperation just smells.
The graphics would make a good movie poster for a Sergio Leone western...
Who paid for this? The usual suspects:
Additional concrete proof that the Missouri republican party is completely irony impaired:
There's an itty bitty tiny teeny footnote which refers to SB 539 in the 2005 session of the Missouri General Assembly. Let's look at the Journal of the House [pdf] for April 7, 2005 (page 935):
...On motion of Representative Stefanick, SS SB 539 was truly agreed to and finally passed by the following vote:
AYES: 089
Avery Baker 123 Bearden Behnen Bivins
Brown 30 Bruns Byrd Chinn Cooper 120
Cooper 155 Cooper 158 Cunningham 145 Cunningham 86 Davis
Day Deeken Dempsey Denison Dethrow
Dixon Dusenberg Emery Ervin Faith
Fares Fisher Flook Franz Goodman
Guest Hobbs Hunter Icet Jackson
Johnson 47 Jones Kelly Kingery Lager
Lembke Lipke Loehner May McGhee
Moore Munzlinger Muschany Myers Nieves
Nolte Parson Pearce Phillips Pollock
Portwood Pratt Quinn Rector Richard
Roark Robb Ruestman Rupp Sander
Sater Schaaf Schad Schlottach Self
Smith 118 Smith 14 Stefanick St. Onge Sutherland
Threlkeld Tilley Viebrock Wallace Wasson
Wells Weter Wilson 119 Wilson 130 Wood
Wright 137 Wright 159 Yates Mr Speaker
[emphasis added]
What's that you say? David Pearce (r - advocate of automotive deer hunting) actually voted to "...cut healthcare funding for our most vulnerable citizens..."
Yep. You got it. The Missouri republican party paid for a mail piece attacking Chris Benjamin (D) for something the Missouri republican party advocates and for which David Pearce (r), their chosen candidate, accommodatingly voted.
That $25,000.00 ain't for pizza to feed the three volunteers at the local republican headquarters.
What, say you, Matt "baby" Blunt has his fingers and money in this stuff? Say it ain't so. And, as Master Yoda once said, "There is another..." [pdf] That's an additional $25,000.00 from the carcass of the Blunt campaign.
And what hath all that republican establishment money wrought? A nasty attack piece! It came in yesterday's mail:
Paid for by:
Shall we untangle the little web they weave and play "Six Degrees of Jeff Roe"?:
Apparently the Missouri GOP thinks David Pearce is not a politician. Though it's very clear to me that he seriously sucks at math and economics. The current economic crises (under the watch of which administration?) is exacerbated by what? As if 516 trillion dollars in derivatives didn't exist and have nothing to do with screwing the economy and us. Evidently David Pearce and the Missouri GOP is counting on everyone else being stoopid. Same planet, different world, eh David?
The candidates running for the open senate seat in the 31st District - David Pearce (r - advocate of automotive deer hunting) and Chris Benjamin (D) - filed their 30 day after the primary election campaign finance reports.
We've also covered a few other things about this race. All you have to do is search for "31st" in the column on the right. That way ---->. Everything we've previously done on the subject will show. I highly recommend the mail!
Let's take a look at the state of David Pearce's (r) campaign coffers, via the Missouri Ethics Commission:
Chilhowee, Missouri hosted it's annual parade at noon today, as part of their fall festival. The small town in the southwest corner of Johnson County has a population of 329 (2000 census). Entries for the parade started lining up around 10:30 a.m. The parade route is just a few blocks long. The number of individuals walking in the parade in support of political candidates approached the number of the total population of Chilhowee.
Chris Benjamin, Democratic candidate in the 31st Senate District, speaking with parade volunteers.
Steve Shippy (D) (left center, wearing a yellow shirt), candidate for Johnson County Treasurer, with his large entourage of volunteers - all wearing campaign t-shirts, truck, and trailer. This is a typical parade setup in our area.
David Pearce (r - advocate of automotive deer hunting) and his republican enablers spent so much money on mail against Rex Rector (r - right wingnut) in the August 5th primary that we have to cover the material in multiple posts. Spending close to $150,000.00 in the primary will do that. Previous posts on Pearce's primary "mail plan":
Chris Benjamin (left, he's in there) working the crowd at another Democratic candidate's event in Johnson County last night.
