The state of Missouri has inaugurated a new governor and, to paraphrase President Ford, our long nightmare is indeed over. Governor Eric Greitens finally relented in the face of almost certain impeachment by the General Assembly as well as an uphill legal battle regarding his abuse of charity records for political fundraising. Then of course there is the allegation that was the impetus for the immolation of Greitens’ political career, that he had engaged in a non-consensual relationship with his hairdresser and took explicit photos of her to use as potential blackmail. The Greitens administration was plagued with scandals and was a shining example of what “bad government” looks like. The state of Missouri will be better off, at least from the outside looking in (more on that later), without Greitens. But, Greitens’ unethical, ill-thought, and possibly illegal actions were not unpredictable.  As a matter of fact, dozens of my colleagues and I were making the argument against Greitens for the better part of a year in 2016.

Often,  it didn’t seem necessary for us to possess opposition research, because it seemed so clearly evident to us that our opponent was not fit to hold office. That is to say we didn’t just believe that Greitens shouldn’t be governor because of differences on policy, but rather we believed that he simply did not have the requisite knowledge or temperament to even be governor. Whether it was his ads that depicted him firing heavy artillery into a lake with his thousand-yard stare, personal anecdotes from people that described him as hollow and lacking substance, or the cartoonishly angry phone call he had with John Brunner… we felt that the voters just would pick up on what we had known for months. Of course, we were wrong, and we lost.

Ultimately in a campaign,  there are two parties generally considered responsible for the outcome of an election, the candidate and voters. The candidate delivers their message and the voters decide whether to accept or reject. But there’s a third pillar, that I would argue is almost equally as important as the candidate, and that’s the campaign staff. 2.8 million people voted for governor in Missouri, and neither Chris Koster nor Eric Greitens were going to be able to shake every hand or meet every voter. That is true in every election: Television ads, radio ads, and mail can only achieve so much voter persuasion. Elections are won and lost because of field programs, which can end up talking to hundreds of thousands of voters. There’s even a phrase in political campaigns called the field margin, which represents the 3% to 7% bump a candidate can expect to receive relative to the effectiveness of their field program.

I worked in field, and I must’ve talked to well over 2,000 voters. So, when we lost, I took that very personally, because it not only felt like a rejection of my candidate but of myself. Because the election was so close, it’s hard to know what we could’ve done differently and if it ultimately would’ve mattered. Regardless, we had a responsibility to the voters to save them from Eric Greitens and his distorted view of politics as well as his obsession with power. We failed them, not because we didn’t work hard enough but perhaps because we underestimated him. Of course, we believe that we were dragged down somewhat by the top of the ticket [Claire McCaskill], even though we were able to outperform her by double digits. But that alone doesn’t explain our shortcomings, because Montana and West Virginia were somehow able to overcome the Clinton malaise. In the postmortem in the media, some blame has been put on our candidate and his shortcomings. But again, Chris Koster had been elected in a landslide just four years earlier and had the endorsements of liberal and conservative groups alike and should’ve been the strongest gubernatorial candidate since Mel Carnahan. I only mention these things, to circle back to how, even nearly two years later, we campaign workers still feel the great burden responsibility of for this loss.

It is difficult to see what has become of our state because of our failure to get our candidate across the finish line. We became America’s 28th right-to-work state, which thankfully is something voters have the opportunity to challenge this August by voting no on Proposition A. We slashed our already diminutive higher education budget, which will undoubtedly leave a generation of young Missourians less prepared for the workforce then their parents. We have continued to see the closure of independent emergency rooms and rural hospitals as a direct result of Greitens’ refusal to expand Medicaid, and Missourians have died and will continue to die. Programs specifically designed to improve economic mobility among the poorest of us, have been ignored or completely eliminated. Our government is limping, because Greitens with his ineptitudes failed to fill several boards with qualified candidates. Women, now unlike any time in recent memory are under attack as their right to make personal medical decisions has been curtailed. The human suffering not just among our supporters but among all people in my state is something that keeps me up at night. Our reality was not inevitable, it was a part of my job to prevent it.

