Government and Politics

Missouri Polls Shows Gingrich Leading, Brunner Rising, and Randles Edging Spence

​ 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. Publ ... More >>

Should Undocumented Sexual Predators Be Detained or Deported?

Missouri Department of Mental HealthHe came for the American dream, but this is what Javier Calleja will likely get.​In a unanimous opinion made public this morning, a three-member panel of judges with the Missouri Court of Appeals in the Eastern District sent a pointed -- some might say ironi ... More >>

Steelman For Payroll Tax Cut, Akin Against Payroll Tax Cut, Brunner... Against?

​A few days ago, the Springfield News-Leader published a Q&A with the three candidates in Missouri's GOP Senate primary race. It's still early in the race and Sarah Steelman, Rep. Todd Akin and John Brunner have all positioned themselves as rock solid conservative candidates. As such, it's a ... More >>

Dana Loesch Departs St. Louis Tea Party

Dana Loesch riles up the crowd during one of the Tea Party's first rallies in February 2009 under the Gateway Arch.​The co-founder of the St. Louis Tea Party has officially left the organization.  In a tweet this morning Dana Loesch writes: "Yes, I am finished with the St. Louis Tea Party. N ... More >>

$64 Million Parks Bond Bill Passes Board of Aldermen

With funding now locked in, Forest Park should see steady improvements over the next couple of decades.​The Board of Aldermen passed today two bills that would lock in current funding and send an additional $64 million in city bonds to St. Louis parks. By passing the bill before the end of the ye ... More >>

Proof Downtown Partnership Bitched to City Hall About Occupy St. Louis

Kiener Plaza was a tent city before Partnership for Downtown St. Louis bent the mayor's ear.​A couple weeks ago Occupy St. Louis accused Mayor Francis Slay of kowtowing to corporate interests when he informed demonstrators (via his blog) that he would soon demand that they end their encampment at ... More >>

What's Worse than a Republican Gubernatorial Candidate Who Frequented Strip Clubs? How About One Who Supports TARP?

Image viaRepublican leaders hope personal care packaging mogul Dave Spence can be a more attractive gubernatorial candidate than Lt. Governor Peter Kinder.​Big news yesterday on the Missouri gubernatorial election front. Dave Spence, a businessman from St. Louis, has jumped into the race. Spence ... More >>

Does Missouri Allow Convicted Felons to Possess Guns?

​In a 4,650-word, front-page treatise in yesterday's New York Times, author Michael Luo lays bare a significant trend: each year, thousands of felons across the country have their gun rights reinstated following prison sentences, despite a federal law that strips away the right to bear arms fo ... More >>

Steve Tilley Drops Out of Race for Lieutenant Governor

Tilley, the 2012 lieutenant governor frontrunner dropped out of the race yesterday.​It's been a rough few weeks for Missouri Speaker of the House Steve Tilley. In mid-October he disclosed that he and his wife of eighteen years, Kellie, were divorcing. Then in early November, with the proceedings ... More >>

Report: AB-InBev Outraged Over World Series Bet Excluding Budweiser

Cardinals and Budweiser: Nothing to make light of.​St. Louis gossipmeister Jerry Berger writes this week that Anheuser-Busch InBev "is pissed" with a friendly wager that Mayor Francis Slay made with Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck over the World Series. The bet would have Slay winning some Texas stea ... More >>

Mayor Slay's Mother Passes Away; Mayor Lost Father Seven Months Earlier

Condolences to St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay with the passing of his mother, Anna May Slay. Mrs. Slay (nee Sobocinski) died this morning following a long illness. Her death was not unexpected, and the mayor and other family members were with her at her passing. Funeral arrangements have yet to be mad ... More >>

Lawsuit Filed Against Latest "Fair Tax" Proposals

Lawuit: Ballot language provides bad road map for voters.​Missourians for Fair Taxation last week filed a lawsuit attempting to change the ballot language for two recent proposals that will ask voters to eliminate state income tax in favor of higher sales taxes in Missouri.The group -- composed of ... More >>

City Wants Hopeville Gone By December 1

The mayor's office says it wants to save Hopeville residents from the elements.​St. Louis officials today announced that they're pushing ahead with plans hinted at earlier this year to dismantle the homeless camps north of downtown St. Louis. In January the city issued regulations for those living ... More >>

President Obama's Jobs Plan -- Voices from Barrister's

Albert Samaha"Stimulus has become a bad word," says Lasky (left).​Last Monday in his jobs speech, President Barack Obama made a serious effort to wrest control of the Narrative away from the Republicans.For months Democrats have complained about how they kept ending up negotiating on Republicans' ... More >>

Bill Randles: Unknown Polls Almost as Well as Peter Kinder Against Governor Nixon