I've covered this open seat race in the 31st Senate District a lot, and I'll continue to do so. The seat was previously held by Chris Koster (D). The republicans would dearly like to take it back and have tapped David Pearce (r - advocate of automotive deer hunting) to run for the seat.
I spoke with Chris Benjamin at the fairgrounds west of Warrensburg last night after a fundraiser which was held there for Steve Shippy, the Democratic Party candidate for Johnson County Treasurer:
SMP: ...where does your campaign stand now?
Chris Benjamin: Things are looking very good right now because I was able to save a lot of the, most of my resources, through the primary, not having a primary opposition. I feel very good about where we stand right now. I got a lot, even though I was unopposed, I felt very good about the votes I did get in the four counties, Cass County particularly. It's fifty four per cent of the district. I feel very good about my chances there and the other three counties as well.
Every place I go voters are very receptive to change. And that we need to change the leadership in Jefferson City and put working familes in charge once again in state government. And I'm very, a lot of people, most people are very excited about that. And I'm very, very, feel very good about the whole team going into this final two months. I think there's going to be a lot of Democratic victories going in to November. I feel very good about my chances...
We've previously covered the extravagant (and minutely targeted) mail plan of those "independent" republican friends on behalf of David Pearce (r - advocate of automotive deer hunting):
Well, we've got more of that mail, most of it paid for by the republican "Majority Fund" and some of it paid for by Pearce's campaign. All of it looks the same, even down to the fonts and photos. These mail pieces contain all of the usual tactical right wingnut wedge issue themes. Uh, David Pearce ain't no moderate when you read his mail. I bet the voters in Johnson County would be interested in that fact, huh David?:
The details are even more fun. From the piece above:
Somebody spent an awful lot of money on David Pearce's (r - advocate of automotive deer hunting) senate primary campaign and it wasn't his campaign (well, yeah, he spent some money, too).
Okay, what's with the baby photo? Is that supposed to be subtly catering to the right wingnut anti-choice republican base?
So who paid for this, and what did they spend?
Uh, where did these folks get those charming high quality family photos? Public domain?
Okay, let's take a look at the Majority Fund's 8 day before the election campaign finance filing with the Missouri Ethics Commission on July 28th:
The candidates running for the open senate seat in the 31st District - David Pearce (r - advocate of automotive deer hunting), Rex Rector (r) and Chris Benjamin (D) - filed their 8 day reports. There's some interesting information in those lists of expenditures.
David Pearce (r), advocate of automotive deer hunting, had a much better fundraising quarter when compared to the last one, thanks a whole lot to banks. Chris Benjamin (D) had another good quarter. Rex Rector (r) is, well, Rex Rector and has started to raise some money and work his grassroots empire, if you can trust word on the street.
The 31st Senate District includes Bates, Cass, Johnson, and Vernon counties and the cities of Warrensburg, Butler, Harrisonville, and Nevada (among many others). This is an open seat race - Chris Koster (D) who currently holds the seat is running for Attorney General.
David Pearce (r) filed his second quarter 2008 campaign finance report with the Missouri Ethics Commission on July 15th:
Leeton, Missouri is a very small town in south central Johnson County, just at the bend in Highway 2 a few miles east of Highway 13. Around this time of year every two years the area political campaigns show up with their supporters, signs, and candy for the Leeton parade. I've pointed out for years that this parade is the "second shortest in the county" - the politicians and their supporters vastly outnumbering the observers. The thing is, everyone shows up early to line up for the parade to get their vehicles festooned with signs and their supporters into matching t-shirts - the preparation process taking more time than the actual parade.
Chris Benjamin (D) in Leeton, Missouri.
Today I walked with Chris Benjamin, Democratic candidate in the 31st Senate District. He thrives on the contact he gets with voters at these events.
While everyone waits for the parade to start they engage in conversations - political and social. I even said a few words to some republican participants.
The early morning fog had burned off by the time the lone Leeton police car sounded its siren to signal the start of the parade. The high humidity and the sun made the environment very steamy. Chris Benjamin shook every adult hand along the parade route, zig zagging from one side of the street to the other.
Chris Benjamin (D) in Leeton, Missouri.
