Don't Take My Word For It - Come And See the AG Candidates for Yourself

Here's a rare opportunity - indeed, probably a unique opportunity on this side of the state of Missouri. On May 22, the Committee for County Progress is hosting a debate for all four Democratic candidates in the Missouri Attorney General Primary. You are invited. You will be welcomed. The doors will open at White Recital Hall in the UMKC Performing Arts Center at 5:30, and the debate will start at 6:00. There will even be a free reception afterward.

I know I've been pretty direct in my assessment of the candidates - Harris is the only one with the Democratic values combined with high-level Attorney General experience, and deserves to win the primary election and the general election. If you're content to take my word for it, then go ahead and do something else on May 22nd, but, if you want to form your own opinion, show up at UMKC.

Here are a few ways to figure out if you're in the right place. If you see Chris Koster there, talking about being a prosecutor, and avoiding all mention of his time working for a criminal Republican in the AG's office, you're in the right place. If you see Margaret Donnelly there, with her campaign staff telling her that Kansas City is St. Louis' western most suburb, you're in the right place. If you see Molly Korth Williams there, wearing a "Koster" button "because Judge Dandurand asked me to", you're in the right place. If you see Jeff Harris there, tuning up a guitar, you're in the right place.

Mark your calendar today, and come out to the Attorney General debate. See if you agree with my pick . . .

Did Chris Koster Recruit Molly Korth Williams?

Over at the Pitch, David Martin connects a few dots and surmises that Molly Korth Williams' last-minute and half-hearted filing for the Missouri Attorney General Democratic primary was engineered by Chris Koster.

Here's the evidence:

- Koster is a very close friend of Judge Joe Dandurand.
- Williams is a very close friend of Judge Joe Dandurand.
- Koster (and, to be fair as always, Jeff Harris, the only candidate with strong experience in the Attorney General's office) may benefit from having another woman in the race to dilute Margaret Donnelly's perceived advantage among gender-based voters.
- Williams is not running a serious race, in that she took off for a vacation immediately after filing, and has not formed a committee to raise funds.
- The recruitment of primary challengers to weaken other candidates has been a hallmark of Cass County (Dandurand and Koster's home base) politics for years. (Actually, Martin didn't make that point, but I will.)
- Williams is a spectacularly weak candidate, with neither money, nor experience, nor even a job in the legal field.
- Koster's campaign doesn't even deny it.

Personally, I think this clipping I took from the Association for Women Lawyers newsletter says all that needs to be said about the relationship of Koster's friend and the new candidate, as well as the tenor of the "Williams for AG campaign":

Donnelly, Harris & Koster Together

The hottest primary in the state is between Margaret Donnelly, Jeff Harris and Chris Koster. They bring different backgrounds and visions to the race. The three of them will appear together on May 22 at a debate sponsored by the Committee for County Progress, free and open to the public, at White Recital Hall on the campus of UMKC. The event is currently scheduled to start at 6, though that could change. If so, I'll post a notice here. The debate will be moderated by Steve Kraske, of The Kansas City Star, Eric Wesson, from The Call, and Mike Mahoney, from KMBC-TV9.

Here's a pdf flier for the event.

This is the only joint appearance scheduled for the Western side of the state, and it should offer a great opportunity to meet and hear the candidates for yourselves.

Koster Misses an Opportunity to "Show Me"

Chris Koster needs to convince Missouri Democrats that he is really a Democrat if he is going to stand a chance in the Democratic primary for Missouri Attorney General. Many of us have adopted a "Show Me" policy, and are waiting to see what he can do over the next several months to atone for his years of vigorously opposing Democrats in our state capital.

One such opportunity came to him in the chance to support the Jackson County Democratic Committee. That Committee is hosting a fundraiser on February 7 to support increased activity in 2008. The theme is Make Missouri Blue Together! - what a perfect opportunity to prove that he's really one of us, really working to make Missouri a Democratic state.

He passed up the opportunity. Here's the list of supporters of making Missouri blue, and Chris Koster is not on it.

Jeff Harris, the likely Democratic nominee for the Attorney General position, appears prominently on the list of donors, even though nobody can doubt his Democratic credentials. (Margaret Donnelly is not on the list, but her absence is understandable, since she is running as the St. Louis candidate, and concentrating her campaign entirely within the I-270 loop.)

I know that Chris Koster has far smarter (and better paid) political advisers than me. He's even paid Jeff Roe for his advice, so he's had access to the full range of political input.

But it seems to me that if I were a candidate trying to prove that I am a real Democrat, and I have a real interest in Jackson County, I would have seized the opportunity to invest some of right wing Rex Sinquefield's money in this event.

