As you can see by the timestamp of this post, it’s a bit later than usual. I normally start research for my daily blog at 9am, start writing around 10am and hit the ‘publish’ button around 11-11:30am.
That didn’t happen today. I overslept.
Like many who are older, I have sleeping problems. Primarily, my knee starts hurting and will wake me up. I shift position and usually can drift off again. My usual mode of sleep is in 30 to 90 minutes increments.
Occasionally, like last night, I have difficulty just getting to sleep. That, by itself, is not a problem because once I do get to sleep, I’m good for the rest of the night.
Last night both conditions arose. I couldn’t get to sleep and when I did, the weather front and all night rain combined to keep me awake.
Well, I didn’t have much to write about today with its repetitive news cycle. CNN continues to lie about the events in Ferguson and New York and the great liberal unwashed are lapping it up.
Like Ferguson, when the coroner’s report was released on Garner, the cause of death was completely different from the version reported by the MSM. It indicated that he wasn’t choked, contrary to the reports of CNN and the MSM who continues to spew the lie that he was. Why? Perhaps to ferment discord…and ratings. Perhaps, if we had a real justice system, the producers of the MSM news programs would be charged with inciting riots and civil unrest.
What a week. I’ve been busy, the news-feeds are fixated, perhaps rightly so, on the Ebola outbreak. Commentators say the CDC is lying. Others say they aren’t. No one, except for a privileged few, really know what is going on nor the danger of a widespread outbreak.
I’m not interested in writing about Ebola. While my major in college was the equivalent of Pre-Med, I am not a medic, nor an EMT. I don’t claim to have any special knowledge other than a high-degree of well-earned skepticism. The real truth of it all, in my opinion, is that no one really knows what will/could/may happen with Ebola.
Change subject.
The political news has vanished from the national news scene in favor of Ebola. CNN is on a witch-hunt searching for contaminated sheets and clothing in Dallas. Ditto for most of the MSM.
In Kansas, Pat Roberts is losing…a result of his own garbage-strewn primary race that alienated his conservative core. All the so-called ‘moderates’, i.e., democrats masquerading a ‘Pubs, are publicly backing Greg Orman, the democrat running as an independent. Yeah, sure.
KS Governor Sam Brownback speaking before the Kansas Legislature.
And to top it all off, the Royals are in the playoffs for the World Series. Their run came at an appropriate time to redirect attention to baseball instead of politics. Whatever bangs their gong.
I’m pretty much whooped. Still…I’d do it again in a second.
***
The Kansas Senatorial race continues to be in the front of the news. I’ve had some friends ask me what the controversy is all about. It’s this, as briefly as I can explain.
There are (were) three candidates running for US Senator; Pat Roberts, the incumbent on the Republican Ticket, Chad Taylor on the democrat ticket, and Greg Orman, a democrat who the democrats wouldn’t let run against Taylor in the primary. Orman decided to run as an ‘independent.’ In reality, it’s two democrats running against one ‘Pub. Ordinarily, this would be a shoo-in for Roberts because Orman would split the democrat votes with Taylor.
Suddenly, the environment changed. Polls indicated that Orman was running better against Roberts than Taylor. To the democrats, this meant one of their candidates was a possible winner, especially since Roberts pissed off much of the grass-roots conservatives who had backed Milton Wolf. A significant percentage of those Wolf supporters declared they would either vote for Orman or stay home.
The democrats were now in a dilemma. Orman, a democrat in an independent’s costume, was ahead of Taylor. They decided to have Taylor quit. That would allow the democrats to vote for Orman instead of splitting their votes between the two democrat candidates.
The Kansas democrat leaders forced Chad Taylor to quit.
After a series of legal shenanigans, with the aid of their left-leaning KS Supreme Court, they got Taylor off the ticket. Bad news for Roberts. But Orman isn’t the clean-cut, scandal-free candidate the democrats and he projects. He is being sued for failure to pay royalties to another company for the use of their patented technology.
The establishment ‘Pubs are rallying around Roberts and Orman is facing more scrutiny from the national press. Surprise, surprise! Orman is keeping closed-mouth about what his political views?
