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