Globe to examine campaign contributions

It took forever, but it appears the Joplin Globe is finally going to start examining the effect political campaign contributions have on our government.
In her Sunday column, Editor Carol Stark outlines a new column that the Globe is launching, which is designed to make the connections for its readers:

There’s nothing wrong with supporters sending in their checks to help finance the campaign of their candidate of choice. But, we also know that by looking at the list of contributors, we can gain some insight about how a candidate might vote if he or she is elected. In some cases, it’s obvious that they have been bought by business or by those with certain political interest.

From time to time, through our reporting, we have offered you a look at political contributions, but we certainly haven’t been as consistent as we should be.

On the front of today’s B section, you’ll find the first offering of a new column that takes a look at some of the political campaigns on the local, state and national levels. As the 2008 campaigns heat up, we’ll also concentrate more in our daily reporting on contributions.

The first column, written by education reporter Joe Hadsall will examine the 100 continuing committees formed by retired billionaire voucher supporter Rex Sinquefield, and how Attorney General candidate Chris Koster, D-Harrisonville, has benefited from them.

I am looking forward to reading the Globe's columns. For those of you who might not want to wait until Sunday to read about Sinquefield's committees and his contributions to Koster, please check out the Oct. 15 Turner Report:

Republican turned Democrat Chris Koster hit the jackpot Sept. 28.
That was the day, according to his disclosure report that the attorney general candidate raked in about $99,450 from 78 political action committees organized by retired billionaire educational voucher supporter Rex Sinquefield.
Not so coincidentally, you can be sure, nearly all of those committees were created the same day, according to Ethics Commission records.
The committees go by such misleading names as "My Job, My Wage," "Parents and Public Schools," "Missourians for Economic Growth," "Missourians Needing Educational Alternatives," "Missourians Supporting Teaching Excellence," etc.
And, of course, as reported previously, all of these misnamed organizations have various regional satellites, all of which are pouring the maximum $1,275 apiece into Koster's campaign.