A full 20 months before the 2008 election, Gov. Matt Blunt and Democratic challenger Jay Nixon are already in a day-by-day, blow-for-blow, tit-for-tat campaign to tarnish each others credibility and competence.
Is there any doubt that Gov. Blunt won't seek re-election now?
The press releases on both sides are being fired off fast and furious. But the aggressiveness on the side of the G.O.P. to consistently attack Nixon this early is striking.
Here's today's sampling of the latest warfare:
8:28 a.m. . . "Ameren Case Makes Nixon’s Promise of 'Office With Honor' Ring Hollow" blares the headline from G.O.P. spokesperson Paul Sloca. The release notes Nixon's claim that political contributions had tainted his office back in 1993, and then takes him apart for taking $19,000 grand from utility giant Ameren while investigating them. "Jay Nixon’s political past is littered with the carcasses of broken promises and bold-faced lies that include his hollow pledge in 1993 to curtail politics in the attorney general’s office. Those broken promises stand in stark contrast to the reality of the 2006 backdoor contributions to his campaign from Ameren,” blasted Sloca.
11:34 a.m. . . URGENT: "Ameren Official Implicates Nixon in Extortion Scheme for Campaign Cash," is the new headline from Sloca. Sloca cites a St. Louis Dispatch article to accuse the Attorney General of extortion. “Ameren Senior Vice President Richard Mark acknowledged Wednesday that Nixon's campaign staff had approached the utility's governmental affairs staff last spring about making the donations to the Democratic groups,” the Post-Dispatch reported. Mark, who tried to protect Nixon and his company executives, also told the newspaper that the funneled contributions were “common practice.”
2:09 p.m. . . . "Blunt Concerned with Nixon’s Attempt to Defrock General Assembly of Appropriations Authority,"came the release, this time from the Governor's office. Blunt announced sending a letter to Jay Nixon, questioning his handling of a case in which he sided with the Western District Court of Appeals to strip away appropriations power from the Missouri General Assembly. “The legislature is watching this case very closely in hopes that you will not abrogate the power of appropriation,” Blunt wrote in the letter. “Of even greater concern than your failure to defend your client is your failure to defend the principle that only the Missouri General Assembly can appropriate money.” At issue is Nixon’s handling of SEIU vs. State of Missouri in which the Attorney General failed to comply with the request of his client, the State of Missouri, to appeal a decision against an appropriations action by the Missouri General Assembly. The State of Missouri sought an appeal with the Missouri Supreme Court that Nixon denied. “The court’s opinion was factually and legally flawed and should have been disputed before Missouri’s highest court,” wrote Blunt. “You should have followed the reasonable request of your client.”
It's politically predictable that Blunt and Nixon are trading barbs as foes that could face each other in an election. But how worrying is it that the two most powerful officeholders in the state are at war with each other? It's not just attacks. But when labels of "disgraced" and "extortion" fly around this early, what's to come?
It's clear Missouri Republicans want to make Ameren UE, Jay Nixon's "Halliburton." Whether any of these charges are resonating with the people this early is unknown.
1 comment:
The GOP apparantly (and for good reason) doesn't want the election to focus on Blunt's performance in office on issues like Medicaid, MOHELA, School Vouchers. Sexual Harassment, college tuition increases and Health Care costs. So they predictably do what Rowe always tell them to do: try to discredit your opponent. Trying to link Nixon to Ameren would have a lot more credibility if Andy Blunt hadn't been hired (and reportedly been paid big bucks) as Ameren's lobbyist, Ameren had not contributed large $$$ to the Governor's campaign and the Governor wasn't the one trying to get Nixon to accept a settlement from Ameren over the Taum Sak dam collapse that was easier on Ameren the one Nixon is demanding. But.... reality or truth have rarely proven important to the Republican spin machine.
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