WICHITA — Greg Orman, the upstart Senate candidate threatening to unseat longtime Republican incumbent Pat Roberts in Kansas, says it’s liberating to run as an independent: “I can go to Washington as a problem solver, not a partisan.”
But not having a party also liberates Orman from taking positions — especially on controversial issues that might alienate partisans.
Greenlight the Keystone XL pipeline? Orman said he doesn’t have enough information to say yes or no.
What about gun control? He said gun restrictions should be “strengthened” but would not specify whether he backs an assault-weapons ban.
And on the biggest question of all — Would he caucus with Democrats or Republicans? — Orman insists he’s not sure.
Republican Sen. Pat Roberts, left, and independent candidate Greg Orman talk after a debate at the Kansas State Fair Saturday, Sept. 6, 2014, in Hutchinson, Kansas. (Charlie Riedel/AP)
“It’s not in the best interests for us to say that,” Orman said in an interview here last week.
Orman has said he would caucus with whichever party has the majority after November’s midterm elections. But what if the Senate is evenly divided and Orman’s decision swings the balance? He said that would be “a wonderful opportunity for Kansas.”
Orman’s rise has transformed deep-red Kansas into the year’s unlikeliest political battleground. Many voters say Roberts has lost touch with the state he’s represented in Congress since 1981.
Since Democratic nominee Chad Taylor withdrew his name from the ballot this month, Roberts has been in a two-man race with Orman, who has previous ties to the Democratic Party but preaches independence. Public polling has been unreliable, but both sides believe the race is very tight.
Orman, who entered the race in June, has surged on the strength of his pitch to fix a broken Washington without any allegiance to a political party. But now the enigma is under increasing pressure from voters to provide a clearer sense of his ideology and politics, while facing attacks from the Roberts camp over his business ties and Democratic past.
“I’ve been impressed with Greg so far, but we’re still in the ‘I’m an independent’ stage,” said Lynda Neff, 68, a retired teacher. “I’m ready to move past that and hear about some issues. . . . I will support him if he gives me a little more information.”
Perhaps the biggest test for Orman, a multimillionaire investor who is partially funding his campaign, is surviving the intensifying public scrutiny of his business and personal relationships with Rajat Gupta, the former Goldman Sachs board member who was convicted in 2012 of insider trading and is serving a federal prison sentence.
Election Lab: See our current forecast for every congressional race in 2014.
Roberts and his Republican allies have launched a barrage of attacks designed to make Orman appear untrustworthy. On the campaign trail in Kansas last week, a parade of top Republicans alleged that Orman is a liberal Democrat in disguise.
“Anybody with a liberal record like Greg’s . . . that’s not independence. That’s someone who’s trying to snooker you, Kansas,” Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and vice-presidential nominee, said Thursday in Independence.
Palin’s 2008 running mate, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), told voters a day earlier in suburban Overland Park: “Let’s be honest — he’s a Democrat. He walks like a duck and he quacks like a duck and he is a duck.”
Robert J. Dole, a former Senate Republican leader and 91-year-old Kansas legend, said Monday night in Dodge City, “There’s a multimillionaire who claims he’s an independent, but really [he’s] in the other party.”
In Kinsley on Tuesday, after reporters asked whether he trusted Orman to govern as an independent, Roberts said, “All of a sudden, if there’s a metamorphosis and the caterpillar changed — why, I just don’t think that’s in the cards.”
Orman argues that the Republicans are reading him wrong. He said he voted for Obama in 2008, and public records show that in the middle of that decade he made donations mostly to Democrats, including Obama and Sen. Al Franken (Minn.). In 2008, he briefly ran for Senate against Roberts as a Democrat before dropping out.
I was surprised that the Washington Post says the new Senate will be ‘Pub controlled, 62 to 48 given their history of biased reporting. Joni Ernst now leads Braley, 44 percent to 38 percent. Most of the polling over the last month or more has Ernst in the lead but the MSM claimed otherwise and called Iowa a ‘leaning blue’ state.
