Bill Stouffer: Not a cat guy.

​State senator Bill Stouffer fancies himself a rugged S.O.B.

In campaign photos, the central Missouri Republican likes to pose in western wear with farm equipment in the background. He boasts in his online biography of being a gun-rights advocate and the "first transportation chair to have driven the state's roads in a car, tractor, and a semi." And there's nothing an Alpha male like Stouffer enjoys better than keeping lesser species in their place, be they homosexuals, welfare recipients, abused puppies or -- now -- mountain lions.
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D'oh!

This space for rent.

​Noting that state funding for student transportation has been slashed as Missouri deals with a very tight budget, State Representative Mike Kelley (R-Lamar) proposed a new idea: Advertising on both the outside and inside of school buses.

HB1273 would permit the State Board of Education to write the actual rules regarding the advertising. Half the money raised from ad sales would have to pay student transportation costs; the remainder can be spent at the school board's discretion

And of course, there would be restrictions on the types of ads allowed.
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​It seems as if 13th Ward Alderman Fred Wessels is trying to pick-off his opponents in the race for City Treasurer like it's a dodge ball game.

First he called for candidate Brian Wahby to step down from his current position of Democratic Central Committe chairman after a conveniently-timed policy change gave Wahby control of the party's voter database. Now Wessels is suing 30-year-incumbent Larry Williams on behalf of St. Louis tax payers.

The lawsuit, filed today, accuses Williams of illegally awarding a contract to a campaign contributor. Wessels, according to KMOX, claims that the $1.5 million annual contract for collections and maintenance of city parking meters was not vetted by a "professional review committee" and was not signed by the comptroller -- thus violating the city charter -- before Williams gave it to Duncan Solutions Inc., which had previously given him $3,600 in donations.

Williams was already a vulnerable incumbent. He stepped into scandal when the public learned a few months ago that one of his employees was getting paid for hours he was not working. As of January, Williams' campaign had $44.16 cash-on-hand.

The lawsuit comes less than a week after Wessels went after Wahby, who, incidentally, worked as Williams' assistant in the 1990s.

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State Senator Brad Lager

​Updated 1:15 p.m. with comments from State Senator Lager.

This week Missouri Senate Republicans are pushing a bill that would dull workplace discrimination laws. Most notably, the legislation states that a person who files a discrimination lawsuit against an employer must prove that discrimination was a "motivating factor," not just a "contributing factor," in the employer's action.

Opponents of the bill, mainly Democrats, argue that it strips away essential protections against workplace discrimination. State Senator Brad Lager, the bill's sponsor, counters that this legislation simply brings Missouri, which he claims has the most progressive discrimination law standards in the nation, in line with current federal discrimination laws.

"Everything in this law takes us back to the federal law that Martin Luther King Jr. applauded as it was signed," he said, according to the Associate Press. "To insinuate anything other than that is just not factual."

Of course, those anti-discrimination laws, originally passed in the '60s (and updated in 1991), had to survive a congress where members said things like, "We will resist to the bitter end any measure or any movement which would have a tendency to bring about social equality and intermingling and amalgamation of the races in our states (Senator Richard Russell)," and "This so-called Civil Rights Proposals, which the President has sent to Capitol Hill for enactment into law, are unconstitutional, unnecessary, unwise and extend beyond the realm of reason (Senator Strom Thurmond)."

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Our government at work.

​Missouri's presidential primary is Tuesday, February 7. It's your chance to tell your party who you want to see represent you as president. Except that if you're planning on selecting someone from the Republican section of the ballot, your choice doesn't matter -- and that's not me saying that, it's the official policy of the Republican party.

In an effort to stop states from "front-loading" the nomination process -- this is what happens when states race to hold their primaries and caucuses as early in the year as possible -- the GOP passed new rules that cut the size of a state's delegation in half if said state holds a binding nominating contest prior to March 6. The Missouri Legislature did not succeed in pushing back the date of our primary, so the state Republicans had to find a way to retain the full size of its 52-strong delegation. A caucus on March 17 is their solution. This caucus is the one that matters if you're casting a ballot for a Republican candidate.

