Sunday, December 02, 2007

Joplin-area representatives piling up lobbyists' gifts

Four of the six Joplin-area state representatives and Sen. Gary Nodler, R-Joplin, have increased the number of lobbyists' gifts they have accepted dramatically between 2006 and 2007, according to documented filed with the Missouri Ethics Commission.

Nodler and representatives Kevin Wilson, R-Neosho, Marilyn Ruestman, R-Joplin, and Ed Emery, R-Lamar, have more than doubled their 2006 totals this year, with Emery almost tripling his.

The other two Joplin-area representatives, Steve Hunter, R-Joplin, and Bryan Stevenson, R-Webb City, are close to their 2006 amounts, according to the Ethics Commission documents.

The figures are listed below with the 2007 total given first:

Nodler- $1,680.27, $713.49
Emery- $903.12, $358.40
Hunter- $3,423.51, $3,978.68
Richard- $1,738,88, $1,647.42
Ruestman- $563.32, $214.82
Stevenson- $929.96, $1,138.78
Wilson- $937.43, $428.32

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow - what useless information.

Anonymous said...

Woohoo! You can almost see the independent wills of these people being bent for a grand! For crying out loud, how much does a state representative make, anyway? Can't be much. And how much do you think a decent meal costs in the "Big City"?

Granted we can't all relate, but in a larger city, a decent steak is going to run $50.00 with all the trimmings! Add any drinks and you are talking $75.00. All that to be wined and dined by someone you probably don't want to talk to in the first place!?! And based on these "outrageous" sums, I am to infer that they are all on the take and should be ashamed?

When I travel all I want to do at the end of the day is get back to the motel, kick off my shoes and turn on the tube. Maybe order a pizza. You bet your sweet bippie that it's gonna take something more than McDonalds to lure me out of the room! And furthermore, just because I ate a decent meal, I didn't get all pie-eyed and sign on the dotted line to mortgage the company for crying out loud.

Do you really think these people have sold their sould (and the future of their constituents) for a couple of trips to Red Lobster?

Find someting outrageous to be outraged about for crying out loud.