Des Moines Register: “The ground under BruceBraley has shifted. The Democratic U.S. Senate candidate is 6 points behind his GOP rival, JoniErnst, according to The Des Moines Register’s new Iowa Poll of likely voters. Ernst leads 44 percent to 38 percent in a race that has for months been considered deadlocked…. One potential reason: Two-thirds of likely voters who live in the country are bothered by a remark he made about Republican U.S. Sen. ChuckGrassley that’s been perceived as besmirching farmers.”
Braley should have known that dissing farmers in Iowa is not a career-enhancing tactic.
If Taylor makes that claim, it could mean he’s also unfit to hold his office as Shawnee County (KS) District Attorney. Caught between a rock and a hard place, aren’t you, Chad?
But let’s assume that Taylor did drop out leaving Pat Roberts running against “independent,” Greg Orman? Orman claims he hasn’t decided which party he would caucus with if he won. It’s significant that some of his backers are a number of so-called “moderate” ‘Pubs. You know whom I speak, the liberals masquerading as republicans. These are the same groups who are also backing democrat Paul Davis against ‘Pub Sam Brownback for Kansas Governor. A Pat Roberts spokesman said:
“…some members of Traditional Republicans for Common Sense had revealed their true colors by endorsing Democrat Paul Davis for governor rather than backing Republican Gov. Sam Brownback.” — Topeka Capitol Journal.
If the Kansas Senate race becomes a two-dog race, is Roberts a shoo-in? No, according to an article that appeared in the American Thinker.
The Kansas Senate race, which was supposed to be a breeze for long time GOP Senator Pat Roberts, just got very interesting.
Democratic candidate Chad Taylor told the Kansas secretary of state that he was withdrawing from the race, leaving the field clear for a head to head match up between Roberts and independent businessman Greg Orman.
Orman, 45, has shown some fundraising prowess throughout the campaign, raising more than $670,000 through mid-July.
The development could have serious implications in the battle for control of the Senate. Once viewed as a GOP lock, Kansas may now emerge as a critical race in determining whether Republicans return to power for the first time in nearly a decade. Republican outside groups — which had been mainly focused on four red states and battlegrounds states like Iowa, Colorado and New Hampshire — may be forced to spend money to save Roberts’ seat.
A mid-August poll of likely voters from Democratic firm Public Policy Polling showed Orman beating Roberts 43-33 in a head-to-head matchup, while Taylor was shown losing narrowly. Randy Batson, a Libertarian candidate, will also be on the ballot.
Roberts’ camp quickly sought to cast Orman as a Democrat in disguise, calling Taylor’s withdrawal a “corrupt bargain between Greg Orman and national Democrats including Senator Harry Reid that disenfranchises Kansas Democrats.”
“Orman is the choice of liberal Democrats and he can no longer hide behind an independent smokescreen,” the Republican’s campaign said in a statement.
Travis Smith of Axiom Strategies, a Roberts consultant, said the campaign will give Orman, whom he said wasn’t really taken seriously as a contender until Taylor withdrew, a “full, thorough vetting.”
“I don’t think he can get away with it,” Smith said.
Orman has spent time as both a Democrat and Republican, but he emphasizes that he’s spent more of his life as an independent or unaffiliated voter — and most of his political donations have gone to independent candidates.
While Kansas is a solidly GOP state, the rise of the tea party has alienated many moderates in a state with a long-standing tradition of centrist lawmakers. As the state GOP has moved sharply to the right, it has created an opening — not just for Orman, but also Democrat Paul Davis in this year’s governor’s race against conservative incumbent Sam Brownback.
Orman has vowed not to vote for either of party’s standard-bearer as Senate leader. His campaign website describes North Dakota Democrat Heidi Heitkamp and Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowski as potential leaders he could support, willing to buck their party “to vote for what is right.”
Is Orman a Democratic stalking horse? Whether he is or he isn’t, that’s how Roberts is going to portray him. He is probably not going to get all the Democratic votes that Tayor was going to receive, which means he will have to draw a lot of non-alinged voters to his side in order to beat Roberts.
Possible, but not probable.
Roberts’ real danger is in a credible Libertarian candidate who might draw just enough Republican votes to deny him victory.
