Missouri Senator Eric Greitens?

Eric Greitens wants to be our next Missouri US Senator?

--He sexually abused and tried to exploit and blackmail his hairdresser; --He stole from his Veterans' charity and from taxpayers; --He resigned hours after a judge ordered him to reveal his dark money donors. No. Heck no. Hell no.

Three Perfect, Very Recent Examples of Republican Party Officeholders

Here's just three very recent examples of Republican Party government officeholders--what they've done and who they are.

Sam Brownback, Kansas Governor

Kansas' tax cuts are a spectacular failure

Epic fail of Kansas' tax-cut plan 

offers a lesson for us all

Kansas's ravaged economy a cautionary tale 

Children paid for the failed Kansas tax cuts

S&P drops Kansas credit rating, 

citing lack of cash reserves

S&P revises Kansas rating outlook 

to negative on budget pressures

Under Brownback, Kansas' credit 

faces another downgrade

Plan to fix Kansas budget through school cuts 

implodes in state

Gov. Sam Brownback is cutting aid 

to Kansas schools by $44.5 million

Kansas, facing a huge budget deficit, 

wonders what to do next

Budget Cuts Are Putting More Kids 

in Foster Care - Talk Poverty

Donald J Trump, United States President:

Under Trump's watch, national debt 

tops $21 trillion for first time ever 

Sound familiar?  Then it gets worse.

Meet Stormy Daniels, porn star who allegedly 

had an affair with Trump 

Here Are 13 Examples Of Donald Trump 

Being Racist

George Will: Trump has a 'dangerous disability'

Trump's 'get ready' threat to Moscow 

isn't just careless, it's dangerous

'The Most Dangerous Man in the World': 

Trump Is Violent, Immature

Woman testifies that Missouri governor hit her, sexually assaulted her

Eric Greitens, Missouri Governor who only just began his administration and term, it should be remembered.

Eric Greitens: Missouri governor admits 

cheating on wife

Missouri governor admits cheating - 

but denies blackmailing mistress 

Ex-lover accuses Missouri governor 

of forced sexual encounter

I ask you, Missourians, Kansans, Americans...

Is this what and who you wanted in your state and/or national leader?

Is Eric Greitens Just the 51st Shade of Gray?

Okay, back on the Eric Greitens allegations---if not scandal. This, from the New York Times:

Mr. Greitens, a married father of two, acknowledged last month that he had an extramarital affair with a woman in 2015, before he was elected governor. The woman’s husband, who eventually divorced her, made secret recordings that were published last month by local news outlets.

In those recordings, the woman said she had gone to Mr. Greitens’s house and engaged in a consensual sexual encounter. But while she was blindfolded and bound with tape to an exercise machine, she said, Mr. Greitens took a nude photograph of her without permission and threatened to publicize the image if she spoke about their affair.

There's more but let's leave it there.

I haven't seen "50 Shades of Gray" or read the book but...

Doesn't this read like that plotline? Isn't that so?

Did Mr. Greitens, the Guv, just not have enough money to get away with it?

Also reads like a daytime soap opera, gone wildly out of hand. These are "The Days of Our Lives..."

Link:

A Governor Is Charged With ‘Invasion of Privacy’

So You Want To Run For Governor of Missouri...

Think about this.

It's 2016.

You're young. 

You were a Navy Seal.

You're done some fundraising for the Seals---you say--and it was supposed to be successful.

You're a reasonably well-spoken guy. Not bad looking (sadly, that matters in America).

You're Right Wing and a gun lover and the nation is awash in all that at present so you figure "What the heck. I'm going to run for governor in my state of Missouri."

But...

In 2015, just one year earlier, you had a sexual affair outside your marriage.

You're married and the father of two children.

The woman with whom you had the affair is married. Her husband--later ex-husband--is aware of the affair.

That's all.

That's it.

That's enough.

Tell us. Please.

Tell us how you didn't think this would get out.

Please.

We're waiting.

Republican State Senator From My Hometown Making Us Proud

Yes sir, St. Joseph's own Republican Representative Rob Schaaf, no less, is asking questions and trying to hold our very Republican Governor, Eric Greitens, to task for what he said and claimed and challenged during the now-Governor's campaign for that job.

Bait-and-switch 

Some of the article:

When Eric Greitens was seeking the Republican nomination for governor last year, he claimed to support transparency in the funding of political campaigns. He said in one interview, “What I’ve found is that the most important thing is that there’s transparency around the money,” continuing, “I’ve been very proud to tell people, ‘I’m stepping forward, and you can see every single one of our donors, because we are proud of our donors and we are proud of the campaign that we are running.’ ”

Since that time, Greitens has turned his back on transparency, accepting millions of dollars from undisclosed donors and now disavowing donor disclosure altogether. With this reversal, he has betrayed the Republican Party and the people of Missouri. His new stance threatens the integrity of our republic.

It's a great article, I think, and even important. Any and every voting age Missourian would do well to  read it so they know what's going on in our state and what should likely change.

Eric Greitens and a No-Bid Contract?

Our own Star newspaper printed and published what I think is an important story this week on our new, pretty boy, Republican Governor Eric Greitens that every Missourian should read and be aware of.

Editorial: Gov. Eric Greitens is behaving just like those ‘corrupt career politicians’

Remember his political campaign to become governor when he railed against those--his words--"corrupt career politicians"?

It didn't take him long to throw all that in a waste bin. 

For starters, he wants our state to issue a no-bid contract. 

How that is remotely in the people's best interests, I can't imagine. What happened to those "free markets" and Capitalism those Right Wingers and Republicans love so much and that they say bring us all lower costs?