The resignation of the governor gave me no joy, it was just another reminder of the consequences of elections. Somethings can be fixed by future administration, but somethings can’t. It’s not possible to put people’s lives together again after a loved one has died of a preventable illness because we couldn’t secure them healthcare. It’s not possible to give an opportunity back to a child who is denied a college education because the funding just wasn’t there. Furthermore, by his leaving office and the ascension Governor Mike Parson, we’ve essentially allowed a person with the same politics but a more agreeable personality into office. Mike Parson will be an effective governor and that is to the detriment of all people living in Missouri who have suffered because of Greitens’ policies. Gov. Parson is well-liked in the General Assembly and will be able to take our state further backwards than Greitens could’ve because he lacked the political will. The silver lining is that perhaps we can now finally make a return to normalcy and rediscover respect for the institutions that make our state work. Eric Greitens was a dangerous individual not just because of what he was able to accomplish, but what he might’ve been able to accomplish if he were allowed to build a national profile. His resignation has saved not just Missouri, but maybe the entire country from further degradation. However, all the same, his resignation does not even begin to lift the great veil of shame that has been cast over our state because of his personal indiscretions and unethical leadership. We are not Illinois, New York, or any other state infamous for a long history of corrupt politics. Missouri gave us Tom Eagleton, John Danforth, Dick Gephardt, Mel Carnahan, Harry Truman and other great Americans who exemplify what it means to be a servant of the people. We’ve worked hard to create a legacy of public service and standing up for American values, and it’s distressing that Eric Greitens’ may change that.

The post The Greitens Resignation: A View from a Chris Koster intern appeared first on Occasional Planet.

Missouri Governor Eric Greitens loves to show off his Navy-Seal skills for maximum political effect. You may recall that he blasted off his campaign for governor in a TV ad that featured him spouting campaign promises while posing with and then firing off an assault weapon. A second campaign ad didn’t even pretend to be about issues: He simply, gleefully, strafed a set of targets with an even bigger, military-issue machine gun.

Now, he’s done it again. On September 9, 2017, he hitched himself up in the upper reaches of JQH Stadium in Springfield, Mo., and rappelled down to the arena floor. It was a showy kickoff to—of all things—a professional bull-riding competition. He made his dramatic entrance in front of an audience of thousands, as an announcer touted Greitens’ military commendations, and as four Army National Guardsmen floated down carrying the American flag. Watch:

What an entrance into JQH, Governor @EricGreitens! Looking forward to another great night of @PBR PFI Western Invitational! pic.twitter.com/nl2Uggr4kp

— JQH Arena (@JQHArena) September 10, 2017

Need I point out the humorous possibilities, puns and ironic political commentary that this silly display inspires? He did, after all, jump into a bull-riding event. The bullshit joke opportunities are endless. [I’ll leave the actual punch-line writing to Steven Colbert, Trevor Noah and John Oliver.] I’d call it  a “rappellant” display of self-aggrandizement and military worship. And one also might see his descent as a metaphor for what is happening to the state of the State of Missouri’s well-being under his stingy, conservative-Republican regime.

Donald Trump is probably drooling with envy at the imagination and showmanship Greitens has displayed. A St. Louis Post-Dispatch article notes that, “Greitens frequently posts videos showing himself in physically challenging situations, such as working out with first responders, riding in high speed maneuvers with the State Highway Patrol, and sparring in a boxing ring with troubled youth.”

All Trump could muster, after all, was a [can I call it “pedestrian?”] Trump Tower down-escalator ride to announce his candidacy for president.

You have to wonder what’s next. Parachuting? A Houdini-like escape from a water tank? More likely, a political disappearing act, in which Greitens vanishes from Missouri when he runs for president in 2020.

The post MO Governor Greitens’ latest stunt is “Rappellant” appeared first on Occasional Planet.

The blood-red Missouri legislature, the state’s once-Democrat-now-Republican Governor, and our party-uber-alles senior Senator continue to make this state a beacon for everything that’s going wrong in our country today. It’s not hard to find examples. Here are just a few:

