KYTV just finished airing its Monday night report on the push to reform Missouri's fee offices. The piece by David Catanese featured comments from Doug Harpool, candidate for state senate, and Mark Wright, candidate for state auditor.
Both men said they want to reform the fee offices; Harpool announced his plan last month, and Wright was scheduled to piggyback on a plan by House Republicans during a Monday news conference. But Wright had to bail when Gov. Matt Blunt asked to "negotiate" with Republicans.
(Such a delicate word, that. Reality has much more grit. Several sources tell CHATTER that Blunt hit the roof when he heard about the mutiny; imagine, Republicans condemning political perks handed out by a Republican governor.)
Wright admitted that preliminary talks with Blunt had gone badly. But instead of standing up to the governor and speaking truth to that power, Wright backed down and played like a faithful member of his party.
Oddly missing from the entire story was Norma Champion, the 73-year-old state senator from Springfield. Champion told Catanese that she hadn't a clue that Republicans like Wright were calling for reform of the fee offices: "You're catching me on something I've not been a part of." She also admitted that she doesn't have a plan.
No plan. No clue. And no comment. Norma Champion is the silent senator.
8 comments:
I was shocked the transaction fees the Springfield office agent now gets to keep equalled $975,000 in 04. I heard of patronage but I always thought of it in terms of a job--- not a life's fortune. This would make Chicago's political machine proud. Who is this Leslie Carter and how did she get this gig?
We ought to come up with a better tag for Ant Norma than "the silent senator". That phrase has shades of grandeur that are definately lacking in Ant Norma:
Strong but silent, silent but deadly, silent night.
How about our do-nothing senator?
See nothing, hear nothing, do nothing.
Or to paraphrase her words: the clueless senator.
No plan Norma
She's not my Champion.
Let me get this right -- the boy governor had the choice of letting the schools run the office and keep the near mill (that we pay in transaction fees) or give the office to a political contributor and let the political friend put the near mill in their pocket. Not a tough choice for anyone with any sense of right and wrong.
But Blunt puts the near mill in the friends pocket and now that the Republicans have lifted campaign limits the boy Gov has created a whole new source of political contributions. I see the fee agents now: one for me one for Governor Blutns reelection fund, one for me, one for Gov Blunts reeclection fund.....etc...
Leslie Carter is Tom Carter's wife. Tom Carter is Roy Blunt's political fundraiser.
You really can't make this up. The truth is so more disgusting then voters would ever imagine.
And don't forget the management company that Matt Blunt and his partner Jewell Patek started that gets paid a fee by many fee agents for helping to "manage" the offices.
Anon 1: Leslie Carter is the wife of Tom Carter, described by The Hill as Roy Blunt's "money man".
Hey Busplunge, how about AbNorma?
I kinda like the sound of that. The name, I mean. Not the creaky old person it belongs to.
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