Questionable Relationship between Steve Tilley and Sarah Steelman

A complaint has been filed with the Federal Election Commission alleging improprieties in the use of funds by the Missouri Leadership Committee and Steelman for US Senate. The Missouri Leadership Committee is not registered with the FEC, yet it has contributed to Sarah Steelman's federal campaign committee, Steelman for US Senate. The complaint alleges that Chairman of the Steelman Campaign and Speaker of the Missouri House, Steve Tilley, was instrumental in directing $25,000 from the Missouri Leadership Committee to Steelman for US Senate. The specific allegations are:

(1) Missouri Leadership Committee failed to register as a political committee with the FEC when it spent more than $1,000 to influence a federal election;

(2) The Steelman Campaign, through its agent and campaign chairman, financed, directed, or controlled non-federal funds by furnishing $25,000 to Now or Never PAC through Missouri Leadership, a state committee financed by Friends of Steve Tilley.

The ethics complaint letter is below. The name and address of the person submitting the complaint has been obscured. The exhibits (A-E) referenced in the letter can be found on Scribd.

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Steven Tilley Owes his Friend T.D. El-Amin Another Dinner

Talibdin "T.D." El-Amin (D), a former state representative from St. Louis, left office in 2009 to serve eighteen months in prison for a $2,100 bribe. He completed that sentence this past April.

Earlier this week, the St. Louis Post Dispatch reported on El-Amin's record setting fine for ethics violations: Former State Rep. El-Amin fined a record $527,000 by Ethics Commission:

St. Louis Democrat Talibdin "T.D." El-Amin, who left the state House in 2009 after pleading guilty to soliciting a $2,100 bribe, controlled a web of campaign committees before he went to prison.
From those committees, according to the state Ethics Commission, El-Amin:

• Issued thousands of dollars in payments to himself
• Authorized repeated cash withdrawals, which are not allowed under state campaign law
• Paid thousands of dollars to family members, including his brother, mother and wife
• Did not report several questionable campaign payments, including expenses at a casino, massage parlor and luxury hotels.

Reached on Tuesday, El-Amin, 40, described the Ethics penalty as an "administrative charge."
"I don't really have a comment," El-Amin said. "Write what you feel like you need to write"

Ouch. Clearly, El-Amin is down on his luck and needs to be cheered up. Speaker of the Missouri House, Steven Tilley, should make good on his friendship with El-Amin by taking him out to dinner again. Heck, get the old gang together--invite Rep. Jamilah Nasheed and Rep. Carter too--enjoy a night on the town. I mean, that's what friends do, right?

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Greasing the St. Louis Democrat Machine with #Aerotropolis Dollars

Audrey Spalding of The Show Me Institute spoke to the K & N Patriots Saturday morning about the crony capitalism in the aerotropolis bill. Spalding explains that the bill provides $360 million dollars of tax credits. Of that, $300 million is designated to build warehouses in north St. Louis where there are already 18,000,000 sq. ft. of available warehouse space.

She also notes that new warehouses can only be built in "gateway zones". Those zones can only be created by County Executive Charlie Dooley (D) in St. Louis county or Mayor Francis Slay (D) in St. Louis city. In short, Missouri's Republican controlled General Assembly, led by Speaker Steve Tilley (R), wants to oil the St. Louis Democrat machine with $300 million dollars to dole out to their cronies.

Given that Moody's Investors Service is contemplating a review of Missouri's AAA credit rating, wouldn't the passage of this boondoggle negatively effect their rating of the state?

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• "Aerotropolis" Author Doesn't Think Saint Louis Proposal Will Work (showmedaily.org)
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• Eco-Devo Mad Libs: So, Are 5,000, 29,000, or 37,000 Jobs Being Saved or Created With "Aerotropolis"? (showmedaily.org)
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Fighting on for Tea Party Principles

On several core issues I've noticed that establishment Republicans are out of step with the Show Me State's Tea Party activists. After some tough electoral losses earlier this month, St. Louis Tea Party co-founder, Bill Hennessy blogged about the fact that the Missouri GOP has become more of a club than a political party. Nowhere is that clearer than in Jefferson City, MO.