Second, not to be done there, he wants to issue this no-bid contract to a business that gave him a "...$25,000 campaign donation in December..."

So two things become very clear from this.

First, it only costs any wealthy person or corporation a paltry $25000 to buy this Governor Greitens of ours.

Second, it only took 7 months for this same guy--again, this Republican--to go from supposedly fighting for the people down here to taking in money and working and fighting for, again, the already-wealthy and corporations.

He;s got a low price and a quick turn around, both, this Eric Greitens.

I wonder what he'll sell us out on next.

Can you imagine how much screaming we'd be hearing at this time from Republicans in this state if a Democratic governor pulled such a stunt, pretty boy or no?

Finally, importantly, on any every government level, from the city to county to state, all the way to the Federal level, why are no-bid contracts even allowed?   Why are they legal?

Links:

Greitens complains of lack of coverage, but won't talk with reporters

Robberson: Governor Doublespeak does Orwell proud

Missouri: Republicans, Cutting Your Pay

They're working, fighting to take health care away from at least 22 million Americans with their latest AHCA "wealthcare" bill and now this.

Missouri Republicans Lower 

St. Louis Minimum Wage

Not done there, this is what they did in May.

Missouri lawmakers just took 

raises away from minimum wage workers

In February, this is what they did, also lowering Missourians wages.

Right-to-work bill signed by 

Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens

Three different efforts to lower Missourians wages.

And they all worked.

Someone please tell me why anyone, anyone in the middle and/or lower classes vote with these greedheads.

Links:

GOP vs Health, Voters, & Healthy Voters

Senate Health Care Bill Includes Deep Cuts to Medicaid

Republican Health Care Bill Delivers Big Tax Cut For The Rich

How the AHCA Leaves the Old, Sick, and Poor Behind

And here's that Republican, Right Wing, "Conservative" "small government"

Trump Administration's Request for Extensive Voter Data Raises Fears

The Big Money In Missouri Wants To Thwart Missourians Will

They’re at it again. Some more.

The already-wealthy and corporations want to make sure they can give unlimited “campaign contributions” to their legislators---our legislators---in Jefferson City so they can have their way with our laws and so, with us, the people of Missouri.

Missouri campaign contribution limits remain in place after latest hearing

A bit from the article:

A ban on big money donations to Missouri politicians will stay in place for at least a few more weeks.

In a hearing in federal court Thursday, opponents of a new law limiting campaign contributions withdrew a request to block the caps .

U.S. District Judge Catherine D. Perry said she wants to first hear arguments about the merits and pitfalls of the new limits on campaign giving before deciding whether to place a temporary hold on the caps while the lawsuit moves through the legal system.

The next hearing is set for Jan. 13.

The action in the St. Louis courtroom comes as another group has filed a lawsuit in federal court in Kansas City also seeking to dump the limits, which were approved by voters in the Nov. 8 election.

Under the change to the state constitution, Missouri voters capped contributions to individual candidates at $2,600 per election. Contributions to a political party would be capped at $25,000.

The change also attempted to ban the current practice of funneling money through different committees to hide the source of the contributions. It prohibits contributions by foreign interests and companies not legally authorized to conduct business in Missouri.

The Missouri Legislature removed campaign contribution limits in 2008. That led to an era where seven-figure contributions to candidates became common, including during the most recent election.

In the St. Louis case, the Association of Missouri Electrical Cooperatives and Legends Bank say the new law unfairly stops them from donating to campaigns and political action committees.

If the law stays in place, the electrical cooperatives argue they won’t be able to raise adequate funds to ensure its members’ voices are heard during the legislative session that begins Wednesday.

Because, you know, you can’t be “heard” if you can’t give money to your legislator, right?

This next paragraph tells the truth of the matter:

The Kansas City case takes a broader approach on behalf of a number of Republican-oriented political action committees, including Missourians for Worker Freedom, a political action committee formed in the past month to work in favor of making Missouri a right-to-work state.

Note that? A “Republican-oriented political action committee” because this is Republicans that want this more than anyone. They did away with the state’s campaign contribution limits back in 2008. Why should they have limits on the amounts of money already-wealthy and corporations can give them? It’s like when they vote themselves a raise. Pretty sweet, huh? Vote for money in your own pocket.

This is the part that really gets me:

“The suit contends the new law violates free speech rights…”

Because, again, if I can’t give my legislator money, that means I can’t speak with him.

Or something.

It’s disgusting.

Since 2008, Missouri has famously, infamously and notoriously been the ONLY STATE IN THE NATION with no limits on campaign contributions, no limits on the amounts of money wealthy people and corporations can throw at our government representatives. The other 49 states have got to be green with envy on that little beauty, eh? So we ended up, this last election, with different people like Rex Sinquefield out of St. Louis and others, paying literally millions of dollars to a single candidate.

Sinquefield himself gave nearly 4 million dollars to Catherine Hanaway’s campaign while governor-elect “Pretty Boy” Greitens got nearly two million dollars from one contributor. And we don’t even know who was behind that donation. It’s “dark money’, given by a political action committee so the donor is unknown. Additionally, David Humphreys and his sister, Sarah Atkins thought they’d try to buy a Lieutenant Governor by giving Peter Kinder the tidy little sum of a cool 1 million dollars.

If you don’t think our last election was bought and paid for, you don’t know what just took place. It’s the biggest under-reported story in the state for 2016, without doubt.

Links:

Eric Greitens Nabs Single Largest Campaign Contribution in Missouri

Money, Sex and Power: the campaign of Eric Greitens

Donors behind $2M check to Missouri's Greitens still secret