372,039 Problems with Anonymous "Insiders"

To live up to a title like that, this post would need to rattle on for for a few pages, at least. But I wanted to point out that a few weeks ago, an anonymous commenter assured us that Jeff Harris was out of money, and would not last until the primary. Without even bothering to call the Harris campaign and check on his finances, I offered to place a bet on that proposition. Naturally, the anonymous commenter refused to back the factual allegation with any proof, or even a few bucks.

Tuesday, the campaign reports came out, showing that Harris has $372,039.11 in cash on hand. I wish I were "out of money" like that! While it's true that Koster has him beat in cash on hand, we have to remember that Koster took a ton of money from right wing interest groups, and that money is likely to cost him votes. Koster's also borrowed half of the difference between them, so the gap isn't quite as large as it appears. As for Donnelly, her lead over Harris is composed entirely of debt.

My point is not to downplay the importance of the money in this race - money is clearly crucial in a statewide race, and I strongly encourage all Missourians who want a Democratic Attorney General with experience to head over to Jeff Harris' site immediately and make a donation.

My point is that when anonymous commenters start providing "facts" without sources, set your BS filter to "high". We were lied to by someone supporting Koster.

What Can Koster Do in 2008?

One of the commenters on a previous thread sought to assure Democrats like me that Koster would prove his Democratic bona fides during the Senate session in 2008. The comment provoked me to wonder, just what in the heck can Koster do in one Senate session to atone for his past and to assuage the concerns of those of us who think of him as a self-absorbed pretty face with zero integrity and no principle above self-promotion?

It's a nice thought - I would love to be able to accept Chris at face value, and I'd love to see him accomplish some miracle in the Senate that would convince me and others that his conversion to the Democrat side of the aisle is something more than an unfortunate misunderstanding of the strength of Republican Attorney General opposition. I would relish the thought that Chris was running toward Democratic values instead of away from Catherine Hanaway.

Unfortunately, I just don't think he can do it. I really don't see how a rising star Republican can, over the course of a few months as one of 34 senators, convince the party faithful that he is really one of us. It's not a slight against Koster - I don't think that Harris or Donnelly, after their years of advocacy for the Democrats, could convince Republicans that they were really Republicans, either. While hope spring eternal and true Democrats can (and do) believe in redemption, we're in the Show-Me State.

If Chris toes the Democratic Party line for the next session, most of us will think "so what?", and chalk it up to political expediency. If Chris votes with his old friends on the Republican side, most of us will see it as evidence that his conversion is as shallow as his principles. Furthermore, there's not much that a single Senator can accomplish, anyhow. Senatorial politics is a team sport, and Chris isn't going to be quarterback of either team.

Perhaps I'm mistaken, and Koster will work some kind of magic that will convince loyal Democrats that he is one of us. I'll be watching, but I will frankly admit I'm cynical about Chris' depth and his chances. Show us, Chris Koster.

AG Candidate Donnelly Loses Case & Presumption of Legal Skill?

I was surprised when AG Candidate Margaret Donnelly filed a lawsuit challenging the secrecy of the Missouri Ethics Commission hearings. Even though I share the politically voyeuristic urge to see who is seeking to argue hardship and hold onto their large campaign donations, the statute creating the Missouri Ethics Commission seems awfully clear that it is an exempted from the Sunshine Law.

If the case had merit, I figured that Jeff Harris, who has actually served as an Assistant Missouri Attorney General working with Attorney General Jay Nixon, would have gotten involved. He knows the law a lot better than Donnelly does, so when he opted not to get on board, I figured that he knew the ship was going to sink.

It did.

Sadly, Donnelly is going to keep banging her head on the wall. “This is the first step in a long process,” she said. “I’m going forward because I think people are fed up with government operating behind closed doors." I agree with her that people would like to know more about the hearings.

But curiosity is not a cause of action, and wishing the law were written differently is not a winning argument.

Margaret Donnelly decided to demonstrate her legal acumen during her campaign, and now we all get to see what the courts think of her arguments.

As I wrote before, I met Margaret Donnelly and was unimpressed with her political judgment. Now that I've seen her legal judgment, I'm equally unimpressed.

Thank God we have Jeff Harris in the race.

Koster the Imposter Brought Home the Bacon

CAFO is a word that you'll hear a lot more as the AG race heats up. CAFO is an acronym for Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation, more commonly known as a factory farm. They replace the image of farms we all grew up with with super-sized concentrations of pigs, jammed together in hideous conditions. I'm no PETA member, but even I don't like the idea of eating something that has spent its entire life jammed in a stinky stall like the most crowded and flatulent elevator you have ever imagined.

