The fallout from Saturday's DWI arrest of Sen. Chuck Graham remains to be seen, but there is one area that is likely to remain untouched...did the senator get in his alleged condition with the help of beverages provided by a lobbyist?
And just as important, was that lobbyist being paid by the taxpayers?
We won't see the October lobbyists' report until Dec. 1, thanks to the protective system Missouri legislators have put in place for themselves, but if past records are any indication, Graham was probably at the MU football game Saturday and if he was there, it is almost certain that some lobbyist was picking up the tab for his tickets, meals, and beverages.
Missouri Ethics Commission records show Graham has garnered nearly $10,000 in lobbyists' gifts since Jan. 1, 2006, and an examination of the 2006 MU football season, shows Graham received gifts of entertainment on four of the seven dates on which MU had home games.
For two of those games, the Sept. 9, 2006, contest against Mississippi, and the Sept. 23, 2006, game with Ohio, the taxpayers picked up the tab since Graham had $40 in entertainment for the first date and $60 for the second paid for by Stephen Knorr, a lobbyist for the university.
At each of two other games, Sept. 30 against Colorado and Oct. 28, against Oklahoma, Graham had $100 in entertainment provided by lobbyist Stephen Millikan, representing Missouri Employers Mutual Insurance.
Graham recorded $6,446.65 in lobbyists' gifts in 2006, and though he is well behind that mark with four months left to be recorded on the Ethics Commission website for 2007, he still has more than $3,300 this year, including the infamous July 31 trip to Isle of Capri Casino in Boonville, for which the casino's lobbyist Chris Liese provided $130 worth of meals, food, and beverage.
That was the night that Sen. Jeff Smith, D-St. Louis, was arrested for gambling with the identification of Rep. Joe Aull, Kansas City, who was also arrested.
10 comments:
Oh for pity sake...let's blame someone else on his problems!
Whoever elected this joker got what they deserve....one of those in our society who never take responsibility for their own actions....I'm sure some evil lobbist forced alcohol down his throat!
I totally agree with you. If Graham did the deed, Graham should pay for it, but we should not ignore this culture of legalized corruption that has spread through Jefferson City. As long as we continue to ignore it and make excuses for it, we will continue to have a legislature which puts special interests' needs in front of the needs of the majority of Missourians.
Randy, one of these days I hope you come to "get it."
What one person does is what one person does. Don't go blaming other people or institutions or groups for what goes bad.
If a politician does a good thing, I never hear you mention that he/she had help from a lobbist who helped make the good thing possible by providing information, access to people in the know on a subject, etc.
Remove the blinders, Randy. The world is broader, and probably better, than you can see in a narrow tunnel.
If the guy was arrested for drunk driving....that's HIS fault!
I would have thought plain English would have sufficed- yes, it was his fault if he was drinking and driving, but why do we continue to encourage a system where other people are buying his drinks for him? As for "getting it," I have no problem with the good things that lobbyists do, and I agree that they are necessary, but what is not necessary is for lobbyists to provide drinks, meals, sports tickets, or any other kinds of gifts to our state legislators, or to bundle large numbers of contributions (as well as their own) to politicians. It is a system that is ripe for corruption as we have seen over and over again.
The University of Missouri does not operate solely on taxpayer dollars. They have customers, students/parents who can choose to go there or not and their tuition is not "tax dollars", and they have private donations.
Like many other things you post, you can provide no backup to your allegation that Knor used tax payer dollars when he provided Graham the two tickets.
Innuendo, half-truths are the trademark of the Turner Blog.
Last spring a lobbyist provided a lunch for all the interns from Missouri Southern that were serving in the capitol during the session. I think it cost about two hundred bucks or so. The lobbyist, (it may have been Gary Burton, I am not sure) asked Senator Nodler if the lunch could be served in his office because it is one of the larger ones in the building. The Senator of course agreed to allow the lunch to be served to the interns. The lobbyist followed the law and reported the expenditure as a gift to Senator Nodler. The lunch wasn't for the Senator but the students, but the law required it to be reported as a gift to him. That sort of service to others gets labeled by you as the Senator accepting gifts. It really is clear that you don't have a clue and won't have a clue because you want to believe everyone is corrupt, what a jerk you are.
HotDANG!!!!
Only 6 comments to get to how bad Randy is to Nodler!!!!
busplunge: We all know what your hot button is, you have Nodler on the brain as much as Turner does, get a life.
Randy,
Do you ever feel like people really just don't like you? You should really consider another career path besides oggling female tv reporters and trying to be a political pundit.
You're pathetic at both
Interesting that no one has asked where Mr. Graham was prior to his accident.
Knowing the area (the accident occured within 1000 ft. of my residence), and the direction he was heading (eastbound, within 3 blocks of his apartment), someone should check for something going on at...
Country Club of Missouri
D. Rowes (restaurant in the same area)
Holiday Inn Expo Center (some ways away, but this path is the shortest back to home).
If it were me, I'd look at the former two locations...in his state, and due to the number of curves in the street, he hadn't traveled very far before the accident.
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