Orman has several things going for him:
1. Kansas is a cheap media state so Orman can compete on a somewhat equal level.
2. Roberts is disliked by a majority of Kansans who think he has been in Washington too long.
3. The state GOP is divided and Tea Party Republicans may stay home on election day.
This is a recipe for disaster and unless Roberts is successful in getting people to believe that Orman is really a Democrat in independent clothing, he will be in trouble in November.
It is quite possible that the Kansas Senate race—and Gubernatorial race, will turn into a free-for-all. No one knows who will come out on top.
Claire McCaskill, according to some, set up Tod Adkins as an opponent and then set him up, again, to fail. She has been working with the dems in Kansas to repeat her 2012 tactic. This time in Kansas.
There are two articles that appeared today on this subject, one from FOXNews and the other in the PoliticMO newsletter.
From the FOXNewsletter, September 4, 2014:
WAPO: MCCASKILL BEHIND KANSAS CANDIDATE SWITCH WaPo: “Democratic nominee Chad Taylor dropped out of the race for U.S. Senate in Kansas on Wednesday, an 11th hour move that could clear the way for his party to rally behind an independent candidate and potentially change the math in the battle for the Senate majority. … The move, which came on the last day for ballot changes, could clear the way for Democrats to rally behind Greg Orman, an independent candidate who has left the door open to caucusing with both parties if elected. Orman, who used to be a Democrat and a Republican, has been viewed as a more viable opponent against Sen. Pat Roberts (R), who polls show is vulnerable. Orman has been a far more productive fundraiser than Taylor.” [No exit? – The Hill: “Despite filing papers with the Kansas secretary of State withdrawing from the Senate race late Wednesday, Democrat Chad Taylor may be stuck on the ballot this fall. Two election law statutes have raised questions about whether Taylor gave sufficient cause to remove himself from the ballot, and, if so, whether Democrats must ultimately choose a candidate to replace him.]
Howdy, neighbor – WaPo: “Taylor, the Shawnee County district attorney, was in touch with at least one prominent Democrat in the days leading up to his decision. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) spoke with Taylor about dropping out of the race in order to consolidate support behind Orman in hopes of unseating Roberts, according to Democrats familiar with the talks. … In an interview with The Washington Post last week, Orman would not say which party he would caucus with if elected. He suggested that he would side with whichever party is in the majority and would consider joining both sides if he ends up being the deciding vote.”
Greg Orman claims to be an independent. He’s not. He’s been endorsed by Kansas’ RINOs who refuse to support the state’s conservatives. They’re nothing more than liberals masquerading as ‘Pubs. Orman is just another lib hiding his true allegiance to the liberal, progressive agenda. At least Chad Taylor was truthful about what he was and his agenda. Not so, Orman.
The other article comes from the PoliticMO newsletter. It mirrors the tale from FOX.
ACROSS THE BORDER — ‘The Senate Race In Kansas Just Got Crazy,’ FiveThirtyEight: “The past few weeks haven’t produced much good news for Democrats’ hopes of retaining the Senate. While their position is far from catastrophic — the Senate playing field is broad this year, and the outcome of many races is uncertain — Democrats’ chances of keeping the Senate were down to 35 percent as of the FiveThirtyEight forecast late Wednesday afternoon. Part of the problem is that Democrats are almost entirely playing defense, with few prospects to pick up Republican-held seats. Georgia, where we have the Democrat Michelle Nunn’s odds at about 30 percent, looks like their best opportunity. It’s also too early to foreclose the possibility of Democrats winning Kentucky, but Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has not trailed in a nonpartisan poll since May, and two new surveys Wednesday put him ahead.
“Kansas, however, had become an under-the-radar opportunity for Democrats. The Republican incumbent there, Pat Roberts, barely survived his primary and has extremely low approval ratings. Several recent polls had put the race in single digits between Roberts and his Democratic opponent, Chad Taylor, with the independent candidate Greg Orman getting about 20 percent of the vote. As of Wednesday, the FiveThirtyEight forecast gave Roberts an 80 percent chance of winning. That’s not bad, but it’s not any better than McConnell, who also has about an 80 percent chance of holding on in a race that has gotten far more attention. Late Wednesday afternoon, however, Taylor announced his withdrawal from the race, setting up a contest between Orman and Roberts. (There is also a Libertarian candidate, Randall Baston, on the ballot.)