The whole "pantless party" thing is not helping Peter Kinder with McCain voters, Public Policy Polling finds.​Governor Jay Nixon would basically stomp the crap out of his likely Republican challenger, Lt. Governor Peter Kinder, if the 2012 gubernatorial election had been held this week.In fact, ac ... More >>

Tiny Towns, Expensive Elections, St. Louis County Report Shows

​There are exactly 1,653 registered voters in the tiny municipality of Bel Ridge, Missouri. And so when the village decided to hold a special election in February 2010 to increase property taxes, the proposition was bound to be expensive on a per-vote basis. The St. Louis County Board of Election ... More >>

Francis Slay Asserts Alpha Dog Status at City Hall; Lewis Reed Refuses to Play Bitch

Slay strikes first; Reed counters.​A dog fight has broken out in City Hall, and it could last another 21 months. Today, Mayor Francis Slay's office struck first when it released an email blaming Board of Aldermen President Lewis Reed for Stray Rescue's decision this week to stop serving as the cit ... More >>

Norway Massacre Has Dana Loesch Claiming Right is Left

Right or Left? Depends on which way the hot air blows.​St. Louis Tea Party co-founder and political pundit Dana Loesch thinks hard-line conservatives such as herself are being smeared by media accounts referring to Norway's Anders Behring Breivik as a "right-wing extremist." As you surely know, Br ... More >>

City Hall Insult of the Week: You Tweet Like a Teenage Girl

Alderman French Calls Mayor's Speed Bump Veto "Petty Politics"

"His veto has more to do with politics than it does with public safety," says French.​St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay vetoed yesterday the bill that would add speed bumps to O'Fallon Park -- and 21st Ward Alderman Antonio French is not happy. "It's ridiculous," he says. "The people of north St. ... More >>

Lawsuit Filed Against Missouri's "Religious Freedom" Amendment

Don't drink the Kool-Aid, warn plaintiffs.​In November 2012, Missouri voters will be asked to approve an amendment to the state constitution, titled Religious Freedom in Public Places. According to the sponsor of the resolution, Republican Mike McGhee of the western Missouri town of Odessa, the am ... More >>

Mayor Slay Has Del Taco Building's Back

​Tomorrow the Housing and Urban Development Aldermanic Committee will consider a bill that would deem the Del Taco at South Grand and Forest Park a "blighted area," consequently opening the door for its demolition. The proposal has drawn much scorn from the public. So yesterday, Mayor Francis ... More >>

28 Percent of Missouri Legislators Don't Have College Degrees

Meanwhile, in Jefferson City...​Aha! Finally, everything coming out of Jefferson City makes sense!Missouri legislators are less educated than their counterparts in other states, according to an analysis out today in the Chronicle of Higher Education. Just 69 percent of Missouri representatives and ... More >>

Missouri to Drug Test Welfare Recipients

Give us your tired, your hungry, your poor; we'll drug test them!!​The third time proved to be the charm.After floating bills the previous two years (Exhibit A, Exhibit B) that would allow officials to drug test federal welfare recipients in Missouri, lawmakers in Jefferson City finally got enough ... More >>

Akin's Letter Helps Halt Same-Sex Civil Unions on Navy Bases

You should have stuck to your guns, Rear Admiral Tidd!​The Navy has reversed course on its momentous decision to allow same-sex civil unions to be performed by chaplains on bases. And it's thanks in part to Missouri's own U.S. representatives Todd Akin and Vicky Hartlzer, plus 61 of their colleagu ... More >>

Missouri Democratic Party Calls on Peter Kinder to Reimburse Tax Payers for Lavish Hotel Stays

Peter Kinder appearing in a 2010 interview about his lawsuit to stop "Obamacare."​If you didn't see yesterday's article on Missouri Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder, stop what your doing and give it a read. Post-Dispatch reporter Jake Wagman provides a text-book example on how to nail a double-tal ... More >>

Congressmen Russ Carnahan, Lacy Clay Respond to Proposed Redistricting

The two Democratic congressmen representing the St. Louis region released a joint statement yesterday criticizing a redistricting map proposed this week by Republican legislators in Jefferson City. The new map would effectively eliminate Congressman Russ Carnahan's 3rd Congressional District, which ... More >>

Ask a Mexican! Special April Fools' Edicion

Scott Ogilvie: St. Louis Independent Hopes to Pull Off an Upset in 24th Ward

ward24stl.comCan independent Scott Ogilvie defeat the Democratic political machine?​Daily RFT caught up yesterday with Scott Ogilvie, the independent candidate running for alderman in the 24th Ward -- the southwest sliver of St. Louis that includes the Dogtown, Franz Park, Ellendale and Clifton H ... More >>

Are You Going to Vote Today?