Setting aside any porcine pity or tenderness for tenderloins, though, CAFOs are huge canker sores on the environment. They pollute ground water with unimaginable quantities of pig feces and urine. Their smell can make your eyes water, or worse - airborne micro-particles of pig feces can pollute entire zones of beautiful Missouri countrysides.

Economical disaster mirrors the impact on quality of life. Corporate farms don't drive the pick-up to the local feed mill for supplies - they import vast quantities of whatever they need on shiny 18 wheelers without contributing positively to the local economy. CAFOs drive family farmers out of business, and towns disappear when there are no people to shop on Main Street.

Not surprisingly, local communities have sought to protect their towns and the Missouri landscape from these destructive behemoths. Much like the zoning laws that protected Koster when he was living in Hallbrook or in wealthy St. Louis suburbs, local controls are ways for the people of Missouri's towns to preserve their way of life and the towns they have grown up in.

Also not surprisingly, corporate interests have the money to buy legislative protection. Also not surprisingly, Chris Koster was for sale when he was a Republican Senator. He became so enthusiastic about CAFO and the wealthy donors that control them that he actually sponsored SB 364, mockingly entitled the Missouri Farm and Food Preservation Act.

What would SB 364 have done? It would have loosened environmental controls on these factory farms. Not tightened the controls to prevent the spread of disease and environmental damage, but actually loosen those controls, to enhance profits. It also would have prevented counties from controlling their own jurisdictions, ripping local control away from the locals and insisting that only state or federal regulations could be applied to CAFOs.

This is not some act of ancient history I dug out of the vaults - this happened this year, during the 2007 legislative session, while Koster was supposedly becoming a Democrat! Mere months ago, Koster was siding with corporate hog farms against small town Missourians in a classic Republican power play. Now he wants us to trust him?

Personally, I think that stinks like . . . a hog farm.

By the way, both Democrats in the race, Jeff Harris and Margaret Donnelly, opposed the CAFO bill.

Meeting Margaret Donnelly & Sticking with Jeff Harris

Margaret Donnelly is running for Missouri Attorney General, and I had the opportunity to meet her yesterday evening. I went with an open mind, because my admiration for Jeff Harris pales in comparison to my desire to keep the Attorney General's Office in Democratic hands. If she proved to be a better candidate than Jeff Harris, I was prepared to get enthusiastic about her.

Suffice it to say, I'm more on board with Jeff Harris than I ever was.

Does anyone remember Geri Rothman-Serot, the St. Louisan who emerged from a 14-sided Democratic primary in 1992 only to lose a Senate race to Kit Bond? Margaret Donnelly is her political reincarnation.

One thing is perfectly clear - Margaret Donnelly is a St. Louisan. When asked how she plans to win the primary, she pointed out that it is a three way race right now, and that St. Louis provides 40% of the primary vote. She managed not to taunt us insignificant backwater hicks with "do the math, rednecks!", but she did say that "her geography" was one of the reasons she is confident she will win the primary. She also relied on quotations from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and held herself out as the "only player in the St. Louis region" on Medicaid issues.

Like Rothman-Serot, Donnelly has a severe case of 270 myopia. It's a disease that afflicts many St. Louisans, who wind up thinking that St. Charles is the West, Affton is the South, and Normandy is the dangerous North. These people can thrive in their narrow world, but they fail miserably when the rest of the state gets to vote on them.

When asked how she intends to appeal to outstate voters, Donnelly had no real answer. She claimed that her legislative record regarding Medicaid would somehow help her win voters, but was unable to articulate why she thought that would be a major issue for the Attorney General's race, against a candidate who will undoubtedly be smart enough to voice support for health care.

Worse, though, was her attempt to claim that she has adequate experience. She was a family lawyer who handled some juvenile cases. The Attorney General, of course, does not handle divorces. She also showed confusion about the Missouri Plan, pointing to a couple recent rulings by a judge not subject to the Missouri Plan as evidence that the attacks on it are already having a chilling effect. (If you're scratching your head and muttering, "huh?", join the crowd.) (Update: An anonymous commenter correctly points out that her discussion of Judge Callahan makes more sense in the context of the broader attack on the independent judiciary. To be fair, that is probably what she meant, though my question was about the Missouri Plan.)

Margaret Donnelly seems like a fantastically dedicated and fine Democrat. She is not, however, a particularly good candidate for Attorney General. She has no relevant experience, and she does not project the toughness and solidity Missourians want to see in their chief law enforcement officer. She seems to think that Clayton is mid-Missouri.

I've now met all the candidates for the Democratic nomination for Attorney General. They are all good people, but only one has the experience, the outstate appeal, and the Democratic credentials to become our next Attorney General. Jeff Harris is that candidate.