“Why would Taylor leave the race right when polls showed it tightening? Perhaps because he and Orman share a lot in common philosophically. Based on the ideological ratings we track (more background on those here), both Taylor and Orman rate as the equivalent of moderate Democrats. Orman, in fact, ran as a Democratic candidate for the Senate in 2008, although he withdrew from the race during the primary. … There was also a recent survey, from Public Policy Polling (PPP), which showed Orman ahead of Roberts 43-33 in a potential two-way race. The same poll had shown Taylor trailing Roberts by 4 percentage points in the event Orman dropped out. If the PPP survey is accurate, this is a huge problem for Republicans. Suddenly, they’re behind in a race against a former Democrat who might caucus with the Democratic Party should he make it to the Senate. … If we do program the model to treat an Orman win as a Democratic pickup, then the Democrats’ chances of retaining the Senate would improve to 38 percent from 35 percent. We’re going to do some further thinking overnight about how to handle the case.” http://53eig.ht/Z7D6uC
WHY’S IT MATTER HERE? — ‘Was Claire McCaskill in the middle of a Democratic effort to push Chad Taylor out of Kansas race?,’ on PoliticMo: “Kansas Democratic Chad Taylor terminated his U.S. Senate campaign Wednesday, clearing the way for a two-way race between independent candidate Greg Orman and Republican Pat Roberts as the embattled incumbent seeks a fourth term. Taylor’s exit puts the Kansas seat back in play for Democrats hoping to weaken Republicans in their quest to take back control of the upper chamber for the final two years of President Obama’s term.
“The late change appears to be placing Kansas in the same place Missouri was two years ago: In the center of the political universe as an unexpected opportunity for Democrats to take a win away from the GOP in a race that was not even supposed to be competitive. Here in 2012, Democratic U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill made a gamble to back Republican Todd Akin in the three-way Republican primary. Akin won, and the rest is legitimate history. Nearly two years later, some are asking whether McCaskill – whose political stock has been on there rise since her 2012 victory – was involved again. Wednesday night, hours after Taylor’s announcement, an aide to McCaskill said she did speak with Taylor in recent weeks surrounding his decision to drop out. ‘Claire did talk with Chad Taylor and was happy to,’ the aide said. ‘She thinks very highly of him and thinks he has a very bright political future. And she knows these decisions are both hard and personal.’
“McCaskill’s involvement comes as she has been working to raise her profile as a party leader. In Missouri, McCaskill has led Democratic efforts to take back seats in the Legislature and contributed $200,000 of her own money to the cause. Nationally, McCaskill has said she will back Hillary Clinton for president. She was one of the first Senate Democrats to support the “Ready for Hillary” PAC, and has traveled to Iowa to campaign for her. Last week, the Kansas City Star reported that the former state Representative and state auditor was even flirting with a run for governor. McCaskill has made no secret her hope to be Missouri’s first female chief executive. That 2016 question for McCaskill, the report noted, may have something to do with what happens in 2014′s U.S. Senate elections.” http://bit.ly/1pszXdR
What goes around, comes around. This time, if McCaskill has her way, it will happen in Kansas like it did in Missouri two years ago.
Casa Crucis is only a few miles from the Missouri-Kansas border. It’s not unusual to hear Kansan political ads on the radio. The big battle in Kansas is that between incumbent US Senator Pat Roberts and Tea Partier Milton Wolfe. Both are running to be the ‘Pub Senatorial candidate in the upcoming Primary
The campaign turned nasty from the beginning—from the Robert’s people. Milton Wolfe correctly, and truthfully, pointed out that Roberts has no permanent residence in Kansas. In Roberts’ own words, he leases a recliner in a friend’s home. Roberts has had no residence in Kansas for decades, but he still claims to be a Kansan.
I expected Roberts to refute Wolfe’s claims. He did not. Instead, he went directly to smear mode. He produced supposed Facebook posts from Wolfe that supposedly disrespected clients and making disrespectful comments about some X-Rays.
