Jackson County Democratic Committee

Today Robin Carnahan announced the addition of Mindy Mazur to her already talented team. From the AP:Feb 27, 4:00 PM EST

Carnahan picks Mazur to lead Mo. Senate campaign 

JEFFERSON CITY,  Mo.
  (AP) — Democratic Secretary of State Robin Carnahan is turning to a familiar person to run her U.S. Senate campaign.

A Carnahan spokesman said Friday that former chief of staff Mindy Mazur has been hired as Carnahan’s campaign manager. Mazur is to start in a few weeks.  Mazur served as Carnahan’s campaign manager during her first bid for secretary of state in 2004, then worked as her chief of staff until March 2008. Mazur previously worked for U.S. Rep. Ike Skelton. 

Carnahan so far is the only Democratic candidate seeking to replace outgoing Republican Sen. Kit Bond in 2010.

Republican Rep. Roy Blunt also is running, while former Republican State Treasurer Sarah Steelman has said she is leaning toward running <–>

Like the rest of the Nation the people of Missouri are hurting.  Our neighbors are increasingly worried about the state of their own budgets, not too mention what is happening with the economy on a national and global level.  Alarming increases are happening in the state of Missouri.  Currently 1 in 6 are seeking federal food aid.  The number of our neighbors turning to the state for various forms of welfare grew again in January for the 7th straight month.  ( DSS)

Now is the time when members of the General Assembly should be working with Governor Nixon on turning around the economy of this state, instead they are grandstanding and debating whether or not to take the stimulus money set aside for Missouri  (about $4 billion). The current actions of the GOP remind me more recently of our retiring Senator Bond.  A man who has friends from both political parties who has spent almost his entire senate career securing federal dollars for special projects in Missouri.  That’s right, I am talking about that awful four letter word….p-o-r-k.  While the Republican administrations of both this state and our nation were running up our deficits with hidden budgetary items, Democrats from Jackson County, to Jefferson City and Washington all campaigned on the transparency of government.  The problem with the GOP on a national level is a lack of identity, and short memory loss.  Locally, we have a general assembly that does not seem to recognize the value of extending unemployment benefits to a mother whose just lost her job and having a hard time finding one. While the GA continues to debate the merit of the stimulus money may i remind you that regardless of whether all of those dollars are spent here or not, we will still have to pay for it. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, we have posted the highest unemployment in a decade.

We need to do whatever it takes to get out of this economic downturn.  Will you join with us in contacting your State Senator and your Representative and encourage them to work together to fix the economy in Missouri.  Times are tough, but by working together we can overcome any obstacle.  Yes we can.

Remember the good old days?  You know, when Roy Blunt/Tom Delay/Jack Arbramoff ran D.C.  They ran off all the Democratic lobbyists off K-Street (K Street Project), screwed over Native American tribes and Abramoff pled guilty to committing lots of federal crimes.

Roy Blunt would love for moderate swing voters to forget he was buds with Abramoff and took his dirty money. Then Majority Leader Tom Delay used Roy Blunt as his hatchet man and had very close ties Abramoff. Delay became majority leader, he picked Blunt as his Whip. Abramoff raised the money and gave it to Delay and Blunt, and those two stooges traded the money around as needed. Abramoff is now in jail, Delay is in hiding in Texas and Roy Blunt is running for Senate.

I bet you the swing voters who decide Missouri’s elections won’t forget.

I ask my wife what she thought of Bobby Jindal’s rebuttal last night.  She paused for a moment, looked at me and quietly said: “He’s a Republican.”

Bobby needs to explain to her exactly why we should double down on the policies that got us into this mess in the first place.

Jeff Roe is at it again.  On the Source, he pokes fun of Eastern Jackson County Democrats about our failure to win Matt Bartle’s senate seat (District 8).   Hey, Jeff, how come your Republicans are too scared to even run someone for Callahan (11), Justus (10) or Wilson (9) senate seats?  Let’s do our math – we get three and you got one.

Let’s be real honest, Jeff Roe is focusing on this senate race because the Republicans have a problem.  With the term limits, Senator Matt Bartle (Jeff Roe’s client) is  out.  Three Republican state reps are also term limited (Yates – 56, Pratt – 55 and Dusenberg – 54).  Pratt is in Republican leadership and wants to avoid a primary.  Pratt, with his bull in a china shop type of charm, has run over Yates (Jeff Roe’s client) and Dusenberg numerous times.  Dusenberg and Pratt are both from Blue Springs, Yates is from Lee’s Summit.  Pratt cannot win in a 3-way primary.  Pratt isn’t the religious right winger that Jeff likes to represent.