Wait, it gets stupider.
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​ With the presidential primary campaign circus coming to Missouri both next week (for the election that doesn't count) and next month (for the official caucus), we're likely to soon see a serious spike in the number of polls about us. Which means it's is a good time for some Horse Race talk. Public Policy Polling released a comprehensive one yesterday, surveying respondent on three compelling GOP primary races: presidential, senatorial, and gubernatorial.

Here are some notable findings:

The Gingrich-Santorum Paradox

Newt Gingrich, taking 30 percent of the hypothetical vote, led the presidential primary field, although Rick Santorum, at 28 percent, was within the margin of error. Mitt Romney sat a close third with 24 percent and Ron Paul was at the back of the pack with 11 percent. Interestingly, though, when respondents were asked whom they would vote for if it came down to Gingrich and Romney, the former House Speaker led the former Massachusetts governor by just one point, 43 to 42. But when the choice was between Romney and Santorum, Santorum blew past Romney by 13 points, 50 to 37.

This seems to challenge the conventional wisdom that conservative voters will coalesce around whichever "Romney-Alternative" candidate sticks around longer, Gingrich or Santorum. These numbers suggest that there is a slice of Santorum voters who will not necessarily jump to Gingrich in the event Santorum drops out. Of course this make sense, given that many in Satorum's base, the religious right, may be turned off by Gingrich's marital history and/or his tendency in past years to promote big government policies.

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Photo by Jennifer Silverberg

What will the appeals court think of Paul McKee's ambitious plan for the north side?

​Tomorrow, in Missouri's Eastern District Court of Appeals, lawyers for developer Paul McKee will once again fight for the legitimacy for his $8.1 billion-dollar plan to revitalize North St. Louis -- and for the big chunk of change the city promised him in subsidies.

So what's this court case all about? Here's a quick refresher.

May 2009: Paul McKee finally announced (after much secrecy) his ambitious plan to transform 1,100 acres of the north side into new homes and four commercial hubs, which he claimed would generate 22,000 permanent jobs and 43,000 construction jobs in the first fifteen years.

But in order to realize his vision, he said, he needed a huge subsidy from the city (called a TIF).
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​Twenty-second Ward Alderman Jeffrey Boyd announced yesterday that he is running for St. Louis treasurer, making an already crowded race even deeper.

Boyd, who has served as alderman of the north city ward for eight years, has earned a reputation on the board as an intelligent and inquisitive voice. During committee meetings, he tends to ask among the most questions, always in his trademark sober tone. Over the last two years, the Hamilton Heights neighborhood, which lies in his ward, has experienced a 36 percent drop in crime rate.

The treasurer candidate field also includes state representative Tishsaura Jones, 13th Ward alderman Fred Wessels, St. Louis Democratic Central Committee chairman Brian Wahby, and incumbent treasurer Larry Williams, who's held the seat for three decades and is running for re-election.

Although he is the latest to jump into the race, Boyd may stand as somewhat of a frontrunner. He enters the contest with the heaviest war chest among the candidates, around $105,000 on-hand. Wahby has $71,000 on-hand, Jones has $26,000, and Williams has $44.77. The Missouri Ethics Commission website does not list a finance report for Wessels.

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​Republican Ed Martin has kiboshed his plans to run for Congress, because the Missouri Attorney General's job seems more appealing. Or more attainable, maybe. Martin has previously announced his intentions for Congressional seats in Missouri's 2nd and 3rd districts, as well as one in the U.S. Senate, making this morning's decision the third time he's changed horses midstream. There was talk of a governor's run for a while there, also. It's been a busy two years for Martin's press secretary.

The Missouri Democratic Party responded to Martin's announcement with a terse and tart official statement that finished with a flourish:

"We welcome Ed to the race for how ever long he decides to stay," said Caitlin Legacki, Missouri Democratic Party spokeswoman.

Oh, that stings.