I have to admit that I’m biased towards Milton Wolfe. I’ve heard him speak and was impressed with his comments and goals. When Roberts released that ad, my immediately thought was how did Roberts get those Facebook comments? Did he hack Wolfe’s account? Did he hire some hackers to do so. Were those comments real? Nothing I’ve been able to find supports Roberts claims.
To the best that I’ve been able to determine, the ad against Milton Wolfe is a complete fabrication. It the comments were accurate, then Roberts broke the law by hacking Wolfe’s Facebook account or having it hacked. I suspect Roberts’ motivation is a poll that shows Wolfe has a strong following in Kansas.
In the end, the question is more whom can you trust? Wolfe who has the facts readily available to support his claims about Roberts non-Kansas residency, or Roberts smear tactics? Personally, I will not support any candidate who chooses to use smear tactics as his primary campaign plan.
Local Missouri politics aren’t much, if any, better. Here in Cass County, the battle is between the current conservative ‘Pub candidates against the old county Oligarchy. Jeff Cox, whom I support both in time and money, is running for Presiding Commissioner. He was elected to fill a partial, two-year term to complete the term of the previous Commissioner who was removed from office, not for malfeasance, but because of an out-of-state felony conviction. I’ll not go into the background on that, it’s not pertinent in this election.
In the previous county government, two ‘Pubs quit. One, when some questionable contracts were exposed, quit in mid-term. The other, also reportedly involved in questionable contracts and possible fraud, chose to not run for re-election. That last former commission now plans on being the county puppet-master with a personal string of proxy office holders. He already has one in office, the northern county commissioner.
The county Auditor, Ron Johnson, has a primary opponent, too. That opponent is a former employee who was fired for cause and is now one of the Oligarchy’s puppets. It was Ron Johnson who exposed all the fraud and deceit in the former county administration. The Kansas City Star printed an expose about the machinations of the Cass County Oligarchy.
April 22, 2014, By DONALD BRADLEY, The Kansas City Star
A recent day in an upstairs office in the Cass County courthouse, Presiding Commissioner Jeff Cox used the acronym “BMT.
BETHANY BASHIOUM | Special to The Star Tri-Gen, a generator built to provide electrical power to the Cass County Justice Center, was a failure. It was meant to use renewable energy from sweet sorghum silage to produce methane gas. County officials agreed in 2008 to build the generator at a cost of $15 million. The idea was to provide energy to the Justice Center and then sell leftover power on the open grid. But it turned out the county was prohibited by regulation from selling surplus power, a fact they were unaware of until threatened with litigation.
County Auditor Ron Johnson smiled.
“Before my time,” Johnson explained.
These days, the two talk a lot about things before their time in office and they want to make sure people, particularly voters, know they were nowhere around when two of those things came to be.
Why?
Because the county’s broadband fiber network and Tri-Gen, a generator built to provide electrical power to the Justice Center, both were colossal failures that the county will be paying on for years with nothing in return.
Tri-Gen alone is costing the county $175,000 this budget year, not counting legal expenses.
Both projects were approved by officials no longer in office.
“Mistakes were made in recent years that will take years to recover from,” Cox said.
Today, broadband is dead in the ditch and Tri-Gen is shut down and the subject of lawsuits.
Gary Mallory, who was presiding commissioner when both projects began, declined to comment.
Cox and Johnson hope voters this year don’t hold either of them responsible. They wonder, too, if ending the two projects has anything to do with them facing primary opposition in August.
Killing broadband was difficult, Johnson said, but it was a decision that may have kept the county from filing for bankruptcy.
“We had to take the least bad option,” Johnson said.
To be sure, the county did go through a time of turmoil. The very day a newly elected presiding commissioner was sworn into office, the county prosecutor filed suit to remove him because of a felony conviction.
Another commissioner resigned. The other chose not to seek re-election.
All the while, the broadband and Tri-Gen projects — which began with high hopes and multimillion-dollar price tags — were struggling.
Broadband kicked off in 2011 with the goal of providing high-speed Internet access to 12,000 households and hundreds of businesses in rural areas. The $26 million cost would come from government grants and low-interest loans.
But the federal government withheld grants because of a delay in a county audit. Some contractors did not get paid. One filed suit against the county. The project suffered, too, from not having enough inspectors.