In early March Missouri State House Speaker, Steve Tilley, indicated that the pending right to work legislation was not a priority. It's still languishing in the legislature. Earlier this week Republicans circled around to shoot their own. State Senators Jim Lembke (R), Brian Nieves (R), Will Krause (R), and Rob Schaaf (R) worked out a deal to impose some fiscal discipline on the federal government, but State Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Kurt Schaefer (R) may derail their efforts. Tea Party criticisms of the education reform bills pending in Jeff City have also fallen on deaf ears.

The leading voice on education within Missouri's Tea Party movement is Gretchen at www.MissouriEducationWatchdog.com. She's pointed out that federal blueprints like Race to the Top and Common Core State Standards erode the authority of local school boards by ceding power to Washington, DC, in exchange for federal funds. In essence, the state legislature agrees to more Federal control over education and the state gets Federal money in return. Whether the issue is education or agriculture, this is how state sovereignty is lost. Gretchen has also criticized the longitudinal data system as an intrusion into the privacy of children and their parents. Does the government in DC, really need to track the income of a student's family or other private data?

One reason that our Republican legislature is out of step with Tea Partiers is that the legislative leadership is composed of the old guard. Like many states across the country, Missouri has a large class of freshman Republicans many of whom were Tea Party candidates. However, the leadership consists of establishment Republicans because seniority is a deciding factor for those leadership races. While some legislative leaders may identify with the conservative values espoused by the Tea Party, many do not. The fact is that Missouri's Tea Party freshman were rolled to elect Republican leaders to the left of conservative Tea Party principals.

That has created fissures between grassroots conservatives and the establishment. One of those fissures split open in late February when Gretchen was attacked in The Culpeper Press for her work on education (see the clipping below). The Culpeper Press is a monthly print publication that has taken the establishment's line on education issues, even though it touts itself as a conservative, 9-12 newspaper. One odd thing about the attack on Gretchen is that it comes from an anonymous source in an unsigned article.

The article chides Gretchen for drawing attention to the fact that Missouri legislators and lobbyists attended a private screening of Waiting for Superman. Perhaps the unknown authors of that piece hoped to smear Gretchen as unreasonable by implying "it's only a movie", but we have since learned that the relationship amongst education legislators and lobbyists extends beyond an evening out. Private meetings on education seem to be common in Jeff City and muddled thinking is similarly abundant.

While stepping for the high ground The Culpeper Press stumbled when it scolded: "An angry and belligerent impasse created yesterday could result in a squandered victory for the unborn tomorrow." The writer must be unaware that victory for the unborn was squandered when a man in the pocket of the human cloning lobby, Steve Tilley, was elected Speaker of the Missouri House. Tilley received $20,000 from Supporters of Health Research and Treatments on 10/6/2009 and another $30,000 on 1/4/2010. He also received $50,000 from Life Sciences Fund on 6/25/2009 (h/t Missouri Ethics Commission). Tilley had no reason to spend any of that $100,000 in the 2010 election cycle since he was unopposed in both the primary and general elections; therefore, it remains available to his campaign committee for future races and as an enduring embarrassment to The Culpeper Press.

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Ed Martin Promises to Stand for State Sovereignty

In a letter addressed to Speaker Steve Tilley (R) of the Missouri House and President Pro Tem Rob Mayer (R) of the Missouri Senate, Ed Martin (R) outlines his commitment to state sovereignty. Martin is currently running for the GOP nomination for US Senate and hopes to defeat Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) in November of 2012.

Martin notes that the Federal Government has overreached its authority many times, but notes that the passage of Obamacare in 2010 and the failure of the current Congress to repeal or defund it are the main reasons he is renewing his commitment to the core principal of state sovereignty.

