Archive for the ‘Government, Politics, Law and Order’ Category

What is a finish in the Iowa Republican caucuses – an eight-vote margin separating first place finisher Mitt Romney and surging second-place combatant Rick Santorum!  Over at CNN, Wolf Blitzer is still taking oxygen from hyperventilating the results. Romney may have been the numerical winner, but Santorum caught the wave in a race that seemed more like “Wheel of Fortune” with the frontrunners du jour. Santorum is probably wishing he had stopped at a funeral on caucus day – he could have recruited six pallbearers, a widow and an undertaker to close the gap.  Presumably the preacher was already a fan of the new darling of evangelical voters.

Ron Paul, age 76, credited his third-place showing to the excitement of younger voters. Newt Gingrich finished fourth and used his caucus night speech to attack Ron Paul as dangerous on foreign policy.  Paul hit back, dubbing Newt a “chickenhawk.” Their rumble continues in New Hampshire. Rick Perry was in fifth place in Iowa and he caught a plane back to Texas.  Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann, who tried to hit every county in the final stretch in Iowa, looked lovely with the sound turned down.  Meanwhile, Herman Cain, who is hopefully home mending fences with the missus, scored few votes than “No Preference” and “Other.”

Moneybags Rex Sinquefield may have finally caught on to the campaign consultants trying to bleed him dry with pie-in-the-sky promises and ill-conceived schemes. The Missouri Ethics Commission reports former St. Charles lawmaker Carl Bearden, who has been lead mouthpiece for Rex’s lackluster showing behind the “Everything Tax” ballot proposal, is no longer registered as a Jeff City lobbyist for Rex and wife Jeanne Sinquefield at year’s end.

Missouri Republicans can have the satisfaction of having their say about their preferred presidential candidate before Iowans caucus next Tuesday. Absentee ballots for Missouri’s Feb. 7 presidential primary were accepted starting this week at offices of the election boards in St. Louis City and St. Louis County. Newt Gringrich didn’t make an effort to be on the Missouri ballot. Not that it will matter for any of the hopefuls, as the actual delegates to the GOP’s 2012 convention in Tampa will be picked later in the year.

Feb. 28 is the court date in Jefferson City for a consolidated hearing on four cases filed over ballot language on a Missouri payday loans initiative. But payday loan foes who are backing the measure say they will start collecting petition signatures after the start of the new year.  It’s a risky strategy that will backfire if the judge orders changes in the ballot language, since that would mean throwing out all signatures collected on the rejected measure. Even observers sympathetic to the payday loan foes are scratching their heads about what is not in the measure – specific language capping the interest rate payday lenders can charge at 36 percent, which has been the core argument by the proposal’s backers.
The Missouri General Assembly will bring comedy and drama back to Jeff City with the traditional noon opening gavel of the 2012 session, on Jan. 4.  St. Louisans who find it daunting to make the 250-miles-plus round trip to the Capitol Building, only to be baffled by all the sausage making, may choose instead to stay abreast of Jeff City through online resources. We’ll have the social scoop, as usual. But for knowledgeable online trackers of activities under and around the big dome, there are reliable sources for the day’s hard news.

Every Missouri political player and wannabe consults www.JohnCombest.com upon waking (or going to bed). The tireless John Combest (really, does he ever sleep?) just marked his 10th anniversary as the political junkies’ first read seven days a week. There’s www.MoScout.com, the insider report from Arch City Chronicle’s Dave Drebes, standing watch at the intersections of campaigning and governing. The latest online resource to launch is www.MoWonk.com where budget expert Brian Schmidt will be explaining exclusively to followers how the state builds and manages a multibillion dollar spending plan. Brian, known to his pals as “Schmidty,” served from 2005-2011 as Executive Director of the Missouri Legislature’s Joint Committee on Tax Policy.

Demos and Caesar Investment, LLC has sued Excel Bank, Shaun Hayes, Eighteen Investments, Inc., and the notorious Michael Litz. In July, Excel Bank sued Hayes and Litz and McKnight Man LLC, a company owned by Hayes, for a default on a $1 million loan. Truman Bank is also suing Hayes’ trust.

The three Midwest advertising men pooled their talents to create a heartwarming tale for kids, that featured the dog, “Santa Paws,” and copyrighted their work in 1992.  In 2009-2011, Disney distributed its films “Santa Buddies: The Legend of Santa Paws” and “The Search for Santa Paws.”  The three ad guys, after seeing Disney’s “direct to video” films, researched their records and found that in 1996 Disney had expressed interest in their story to their agent, the William Morris Agency, Inc.

The three have filed a lawsuit against  Disney, et al in U.S. Dist. Court in St. Louis alleging copyright infringement and related state claims. Writes the plaintiffs’ barrister Albert Watkins, “It is my clients’ genuine hope the true spirit of Christmas will prevail and the defendants will do the right thing for all who believe in Santa and the magic of Christmas.”

A very Happy Birthday on Dec. 20 to former Mo. U.S. Sen. and First Lady Jean Carnahan, who is graying graciously – and writing about it.  Jean’s latest book, due Feb. 1 from Vantage Point Press, is, “A Little Help From My Friends. . .and Other Hilarious Tales of Graying Graciously.”  From the publisher: “Too many older adults look upon their lives as a shrinking island to which they retire surrounded by their aches and pains, regrets, disappointments, and fears. But not Jean and Edna. They are two gutsy septuagenarians with a hearty outlook on life. Like ancient seers, they have found the answers to the perplexities of daily living and they are eager to share our insight.

In addition, they review various products they have discovered that lessen “senioritis” or, at least, make it more tolerable.  In these thirty-some, laugh-out-loud essays, Jean and her friend Edna are opinionated and vociferous.  They react to everything from malls, manners, and makeup to birthdays, beauty secrets and bras.”