Cox studied the viability of the project after taking office last year. He decided to kill it.
It’s unknown how much money the county will eventually pay for the project. That will depend on the outcome of litigation and whether federal money ever comes through.
Tri-Gen, which would use renewable energy from sweet sorghum silage to produce methane gas, came on board in 2008 when county officials agreed to build the generator at a cost of $15 million. The idea was to provide energy to the Justice Center and then sell leftover power on the open grid.
But it turned out, they were prohibited by regulation from selling surplus power — a fact they were unaware of until threatened with litigation. But it didn’t matter much anyway because, according to Cox, the science behind the project wasn’t viable.
Cox said a pilot project at the University of Central Missouri never worked.
“You don’t build a multimillion-dollar generator without making sure the science works first,” Cox said. “It was a mistake. The county had no business getting involved in that.
“That said, the county was sold a bill of goods.”
Last June, the county sued Universal Asset Management, the contractor for Tri-Gen, and the head of the company, Gary Lee. The suit alleges breach of contract, professional negligence, fraud and misrepresentation.
Universal Asset Management was also the company behind the broadband project. The phone number listed on the company’s webpage is no longer in use.
About a year earlier, Lee and UAM had sued Johnson and Cass County alleging breach of contract.
Lee and his attorney could not be reached for comment.
Meanwhile, the county is stuck with bills for both. This year’s budget shows $175,000 went to debt service for Tri-Gen, an outlay that may continue for decades.
“When I think of all the things we could have used that money for — sheriff deputies, road repairs,” Cox said. “It’s hard not to be a little angry.
“And we’re going to be paying a long time.”
What about that fired employee who is now running against Ron Johnson? He was fired for releasing documents, without authority, to UAM. His mentor in his campaign against Ron Johnson is an employee of UAM, the former county commissioner who was deeply involved in issuing those fraudulent contracts to UAM. Millions of dollars in those contracts are still unaccounted for and the basis for a number of lawsuits.
What is the motivation of this clandestine oligarchy? Perhaps it is an attempt to hide their actions being investigated by federal authorities. Perhaps it is an attempt to gain control of those offices whose current holders exposed their actions. Control of those offices would allow them to hinder further investigation. Or, perhaps, it is just plain, old, lust for power by any means.
Whatever the motivation, their tactics should be familiar to anyone observant to county politics. They use the same tactics as do democrats.
But there are honest, ethical commissioners in the county, Jeff Cox and one other commissioner. Who is Cox’s best ally in regaining fiscal health to the county? It is the southern county commission—a democrat. The other commissioner, a supposed ‘Pub who hasn’t met a TIF he didn’t like, is a member of the Oligarchy. Many of the county executive decisions are made with a two-vote majority (of the three possible votes.) That majority is Jeff Cox, the presiding commissioner, and the democrat southern commissioner.
It’s significant when the democrat southern commissioner is more interested and involved in keeping the county’s finances in the black while the so-called ‘pub, northern commissioner wants to spend, spend, spend.
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2014/04/22/4976141/government-watch-for-years-cass.html#storylink=cpy
Tens of millions of people across the country celebrated today with the news that Kathleen Sebelius is resigning as Secretary of Health and Human Services. As she read her resignation speech, she reached one point and said, “Oh! There’s a page missing!” That is indicative why those millions are celebrating.
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Catherine Hanaway spoke at the Cass County Lincoln Day dinner last night; she is running for Governor. Her opponent will likely be Chris Koster, Missouri’s current Attorney General. Hanaway is an eloquent speaker and has an impressive resume including positions as US Attorney for Western Missouri and Missouri Speaker of the House. The paragraph below arrived in my email box this morning.
Catherine Hanaway’s campaign touted support from a couple dozen sitting lawmakers, including: Senate President Pro-Tem Tom Dempsey, St. Charles; Senate Majority Floor Leader Ron Richard, Joplin; Senator Brian Munzlinger, Monitcello; Senator Mike Kehoe, Jefferson City; Senator Will Kraus, Lee’s Summit; Rep. Susan Allen, Chesterfield; House Asst. Majority Floor Leader Mike Cierpiot, Lee’s Summit; Rep. Marsha Haefner, St. Louis; Rep. Tom Flanigan, Carthage; Rep. Bill Lant, Pineville; Rep. Bill Reiboldt, Neosho; Rep. Sheila Solon, Blue Springs and Rep. Ann Zerr, St. Charles. — PoliticMO Rundown, April 11, 2014.