Martin closes his letter with three promises to the leaders of Missouri's General Assembly "and their successors":

1. Each year, I will meet with you and the General Assembly expressly to discuss any federal actions or contemplated actions that we are concerned constitute an overreach by the federal constitutional authority. (Perhaps the week of March 23rd would be a good time given its significance as an anniversary of Obamacare.)
2. I will support you in any effort to nullify or interpose any law, regulation, or other action that we deem to be an overreach of federal constitutional authority.
3. Finally, I will fight against any action by the federal government to punish the state or Missourians for any expression of their sovereignty. I know that the federal government can use its power to withhold and intrude in our state, and I will fight to stop this abuse.

The first promise hearkens back to an earlier time in our nation's history. Prior to the ratification of the 17th Amendment in 1913, US Senators were selected by the legislators of their respective states. Martin obviously believes that as a Senator he should show some deference to the legislature of the state he represents.

I hope to see more candidates for US Senate take this innovative approach.

Ed Martin's State Sovereignty Letter to Speaker Tilley President Pro Tem Mayer March 2011

Steve Tilley's Astroturf at Lincoln Days

Speaker of the Missouri House, Steve Tilley (R), is fertilizing some astroturf at this weekend's Lincoln Days event. Last December he offered to help cover the part of the cost of St. Louis area Young Replicans if they would agree to wear a Tilley t-shirt. In light of Tilley's recent association with the New Black Panther Party, I'm looking for photographs of attendees wearing the complete ensemble: both the Tilley t-shirt and a black beret. Extra credit will be given to anyone that gets a photo of Tilley diving behind a table to avoid beret wearing "supporters".

Steve Tilley's Dereliction of Duty

Jamilah Nasheed and Steve Tilley's local control bill, HB 71, was "perfected" Thursday and is scheduled to be voted on next Tuesday. The bill would strike the existing state statute that establishes the five member police board in St. Louis. As a result, control of the police department would revert to the structure specified in the St. Louis city charter.

A little history sheds a lot of light on the issue of Local Control of the St. Louis Police Department and why the pending legislation in Jefferson City is a dereliction of duty on the part of the GOP leadership, and Speaker Tilley in particular.

In 1861, the Confederacy sympathizing Governor of Missouri, Claiborne Jackson, seized control of the police in both St. Louis and Kansas City out of fear that they would be used by the Union. St. Louis and Kansas City both sympathized with the Union. Jackson's power grab was a clear abuse of power and violation of the principals of local governmental control. It needs to be undone, but not in the negligent fashion currently being proposed.

Most municipalities in the Show Me state are part of a county. County government provides a check to balance the police powers of their subordinate municipalities. The problem is an ancient one: who watches the watchmen, who polices the police. A few weeks ago I posted video of Gary Fuhr talking about the role of counties in balancing municipal police powers. In 1876, the people of the city of St. Louis voted to leave the county of St. Louis. St. Louis city is not part of a county; therefore, there is no offsetting check to balance the city's police powers. Tilley's support for Local Control and his parliamentary maneuvers to pass it show a disregard for good governance.

If HB 71 passes and Local Control is returned to the city of St. Louis, control of the police will revert to the structure specified in the St. Louis city charter. Ah, the city charter, ancient hallowed document that's almost a hundred years old. The charter was adopted in 1914. The police were under state control in 1914. Nonetheless, the charter provides that the Police Department be directed by a Police Commissioner who serves at the discretion of the Director of Public Safety an existing position effectively putting two additional layers of appointed, patronage bureaucrats between the elected Mayor and the police chief.

A setup like this was tried once before in KC. It empowered the Pendergast machine and was eventually undone when Missouri's Attorney General stepped in to clean out the corruption. This structure is also similar to the setup in the Windy City. Of course, Chicago has a bit of a reputation for corruption. The patronage system there probably helped misplace the recordings of Rahm Emmanuel.

What is lost if HB 71 passes are the four St. Louis civilians on the police board. Local Control will shield the Mayor from accountability with bureaucracy and remove citizen oversight of the police while adding a plum patronage position for the Mayor to appoint. In short, Jefferson City is trying to cut St. Louis city loose to sink or swim on its own; however, one party machine politics in the city combined with a poor governing structure will ensure that the city stews in its own political juices.

