Independence Democrat tops 2007 Turner Report Hall of Shame

The bad news is that Rep. Charles Schlottach, R-Owensville, accepted $4,048.44 in lobbyists' gifts during 2007.
Worse news is that was not enough for Schlottach to make the 2007 Turner Report Hall of Shame for the Missouri House of Representatives, though he was knocking on the door. Even Steve Hunter, R-Joplin, who has been ripped on this blog numerous times over the years for his open door policy for lobbyists, failed to make the list. Hunter finished 13th with $3,734.46 in gifts.

During the last six months of the year, Rep. Paul Levota, D-Independence, who was not even in the top 10 during the first half of the year catapulted to first place, accepting $6,602.36, beating out Mike Talboy, D-Kansas City, who had $6,188.10.
Rounding out the top 10 were:

3. Michael Spreng, D-Florissant, $5,845.07
4. Allen Icet, R-Wildwood, $5,665.97
5. Shannon Cooper, R-Clinton $5,658.25
6. Judy Baker, D-Columbia, $5,455.67
7. Rodney Hubbard, D-St. Louis, $5,411.06
8. Ryan Silvey, R-Kansas City, $4,377.79
9. Mike Parson, R-Bolivar, $4,223.66
10. Dr. Charles Portwood, R-Ballwin, $4,141.04

Seventy-one of the 163 representatives accepted more than $1,000 worth of gifts, including Rep. Ron Richard, R-Joplin, at $2,406.30, while a dozen others accepted between $900 and $1,000 worth of gifts, including Rep. Ed Emery, R-Lamar, and Rep. Bryan Stevenson, R-Webb City.

Following is a capsule summary of the top five in the Hall of Shame:

Paul Levota- Levota's totals included $220 from Mannheim Steamroller tickets from lobbyist Charles Hatfield, $161.23 for travel and lodging from David Winton, a lobbyist for AT&T, $407.50 worth of Kansas City Chiefs tickets from David Christian, Kansas City Power & Light; approximately $2,400 from the Missouri Biotechnology Association for its Benchmarking Educational Tour to Boston, Mass., and tickets to an Elton John concert from Kelly Gillespie, lobbyist for Sprint Nextel.

Mike Talboy- Talboy also had the approximately $2,400 for the Missouri Biotechnology Association's Benchmarking Tour as well as $368 worth of tickets to the College Baseball World Series in Omaha, Neb.

Michael Spreng- Spreng accepted sports tickets right and left, including $1,000 worth of hockey tickets from AT&T lobbyist Craig Felzien, $520 worth of football tickets from MU lobbyist Stephen Knorr, $200 worth of something described as "Fox tickets" from Felzien.

Allen Icet- Icet's total includes $250 worth of entertainment in December from Travis Brown, representing retired billionaire Rex Sinquefield, and the approximately $2,400 from Kelly Gillespie of the Missouri Biotechnology Association.

Shannon Cooper- If it's a concert, Shannon Cooper will accept free tickets. Cooper accepted two tickets to the Transiberian Orchestra Dec. 8 from Charles Simino, and also took freebies to concerts by Gordon Lightfoot, Garth Brooks, Elton John, George Jones, and some football tickets, as well.