I noticed two infamous RINOs in her list of supporters, Ron Richard and Tom Dempsey, the two state Senators that killed the 2013 2nd Amendment Protection bill last September when they refused, after a junket out of the country with Jay Nixon a month earlier, to override Nixon’s veto.
Seeing these two in Hanaway’s list of supporters gives me pause. If elected, will she support our 2nd Amendment freedom, gun owners and gun rights, or, will she stab us in the back like Dempsey and Richard?
Put another way, Kathleen Sebelius has resigned and “Senior Administration Officials” are telling the media it is because of healthcare.gov.
You do not have a celebration event last week to celebrate 7 million sign ups and have Sebelius there to get credit then this week throw her under the bus because of a screw up that happened last October.
They have been standing with her since last October. They stood with her when the President’s polling was nosediving and throwing her under the bus could have stopped the bleeding.
They are doing so now. Sebelius actually resigned last week and the President already has a nominee ready to roll out tomorrow.
Why?
Their internal polling must be terrible and they want her gone and the issue treated as “old news” before the GOP takes the Senate in November.
Sebelius leaving now is a pretty direct admission against interest that the Democrats expect to lose the Senate and do not see any events on the horizon to change that momentum. Now, they’re just trying to slow the momentum down.
That is good news. I don’t think there will be enough seats up for election to gain a veto-proof majority, however. My fear is that those elected will be as weak-willed and spineless as Mitch McConnell and his establishment sycophants instead of strong conservatives like Ted Cruz and Mike Lee.
Having a majority in the Senate is useless if the new GOP Majority Leader won’t confront Harry Reid and Obama. We don’t need RINOs leading the Senate and I fear that is exactly what will happen.
“But—but—but, the GOP will stand up for us conservatives, won’t they?” says the GOP rank and file.
“Will they?” says I. That is the question and conservatives have no assurances the establishment will do so.
***
And for a parting shot, here is this story. A GOP official fails to appear on Laura Ingraham’s show after he bad-mouths conservatives who don’t support amnesty.
Virginia Republican Party executive director Shaun Kenney was a “no show” to conservative host Laura Ingraham’s radio program Thursday.
Ingraham was prepared to question Kenney about his statements that conservatives who oppose amnesty are afraid of “The Other” and that “nativists” should be driven out of the Republican party. Kenney made the statements in an office meeting that included former SEIU secretary-treasurer Eliseo Medina, according to video footage published Tuesday by The Daily Caller, and on his personal blog.
“And I think that we understand too that there’s a lot of people that are afraid, of you. Not for any reason that they ought to be but because you’re just not somebody, you’re just not people that they’ve ever had an opportunity to sit down and encounter, to talk to… A lot of people concern themselves with the Other, and it’s not a comfortable thing to have dialogue, and it’s not a comfortable thing to have that encounter with the Other,” Kenney said on the issue of immigration reform, according to the video.
Kenney also added that neither party should support immigration reform simply for “vote-harvesting” purposes, though SEIU official Eliseo Medina, present at the meeting with Kenney, previously pitched immigration reform in a speech by stating that it would help Democratic chances.
“The nativists have no home in the modern Republican Party,” Kenney wrote in a February blog post on his website BearingDrift.com. ”They have no place in the history of a Free America… They deserve nothing more than a footnote to the ignorance that liberty rightly stamps out… Conservatives are smarter than this, and America deserve better than nativist hate. Drive ‘em out, ladies and gentlemen. Generations are watching.”
If there is anyone or any group who should be run out of the GOP, it is Kenney and those like him.
I’ve a followup from 
Claire McCaskill, according to some, set up Tod Adkins as an opponent and then set him up, again, to fail. She has been working with the dems in Kansas to repeat her 2012 tactic. This time in Kansas.