Each successively higher level of government, each larger governmental jurisdiction, has a moral obligation of good governance to its smaller jurisdictional subdivisions. The problem with the pending Local Control legislation is that it abdicates this responsibility. That is why Steve Tilley's support of Local Control is a dereliction of duty. As speaker of the Missouri House, he has a duty to "do no harm", a duty to ensure that the governing structure of the police department has minimal political influence, appropriate civilian oversight, and Mayoral accountability while the police themselves are unhindered by politics in their public safety role.

A Path to Local Control

The St. Louis Tea Party has not come to a consensus on local control for the city; however, I do have an idea of how to get there from here. I'm opposed to the pending legislation because, like Governor Claiborne Jackson's seizure of the police department and the city-county split, I think it's ill conceived and poorly thought out legislation that will have significant negative consequences. My first priority in a return of local control is to define a workable system in advance of removing state control. Here's what I would like to see.

St. Louis county's police force is currently overseen by a police board. I would like to see that board granted jurisdiction over St. Louis city's police department. This provides the check on the city's police power that offsets the check currently provided by the state. Obviously, the St. Louis county board would need to be modified to include city representation. Ideally that would include both St. Louis civilian and Mayoral roles on the county board. Because at least three jurisdictions are involved (St. Louis city, county, and the state of Missouri), this will be a politically hard road to take; however, there is interest in the area for a city-county merger. I see this as a down payment on that merger.

In fact, I believe that a city-county merger will be more successful if it is orchestrated in a piecemeal fashion like this. An incremental approach enables the county and the city to consider the pluses and minuses of each step of the integration.

Why has Missouri House Leadership aligned with the New Black Panthers?

Over the past month, St. Louis Tea Party bloggers have made their case against local control of the city's police department. Bill Hennessy set forth that the US Constitution grants no standing to political divisions smaller than a state. Numerous arguments have been made at 24thState.com ranging from the principled, (Who Polices the Police?) to the pragmatic (St. Louis Police Pension: A Pot of Gold) and everything in between (State Control of the City of St. Louis?).

A vote on the local control bill (HB 71) could come as early as today, 2/17/2011.

The Speaker of the Missouri House, Steve Tilley, has been a leading advocate for local control of the St. Louis Police Department. In his zeal to pass local control, he's gone so far as to appoint an ally of the New Black Panther Party to a House leadership position. As committees were formed, Tilley assigned Jamilah Nasheed (pictured below) to chair Urban Issues. That's the same committee to which he later assigned the Local Control bill. This raises serious questions about Tilley's judgement.

Make no mistake, this is not about Rep. Nasheed who's personal story ranges from tragic to redemptive. If the people of Missouri's 60th house district want her to represent them, so be it. However, that does not mean that a Missouri House dominated by Republicans should place her in a leadership position. Speaker Tilley has demonstrated a lack of judgement and opportunistic leadership in his rush to get the Local Control bill passed.

From left: Jamalah Rogers, Talibdin El Amin, Jamilah Nasheed, and an unidentified member of the New Black Panthers

Redistricting Russ Carnahan out of a Job

RedState is running some Ideas for Redistricting:

if MO loses a seat eliminate MO-3 Russ Carnahan. Carnahan will probably run for LT Gov then Since LT Gov Kinder is going to vacate the seat to run against Governor Nixon. And I suspect he wants his Dad’s old Job as Governor. He will not challenge Nixon in a primary but it sets him up perfectly.

Are you kidding me? Russ Carnahan for statewide office? Russ's more conservative and less goofy sister just lost a statewide race. Between her successful 2008 race when she garnered 1.7 million votes and her 2010 loss when she got a million less (0.7 million votes) the Carnahan brand has declined. When the people take to the streets demanding more taxes and more spending, I'm sure there will be a surge of nostalgia for Carnahan profligacy, but don't hold your breath.

Oh, and Republican Steve Tilley is warding off competitors for the GOP Lt. Gov. primary with a war chest of $750,000+ on hand. Whoever runs on the Dem side is going to have to draw lots of donors. I just don't see Russ doing that.