Wednesday, May 16, 2012
A June 5 vote is planned in St. Louis county and city on Proposition Y, along with eight charter amendments aimed at increasing the efficiency and transparency of the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District.
People living in the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District (MSD) can't change the fact that their sewer bills are going to rise incrementally over the next several years, Ed Rhode said. What they can control is the rate at which that change happens. That's why Rhode and Mike Kelley—members of the pro-Proposition Y committee Clean Water STL—are encouraging residents of St. Louis County and St. Louis city to vote yes on the $945 million bond issue June 5. If St. Louisans vote yes, sewer rates for the average single-family MSD user would rise from roughly $29 for the average single family to roughly $44 by mid-2015. The new rate effective July 1 of this year would be about $31. By contrast, a rejection of the measure would raise that average …
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Area state senate and general assembly races are still changing after the filing deadline.
There’s one less Democratic candidate in the race for the 1st Senatorial District, which encompasses a sizable portion of south St. Louis County. Michael Vogt, an Affton resident who served four terms in the Missouri House, withdrew his candidacy earlier this week. Vogt, an attorney, raised only $100 during the past fundraising quarter, a far cry from either Rep. Scott Sifton (D-Affton) or former state Rep. Sue Schoemehl (D-Oakville). Whoever wins the primary between Sifton and Schoemehl will face incumbent state Sen. Jim Lembke (R-Lemay). While the redistricted 1stDistrict is more Democratic, Lembke does have a sizable campaign war chest. That could come in handy, especially since his first bid for the state Senate was one of the more …
Friday, May 11, 2012
This edition of Political Potpourri has campaign machinations on both sides of the race to be Missouri's next U.S. Senator.
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Missouri) made an appearance this week on The Colbert Report, a popular satirical news show on Comedy Central. The first-term senator spent time on the show talking about her latest ad, which hones on third-party organizations that have been running ads against her. “Stephen, as he always does, used his character to point out the absurd loopholes in federal election law that allow corporations and special interests to anonymously influence the political system. I applaud the work he and his show do to educate America about 501(c)(4) organizations and secret money,” McCaskill said in a letter to supporters. “But, until the system is fixed, secret money will continue to flow into Missouri and attack me. As I said, if…
Friday, May 4, 2012
Pending student loan legislation is a source of controversy in the race to represent Missouri in the U.S. Senate.
Rep. Todd Akin (R-Wildwood) got some press in late April after President Barack Obama alluded to the U.S. Senate hopeful’s comments about government-backed student loans. At a debate in Columbia, Akin said the following about pending student loan legislation: "America has got the equivalent of the stage three cancer of socialism because the federal government is tampering in all kinds of stuff it has no business tampering in. So first, to answer your question precisely, what the democrats did to get rid of the private student loans and take it all over by the government was wrong, it was a lousy bill, that's why I voted 'no.'" Soon after Akin made that statement, Obama told a crowd at the University of Iowa that “you’ve got one member of …
Saturday, April 28, 2012
The Attorney is using an old ambulance to collect petition signatures.
Chalk this up as one of the more unusual transportation vehicles utilized during the 2012 election season: St. Louis City attorney Ed Martin’s campaign for attorney general is using a retrofitted ambulance aimed at showcasing the Republican’s opposition to President Barack Obama’s health care plan. Martin’s campaign announced last week that the “Ed Martin for Attorney General Campaign ‘Stop Obamacare’ Ambulance” would be traveling around the state to collect signatures against the health care law passed in 2010. “We are inviting citizens from across the state to come out to the ‘Stop Obamacare’ Ambulance Tour and sign the petition to stop the implementation of Obamacare here in Missouri,” Martin said in a statement. “The petition is meant…
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Also, find out why Newt Gingrich may not be a fan of the St. Louis Zoo, and we have links to this weekend's congressional district caucus events.
The tea party movement’s activism may have helped tip the 2010 election cycle to Republicans, especially since dedicated volunteers helped Republicans win the U.S. House and close the gap in the U.S. Senate. So it’s no surprise that candidates—including the three major Republicans running for the U.S. Senate in Missouri—are trying to gather support from tea party organizations and political figures. But one of the interesting aspects of the movement is its inherent decentralization—no one entity speaks for everybody. For instance, former state Treasurer Sarah Steelman announced a few weeks ago an endorsement from Tea Party Express, a California-based group that touts itself as the “nation’s largest tea party political action committee.” “…
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Even if the state's presidential primary had carried delegate weight, would Mitt Romney's defacto hold of the GOP nomination be any different now?
Missouri politics may be the best arena to ask “what if?” For instance, what if Republican Matt Blunt had decided to run for re-election in 2008? Would he have defeated then-Attorney General Jay Nixon? Or would he have been swept under the relative Democratic rug that year? And what if Chris Koster had decided to run for attorney general as a Republican? Would he have emerged victorious out of a GOP primary or would have been defeated by more conservative candidates? Political prognosticators can only dream. But a more recent version of that fun and exciting exercise comes about with Missouri’s presidential caucuses. After the legislature failed to move the primary date to March, Republicans in the state had to go through with a non-…
Friday, April 13, 2012
The Democrat will run in the 93rd District.
Bob Burns signed up to run as a Democrat in the 93rd House District as filing for that seat stayed open a little longer after state Rep. Scott Sifton (D-Affton) withdrew from that contest to run for the 1st Senate District seat. Burns was a major player in the effort to dissolve the tiny south St. Louis County municipality of St. George. He has served on the Affton School Board, worked as a staffer for Claire McCaskill and previously ran for the state House in the 2000s, losing narrowly to then-state Rep. Jim Lembke (R-Lemay). Other candidates in that contest include Democrat Joe Montecillo—husband of state Rep. Genise Montecillo (D-Affton)—and Republican Tony Leech. The winner of the Democratic primary in the 93rd District, which …
Friday, April 6, 2012
Also, aides to Frontenac businessman John Brunner ding Steelman on previous statements on legislative endorsements.
Sifton Throws Challenge in State Senate Race Rep. Scott Sifton (D-Affton), is calling on Sen. Jim Lembke (R-Lemay) to restore health insurance coverage for the blind. Lembke serves on the Senate Budget Committee, which eliminated $8 million in restored funds in a mark-up session Wednesday. “So far the Senate Budget Committee is headed in the wrong direction,” Sifton said in a release. “Missourians want to see more funding for the blind restored, not less... I call on Senator Lembke, who sits on the Senate Budget Committee, to restore full funding forthis important program that benefits some of our most needy citizens.” Steelman Announces More Endorsements Back when she ran for governor in 2008, then-state Treasurer Sarah Steelman sent out…
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Eardley was the top vote-getter with 3,260 votes, according to unofficial results.
Mehlville school board candidates Kathleen Eardley and Ron Fedorchak combined for more than 56 percent of the vote, earning them two spots on the board. Eardley garnered the most votes with 3,260 when 48 of 48 precincts were counted in the St. Louis County unofficial election results Tuesday night. Fedorchak followed with 2,849. The two other candidates, Mike Wainz and Fred Padberg, earned 2,645 and 1,895 votes respectively. Voters chose two out of the four candidates to serve a three-year term on the Mehlville School Board Tuesday. Countywide, 13.8 percent of voters came out for the election. Eardley said she was excited after learning about the win via text message as she was in a class for her masters in education when the results came…
Devon Seddon
10:45 am on Friday, May 11, 2012
Can't think of a more appropriate place for a joke than Comedy Central. Unfortunately, the Claire joke just isn't funny anymore. I wonder if they could employ her over there full-time? more ›