Michael Gibbons has served as president pro tem of the Missouri Senate and is running for attorney general, but the St. Louis County Republican seems a bit lacking in his knowledge of important political figures and contributors, according to his July campaign disclosure form filed with the Missouri Ethics Commission.
In the spot where the reports are supposed to include information about the occupation of the contributors, on several he put "information requested."
Among the people Gibbons apparently did not know were former U. S. Rep. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas, John B. Mahaffey, Springfield, head of Mahaffey Enterprises, which owns radio stations in several states; Keith Burdick, Jenks, Okla., chief financial officer of the XCaliber tobacco company and a regular GOP contributor; and Michael DeCola, Clayton, CEO of Mississippi Lime Company.
The prize among that crew, of course, is Hutchinson. Not only did he serve as a U. S. Representative, but he was one of the managers, or prosecutors who were in charge of President Bill Clinton's impeachment. Since that time, Hutchinson has served as director of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and was undersecretary for border and transportation security for the Department of Homeland Security.
Gibbons also is apparently blissfully unaware of what a lobbyist is. His July disclosure form shows he received contributions from five, none of whom was listed as a lobbyist.
Lobbyists contributing to Gibbons' campaign were:
-Penman and Winton, which represents AT&T and numerous St. Louis interests, listed by the firm name
-William Shoehigh, lobbyist for Microsoft, and the University of Phoenix, listed as W. E. Shoehigh, LLC
-James Ferrell, listed as James Ferrell & Associates, represents the city of St. Louis.
-James R. Moody, listed as James R. Moody & Associates, lobbies for Bristol Myers, Carlson Gardner, Springfield, Coalition to Fund Excellent Schools, and numerous health care interests.
-Harvey Tettlebaum, simply listed under his name and his California, MO., address, represents the Missouri Health Care Association, Missouri Republican State Committee, and the law firm of Husch and Eppenberger.
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ReplyDeleteWhat makes you think Gibbons didn't know. He isn't the person that files this report, his treasurer is. Really Randy SHOULDN`T YOU KNOW THAT!
ReplyDeleteLighten up, guys!
ReplyDeleteI am fully aware that the rules require the present job. I am also aware that Hutchinson's contribution came on June 5, which gave Gibbons or his treasurer more than a month to find out his occupation prior to the deadline to submit the report. I would not think it would be that hard to find out where Asa Hutchinson is. It just took me a couple of minutes with Google to find he has founded a firm called The Hutchinson Group LLC in Arkansas. Instead of caling me an idiot, why don't you do a bit of research on your own? As for whether Gibbons knew or did not know. What difference does it make? I am sure the treasurer is the one who takes care of the money since that is what treasurers do, but it is Gibbons who has the ultimate responsibility for those reports. If it were a Democrat who had that kind of sloppiness on a report, I am sure you would put the blame where it properly belongs- on the candidate. Apparently, when a Republican is involved, it is the treasurer's fault.
Randy is right about this. This requirement is there for a reason. The public is entitled to a basic level of effort from the candidate or his staff to find out this information.
ReplyDeleteForgot one thing
ReplyDeleteThe candidate has to hire staff or volunteers that are repsonsible for this stuff. Sometimes it is complicated but in this case it looks like a minimal level of effort would have corrected the problem.
These last comments come from people who have obviously never filled out finance reports. The treasurer is not usually a politician and may not have known Hutchison. Using information from Google would be very inappropriate because accuracy and source could not be verified, and is not a source state law approves. It sounds like this report was filed according to the rules and properly. If the occupation wasn’t provided by the donor and isn’t known by the treasurer, the language on this report is the correct language. Randy needs to lighten up and quit making mountains out of molehills. The criticism of Randy is right on target. It is typical of him to say “lighten up” to his critics while piling on others himself.
ReplyDeleteThere is a reason why the information is required in the first place. As I pointed out earlier, Gibbons or his campaign staff had more than a month to get the information. As for the use of Google being inappropriate- on the contrary, you use Google to find out about the person, then you call and doublecheck the information. That would most likely take less than 10 minutes. I would think someone who hopes to be attorney general would recognize the importance of following campaign finance laws and being as thorough and accurate as possible in his reports.
ReplyDeleteTo continue on my last comment, I am amazed (and amused) at how little it takes to get some people angry.
ReplyDeleteI don't see any indication of anger. Just that it is being pointed out that Randy is an idiot, but I guess that really isn't required since he does such a good job of that himself. It may not be 10 minutes,if the call for verification goes to an answering machine and if there is no call back the response has to be what was on this report. Listen up Randy, the report is properly filed, "lighten Up"!
ReplyDeleteI have a better idea Randy. If you beleive the report is improper file a complaint! What makes me laugh is that Randy won't file a complaint because he knows it is baseless, he would rather whine into his wind tunnell.
ReplyDeleteI have filled out campaign reports before or at least helped someone do it. Not more than 7 or 8 of them but I have filled them out. I may have taken the process too seriously and call me old fashioned but I honestly believe the public has a right to know. I find myself in an interesting position here because I really like Mike Gibbons and hope he trounces Hackaway but I just don't think it would have been that difficult to get it closer to right.
ReplyDeleteOne other thing. Filing ethic complaints is a waste of time as a general rule. I have been involved on both ends of that and in the almost all cases they do nothing.
ReplyDelete