The July disclosure report filed by former House Speaker Pro Tem Carl Bearden, R-St. Charles, with the Missouri Ethics Commission July 11 shows Bearden was taking care the interests of every employer he had except for the people who voted him into office.
Bearden, who has resigned to take another job, widely rumored to be with billionaire Rex Sinquefield's think tank the Show-Me Institute, spent $577.50 of his campaign money on travel expenses for Sinquefield's lobbyist Travis Brown, according to the disclosure report.
Bearden, who came under attack from the Missouri Democratic Party in May for pushing legislation favoring nursing homes while working for industry's chief lobbying organization, the Missouri Health Care Association, continued to rake in big bucks from that organization during the past three months.
The Ethics Commission documents indicate Bearden received $2,950 from the nursing home industry during the reporting period, including $1,000 from the Residential Care Facility PAC, and $650 apiece from the Missouri Health Care Association PAC, the Missouri Health Care Association District 1 PAC and the Missouri Health Care Association District 3 PAC.
More information on Bearden's connections with the nursing home industry can be found in the May 29 Turner Report.
6 comments:
This must be why you teach rather than do journalism any more. You throw-out numbers and draw personal conclusions without any proof.
I have been in the Capitol for nearly 30 years and have seen many come and go. A few - not nearly as many as people of your ilk would have others believe - came with the idea of getting something for themselves. It is from this background and experience of seeing many come and go during this time that I can tell you Carl Bearden worked harder for the people of Missouri than most I have seen.
You wouldn't know that because all you do is look at papers and jump to conclusions unsupported by facts. You are pathetic. It is scary that the children of the Joplin School district are being subjected to the likes of you.
JasonB
Hmmm.... You don't see a clear conflict of interest in lobbying for an organization while trying to form and/or pass legislature which will govern the people you're lobbying for, Jason? Interesting ethical standards...
If you've been in the capitol for 30 years, isn't it about time you moved on and found a real job that resembles the ones the rest of us have?
Over the past few years, I've become aware of the fact that in the world of politics there are "people" and then there are the rest of us.
I find it rather alarming that people of your ilk apparently are and have been working in the Capitol for so many years.
Randy, I've noticed that it appears that you've come to the attention of the establishment and they're starting to get a little worried. Congratulations. You're having an effect.
I have to agree that Randy doesn't report fairly. His reporting reminds me of the story I heard many years ago. The story was that a car race was held between the United States and Russia. The American car won. When the race results were printed in the Russian newspaper, the reporter wrote that the Russians were involved in an international auto race. The paper reported that the Russians came in second and the Americans came in next to last.
That report was true but it was not true....that's Randy's way of presenting news and reports.
Another anonymous
That's the point - Turner or you have established any tie or even given a specific bill or any evidence what so ever about the alleged conflict of interest. Do you even know what the conflict of interest provisions and laws are? I sincerely doubt it.
When this was first reported even the discraceful Post-Dispatch reported that Bearden's work wasn't lobbying but did an analsyis of Federal funding for which he was paid slightly more than $1000.
Just because you and Turner can be bought doesn't mean everyone else can be.
As for my length of time in the Capitol - I have no reservations in saying that I have helped more "real people" than you have even thought about. I have a deep suspicion that you are like Turner - a talker/writer not a doer - someone who takes cheap and mostly unsubstantiated shots at those who are doers.
JasonB
The nature of Bearden's work for the Missouri Health Care Association makes no difference. If you can't see the conflict of interest in a representative working in any capacity for a lobbying organization and you have been in the capitol for 30 years, then it is no wonder that our state government is in the shape it is in.
That's the problem with your brand of "facts" - it ignores the ones that are not convenient to the story you are trying to manufacture.
The MHCA is NOT JUST A LOBBYING organization. In fact it does much more than anything related to lobbying but that is a fact that is inconvenient to your story. Using your logic - we could have no candidates that were able to run in the legislature except possible twits like you - no wait you are an agent of public education and cannot be trusted.
I fully understand why you are not IN journalism any longer - you can't be trusted to give the facts without distorting them to fit the story you want to write not the story that actually exists.
How unfortunate it is however that you are trusted to teach children your brand of drivel. No wonder we have such problems in educaiton.
JasonB
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