• Missouri’s first-term Republican Governor, Eric Greitens [of assault-weapon ad fame], has signed a bill that revokes the City of St. Louis’ minimum wage hike. So, as of August 28, workers in the City of St. Louis who were earning $10/hr. under the new minimum wage, will get a pay cut, back to the old minimum wage of $7.70/hr.
• Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft [yes, he is the son of former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft] is one of only three Secretaries of State in the U.S., who have unconditionally surrendered vast amounts of voters’ personal information to Donald Trump and Chris Kobach’s election-suppression commission. No questions asked. Just handed it over because his Republican president asked for it.
• Republican U.S. Senator Roy Blunt unequivocally supports the McConnell/Trump replacement for the Affordable Care Act. Well, Missouri never expanded Medicaid anyway, so what’s the big deal, right?
• REAL ID is still a real problem in Missouri, because the legislature took 12 years to finally pass it. The 2017 legislature passed a bill that would bring state IDs into compliance, without which people using Missouri-issued IDs would be barred by TSA from flying. [Some ultra-conservative legislators held out for “privacy rights” by including a clause that allows people to opt out and just keep their old, non-compliant IDs.] But Missouri is about to run out of free passes from the federal government, and there’s still no plan to help people get the proper ID. But, y’know, why would anyone want to leave Missouri [or try to enter a federal building] anyway?
• Just yesterday, I attended a meeting at which lawyers were explaining the rights of surviving spouses under Missouri law. Here’s how the statute begins:

…The surviving spouse [is] entitled to the following property of the estate without regard to its value: The family bible and other books, one automobile or other passenger vehicle, including a pickup truck, with its means of propulsion…

If the order in which things are listed is indicative, the most important possession is the family bible. Next in order of priority is the car or pickup truck, and the dead spouse can’t screw the surviving spouse by having had the engine removed. These are apparently the laughable priorities in Missouri law…

• Missouri has some of the most lax gun laws in America. The legislature has decided that anyone can carry a concealed weapon almost anywhere in the state without the need to get a permit or training. Missouri also has the distinction of being the first state to adopt a “Stand Your Ground”  [otherwise known as “shoot first”] law since Trayvon Martin was killed in 2012. Naturally, that puts Missouri out of step with the rest of the country, where an American Bar Association task force and numerous other state legislatures have urged states to rethink such laws.
• Governor Greitens, again: He is rapidly earning a reputation for being a “mini-Trump,” with no experience in government and grandiose ambitions [He has amassed a huge campaign war chest, and is clearly aiming for a presidential run in 2020.]  Last week, he boasted that he was going to go on a rampage against crime in St. Louis by putting the Missouri Highway Patrol out on the interstates in force, looking for bad guys. After deploying the Highway Patrol for the weekend, he further bragged that they had made “dozens of  felony arrests.”  Statistics revealed than the Patrol had made only one arrest.
• While some people are describing the Trump administration as a “dumpster fire,” Missouri is home to the mother of all dumpster conflagrations—the one in St. Louis, where an underground fire in the Bridgeton Landfill is creeping ever closer to radioactive waste dumped nearby during the 1970s and 1980s. No one actually knows when the two will merge, and no one actually knows what will happen when the confluence takes place. Wait, it’s worse: No one knows if it has actually already happened.

And these are only the items that popped into my head over a period of about 15 minutes. It’s hard being a blue person in a red state. The only consolation is that things might be even worse in our once- proudly-blue-state neighbor, now turned fiscal laughingstock—Illinois.

The post What’s the matter with Missouri: 2017 edition appeared first on Occasional Planet.

Eric Greitens is blasting his way into the public eye—and not in a good way. Most candidates’ first TV ads are homey affairs, introducing themselves and their all-American families, and focusing on the personal history that drove them to public service. Not so for Greitens. He’s a Republican, running for Governor of Missouri, and his first ad is very different, to say the least.

Watch this, and you’ll see what I’m talking about:

This is what passes for political advertising in 2016. Unfortunately, in gun-loving Missouri, it’s well-targeted. [Missouri’s legislature recently passed a bill making it legal to concealed-carry a gun without a permit. It’s the wild wild west out here.]

Well, at least in his ad, Greitens is not aiming at an image of another politician. But if this is his opening round [pun intended], we can expect a lot more of this macho, gun-totin’ attitude as the August Missouri primary election gets closer. The ad blitz has just begun. Greitens is in a four-way race with some other very aggressive candidates. It’s going to get ugly, and if this ad is an indicator, the ugly is going to be really bad.

PS: This is not an ad created by a PAC that [supposedly] cannot tell the candidate what it’s up to. This ad is funded by Greitens himself. This is who he is and how he chooses to present himself.

And this may only be the beginning:  Greitens has amassed a giant campaign treasury—more than $4 million so far–over half of which comes from donors outside of Missouri. The speculation is that he and his national donors are angling for a shot at the Republican presidential nomination in 2020.

Greitens is locked and loaded. “We don’t need more rhetoric,” he says, in print. But his bang-bang, blow-‘em-up debut ad implies an alternative that is much worse.

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