TKC BREAKING AND EXCLUSIVE NEWS!!! SUNDAY SPECIAL!!! PERSPECTIVE FROM MISSOURI HOUSE REP ON KIKI CURLS HOT MESS!!! NOT ALL POLITICIANS ARE "ON THE TAKE" ACCORDING TO REP. MIKE LAIR!!!
I'm always surprised about who reads this dump of a blog. However, on this Sunday we've been blessed with a reasoned and intelligent perspective which is a nice change of pace from my ranting.
Check it:
MO. REP. MIKE LAIR SHARES HIS PERSPECTIVE ON OUR RECENT CONSIDERATION OF MISSOURI POLITICOS AND LOBBYIST DONATION!!!
The Sen. Kiki Curls hot mess reported @ The Turner Report and discussed @ TKC could be getting bigger and free tickets thrown at politicos doesn't sit right with voters.
Take a look at what Missouri House Rep. Mike Lair notes about recent discussion over lobbyists gifts and the conventional wisdom regarding politicos here @ TKC.
SUNDAY MESSAGE FROM MO HOUSE REP. MIKE LAIR
I have read your daily offerings for the last several years and truly enjoy your perspective on the issues. I do not always agree, but at least you are even handed. I live about 100 miles from KC and make it there a couple of times a month for R & R . . .
I am a third term member of the Missouri House and your piece about Senator Curls contains a bit of misinformation. "Everyone does not do it"...take/solicited gifts from lobbyists and the amount is out of the ordinary. The Post Dispatch ran an article about a freshman member of the House on the Utilities Committee that took $8K in tickets and entertainment from AT&T and Ameren. Did he do anything wrong? I don't know, but it looks bad. I am afraid the attitude that the legislators are all for sale hurts many of us who maintain a $0 balance with the Ethics Commission. I want you to realize - we don't all participate.
I respect Senator Curls...I served with her in the House and we worked closely on my unsuccessful bill to speed aid to the unaccredited Kansas City School District at the end of the last session, but please do not paint all of us with too broad a brush as "on the take" politicians.
Mike Lair
7th District State Rep
Serving Livingston, Grundy, and Linn Counties
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Seems like more of a Democrat problem TKC.
ReplyDeleteJackson County Legislator, President of the Greater KC Women's Political Caucus and long-time lobbyist Crystal Williams is part of the problem. In Jeff City "takes it upon herself to" stock the office refrigerators and pantries with adult beverages of her favorite legislators. I am sure she finds a way not to make an identifiable ethics filing over that little bit of kindness.
ReplyDeleteLiar Liar Pants on Fire
ReplyDeleteMr. Tony,
ReplyDeleteThat man is right. Some elected officials don't get blinded by their own press. They stay nice and normal. Small hearted people get yanked by their short hairs.
So, Tony, here's what you or someone should do. Go through the list of State Representatives and look at their lobbyist contributions. If Ms. Curls share seems excessively high, the people who elected her should know that. That possibly, she's too busy elbowing with Corporate Execs to work for those she represents. Please report back to us and thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThat's too much work.
ReplyDelete"If you can’t take their money, drink their whiskey, screw their women, and vote against ‘em anyway, you don’t belong in the Legislature”
ReplyDeleteIsn't it a small scandal in itself that Mike Lair admits to reading "your daily offerings for the last several years"....haha, hey this guy's got guts for even admitting that he's a TKC browser!
ReplyDeleteLair Lair Pants on Fair
ReplyDeleteTKC is a credible source of news and information. The fact that the television and dead tree newsies use his stuff to produce stories confirms it. I'm sure people all over the country is reading TKC. I rely on this blog just as much as the media does. Most of the information is 98% credible. We just get distracted by the half-dressed broads he showcases.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit TKC has the inside scoop on a lot of things the dead tree media won't print. Oh, and by the way Mr. Lair please leave my 2nd amendment consitutional rights alone. Thanks
ReplyDeleteRight, Tony (7:04).
ReplyDeleteMr. Lair is a good man. But he doesn't serve in KC MO area. If he did, I doubt he would have been elected.
ReplyDeleteSame old people in democratic circle throwing another black politician under the bus. They did the same to Jonas Hughes, Terry Riley and so many others.
ReplyDeleteShe's to fat to fit under a bus.
ReplyDeleteTo all you Tony fans who think he "broke" another big story, no he didn't. It was broken by the Turner Report, and Tony merely repeated it. Not that there is no value to that, but that is also not exactly hard-nosed, investigative journalism.
ReplyDeleteAs for the twin notions that Tony is "98 percent accurate" or whatever and reports things not in the "dead tree media", well, Tony repeated Turner's claim that the $7,605.68 in lobbyist largesse that fell to Curls was $3,000 more than anyone else received in the Legislature.
And now we have Rep. Lair telling us that the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (which I think qualifies as "dead tree media") had already reported on a freshman member of the House Utilities Committee receiving some $8,000 in lobbyist gifts, which, according to my math, would not be $3,000 less than $7,605.68.
In other words, Tony didn't do the least bit of research into public records widely available on the Internet or other news reports before repeating Turner's mistake.
This is not to say that what Curls is accused of isn't serious. We definitely need more legislators like Lair (if what he claims about himself is indeed true) who refuse to accept ANYTHING of personal value from people trying to get legislation favorable to their clients through the General Assembly.
At the very least, this practice opens serious questions of who the legislator is really working for.
But at the same time, let's not pretend that Tony and TKC is anything more than what it really is -- a nice spot to pick up links to stories that other people have done the heavy lifting on.
I did not make a mistake in my reporting. If you check, my references were to the Missouri Senate, not the Missouri House of Representatives. Sen. Curls, indeed, had nearly $3,000 more than the second highest, which was Republican President Pro Tem Tom Dempsey of St. Charles County. I might add that I do appreciate Tony bringing my story to the attention of his readers and note that he did give me credit.
ReplyDeleteRandy, nowhere in your original post does it say you limited yourself to a study of the Senate.
ReplyDeleteIf you want to claim that NOW, ex post facto after you learn that the target of your story wasn't No. 1, it begs the question: Why?
Why not dig into the gifts received by ALL the elected lawmakers? Seems to be to be rather half-assed to pick on one chamber when you could find an even bigger scandal to report in the House.
I should also note that under the old rules of "dead tree" investigative journalism, the reporter would have been required to call the Senator and every lobbyist named, just to cover the paper's butt in case they had a reasonable explanation for those gifts. And just because you can't think of one doesn't mean there isn't one. You should give Tony a call about the lesson he learned in libel law sometime.
But then again, half-assed and lazy pretty much describes blogger journalism.
I can tell that an intelligent response will probably mean nothing to you, but I should note that there are 34 Senators and 163 representatives. I have always started these reports with the senators.Perhaps your last sentence more accurately describes the effort you put into your comments.
ReplyDeleteRight. Reporting about 34 Senators is a lot easier than doing the research and reporting on 135 reps.
ReplyDeleteThanks again for clarifying what a lazy and half-assed job you did.
And excuse me, 163 reps. My, my that would have been a lot of work, wouldn't it?
ReplyDeleteToo much for a blogger, but apparently not for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Thanks for the comments Randy. Also, it's interesting to see newsies from The Star get angry when they should be working as hard as The Turner Report.
ReplyDeleteThe Car Title Loan Industry doesn't count and a Lobby, because we serve the underserved needs of illegal non-residents and other "types" of people who can't get legitimate bank accounts. Oh, and we also provide a needed service to the poor people.
ReplyDelete