Here’s what I know – the Republicans took the Missouri House from the control of the Democrats by picking off one suburban House seat at a time.  We will take the House back from the Republicans by picking up one seat at a time.  2010 is a great year for Democrats to do that with term limits and about 90% of the incumbents are termed out.  Jeff Roe would love for Democrats to take their collective eye off the prize (taking back the Missouri House).  I understand that Jeff makes lots of money by having races for senate seats.  Jeff would love to be able to have his favorite candidate – Rep. Brian Yates –  have a primary and a general.  I think I would rather have Yates, Pratt and Dusenburg’s House seats.    I also can’t wait to see 3 Republicans carve each other up in Eastern Jackson County.

Jeff: have fun beating up on Rep. Bryan Pratt.  There’s lots of good ammo out there. Bryan Pratt has done big tobacco’s bidding in Jefferson City, just like Congressman Roy Blunt has done it in Washington.  Suburban moderate voters just love big tobacco.

Mr. Nixon Goes to Washington
 

Governor Jay Nixon went to Washington this weekend for the Meeting of the National Governors Association. While in D.C. he appeared on C-Span, right out of the gate Governor Nixon proved yet again why the people of Missouri elected him overwhelmingly. “We were first, because we were ready.” That really says it all.
 

Missouri is ready to lead this nation.
 

The Governor and his team are prepared to fight for the people of this state. No longer will corporate interests be put above the needs of our citizens. As we begin to debate how the nearly 4 billion dollars coming to Missouri from the Stimulus Package is spent, it is ever clear that our priorities must on the side of the working people of Missouri. “During these difficult economic times, we need fresh ideas about projects that will create jobs for Missourians and transform our economy for the 21st century,” Nixon said in a statement. “I know that many of the best ideas will come from outside the halls of government.” While some Governors continue to serve their own self-intrests (Bobby Jindal 2012), Governor Nixon continues to fight on behalf of all Missourians.
 

What we can we do?
 

Governor Nixon reminds us that with hard work and the willingness to listen to others, we can work together as Missourians and overcome these tough economic times. My family has made a decision to “shop local” whenever we can. This means Saturday mornings at the River Market buying local produce. This means running to my local hardware store instead of Lowe’s or Home Depot. This means using companies that have a commitment to fair labor practices and a prevailing wage. One way we can “stimulate” the economy is to buy local, buy the Missouri apples leave the Michigan ones alone.
 
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As reported on Show-Me Progress, the anti-union folks in the Missouri legislature have sponsored HJR 31.  This is the “Save Our Secret Ballot” mis-named bill that attacks the federal legislation known as The Employee Free Choice Act.

Here’s my red-neck summary.  The current state of the law is that if a group of employees want a union, they have to collect a majority of folks who sign off that they want the union.  Then the employer hires a law firm to ensure it doesn’t happen through “education.”  Then there is a secret ballot which the National Labor Relations Board oversees.  The Employee Free Choice Act cuts out the two-step process.  The “Save Our Secret Ballot” crap in HJR 31 has nothing to do with secret ballots on election day and everything to do with preventing employees from unionizing.

Two thoughts: 

1) Federal Preemption.  The US Supreme Court is pretty clear that once the federal government speaks on the issue, every state can’t take a bite at the same issue.  Unions are the perfect example of why we can’t have 50 variations of state law.  The Chamber of Commerce needs to step back, talk to their lawyers and figure out that they can’t push for preemption of civil lawsuits on one hand and argue against preemption of unions on the other hand. 

2) The Sweet 16 are a group of allegedly moderate Republicans in the Missouri House who take money, support and votes from organized labor and are allegedly supportive of unions.  Well, we will see.  I know my labor friends.  They know who they have supported.  The Sweet 16 Republicans in the Missouri house now get the chance to prove if they are with labor or against labor.   Put it on the floor Speaker of the House – see what your members do.  Draw the line in the sand.

Who is Congressman Roy Blunt?

I know he is a Congressman from S.W.Missouri.  I know that his son is the widely popular ex-governor of Missouri who is known for kicking the poor off health insurance in order to give corporations a tax cut.  I know Roy left his wife to marry a tobacco lobbyist and that Congressman Blunt was Tom Delay’s hatchet man.  What I want to know is what kind of middle class Missouri values does this guy have?  What has he done to help moderate folks?

Who is this right-wing ultra conservative Roy Blunt?