Saturday, May 19, 2012
The national program airing Saturday and Sunday will focus on initiative petition campaigns tied to capping interest rates at 36 percent.
A Missouri ballot initiative aimed at curtailing interest rates at “payday loan” entities is getting some national attention. For an episode of PBS’s Need to Know, airing locally this weekend, the program traveled to the Show Me State to follow around activists who are collecting signatures for an initiative petition. If the ballot measure makes it to the ballot and if voters approve it, interest rates on certain lending companies would be capped at 36 percent. Supporters of the initiative argue that the loan agencies place poorer Missourians in a cycle of debt. But opponents counter that the entities are usually the only way lower-income citizens can obtain short-term loans to pay ordinary expenses. While supporters of the initiative …
Friday, May 18, 2012
Country music and laryngitis are two of the methods employed this week.
The last few iterations of this column have noted how several candidates for the U.S. Senate utilized creative means to entice fundraising efforts. For instance, Rep. Todd Akin (R-Wildwood) used his rhetorical scuffle with President Barack Obama over student loans in a fundraising pitch. And Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) has directly attacked third-party organizations that are pre-emptively attacking the incumbent lawmaker as she makes a difficult bid for re-election. McCaskill’s campaign staff continued on a creative path in an email that was sent to supporters earlier this week. They played on the fact that McCaskill had lost her voice right before she was supposed to make a speech at a Democratic gathering in Kansas City. “Between …
St. Louis voters will decide the rate at which their sewer rates rise this summer. Here's a look at the federal law—and lawsuit—that started it all.
Hundreds of sewer overflows in the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District (MSD) system are at the heart of a Clean Water Act settlement agreement and a ballot issue planned June 5 in Ballwin and Ellisville, according to a document compiled by MSD. In August, MSD reached the settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Missouri Coalition for the Environment Foundation, a news release posted to the federal agency's website states. Now, MSD customers are tasked with deciding whether they will pay more now—or later—to fund the $4.7 billion in repair work mandated by the agreement. Several sources outline the alleged violations and the reasons for the EPA's involvement in the case. The following are questions by Patch paired …
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Former Rep. Gina Walsh is aiming for a spot in the State Senate.
Former state Rep. Gina Walsh (D-Bellefontaine Neighbors) continues to rack up endorsements in her bid for the 13th District Senate seat. Walsh this week said that she had been officially endorsed by St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley, not a surprising development since the Democratic official attended her kick-off party earlier this year. She also received backing from St. Louis County Councilman Mike O’Mara (D-Florissant), Councilwoman Kathleen Burkett (D-Overland) and Councilman Pat Dolan (D-Richmond Heights). Walsh was also endorsed by the Fraternal Order of Police, which represents thousands of police officers across the state. “As the largest law enforcement organization in Missouri, representing over 5,000 sworn law …
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…
Sunday, April 22, 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.” “…
Friday, April 13, 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 wave 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-…
Michael Rhodes
10:03 am on Monday, May 21, 2012
I have heard reasons that these business do provide a need service to folks with a lower credit rating or need that little bit of cash before the paycheck arrives. For the most part though I think they just suck money out of communities. more ›