​This message is for you residents of the even wards, especially wards 6, 16, 20 and 24. According to the experts, you're too lazy to vote in today's aldermanic primaries. Geez, we just voted last November, and now we've gotta go to the ballot box again? But voting today does matter. Why? ... More >>

Website Lets You Get Your Missouri Census Nerd On

Missouri Office of AdministrationEach dot represents 50 people counted during the 2010 Census.​Don't know about you, but here at Daily RFT we're still trying to wrap our minds around the glut of U.S. Census data released last week. Which is why we were pleased this morning to stumble upon the webs ... More >>

The Circus Comes to University City Council

Price and Ricci trying to keep it civil.​For ten minutes last night, members of the University City Council argued about whether one of its members physically lifted his buttocks off his seat during a debate two weeks ago. To members of the council, this seemed like quite an important fact t ... More >>

Missouri Senator Trying to Ban Red-Light Cameras Unconcerned About His Own Ticket

Lembke says "idiots" have tried to spin the story as they see fit.​State senator Jim Lembke tells Daily RFT this morning that he's not worried about being found guilty in municipal court last week in St. Louis for a red-light camera ticket. In December Lembke (R - South St. Louis County) filed a b ... More >>

Sinquefield's Tax Reform Labeled "Fiscally Untenable"; Could Require 12% Sales Tax

jamesrmoody.comJames Moody​An analysis of nine ballot initiatives financier Rex Sinquefield submitted to state officials this month calling for the elimination of Missouri's income tax has concluded that the state would require a sales tax of 12 percent in order to make up for lost revenue if any ... More >>

City Admits It's Been Financing Firefighter Fund Unnecessarily

President Chris Molitor and other union members after the committee hearing.​St. Louis firefighters won a small victory at City Hall yesterday when union leaders forced a committee of aldermen to hold off on voting for a bill specifying that reimbursement for retirees' unused sick days must co ... More >>

Sales Tax Could Reach 10-13 Percent If Rex Sinquefield Has His Way

Something like that.​Financier Rex Sinquefield, via his attorneys, filed nine initiative petitions Friday with the Secretary of State's Office calling for the elimination of the state income tax. Before being placed on the November 2012 ballot, the petitions would require signatures from two-third ... More >>

Return to Sender: What would comprehensive immigration reform look like if the feds got moving?

Now Here's a Cause Rex Sinquefield Should Get Behind (and Already Tacitly Endorses)

​Have you heard the news today? A guy in Fenton says he's planning a petition campaign to do away with the state's personal property tax. That's the tax you pay each year on your automobiles, boats, motorcycles, farm equipment and ATVs. Never mind the fact that you already paid a state sales tax o ... More >>

"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Is Dead. How Did Our Congresspeople Vote?

​Unless you've been hiding out under a rock, you probably heard that Saturday, the Senate followed the House in voting to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." DADT, signed into law in 1993 by President Bill Clinton, was meant to be a compromise on allowing lesbian, gay and bisexual soldiers to serve in ... More >>

Mayor Proposes Taking Fire Ax to Firemen's Pension

Slay: Blowing the whistle and prepared to make the cuts.​Mayor Francis Slay's office this morning outlined its plan to curtail run-away costs within the St. Louis Fire Department. According to the mayor's office, the budget for the fire department has increased 40 percent over the past decade than ... More >>

Former Rep Rodney Hubbard Fined $322K Over Campaign Finance Mess

Rodney Hubbard will pay the ethics commission fine.​$2,775 at the Ritz-Carlton, $662 at the Westin Hotels St. Louis and $575 at Brennan's, the Central West End bar. $85,850 in contributions -- and more than $20,000 in cash.Those are among the expenditures and withdrawals that the campaign of ... More >>

New Dem Party Chair Susan Montee: "We're Down About as Far as We Can Go"

Can she bring her party out of the doldrums?​One month after Missouri's Democratic candidates suffered a series of bruising defeats in the midterm elections, the party swiftly moved to make a change at the helm. Out as party chairman is Craig Hosmer, who held the post for two years. In his p ... More >>

Fair-y Tales: Russell Pearce and other illegal immigrant populists rely on misleading, right-wing reports to scapegoat immigrants and terrify penny-pinched Americans

St. Louis Fed President Sees His Shadow: Six More Months of Crappy Economy

James Bullard: Bullish on Fed's latest plan.​The president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis poked his head out of his granite bunker on Broadway and Locust yesterday to predict at least six to twelve months of recession. That's how long James Bullard believes it will take before the market ... More >>

Ed Martin Concedes -- But Not Before Taking Swipes at Election Process

Martin concedes even while continuing to suggest the election was stolen. ​Six days after the election, Ed Martin has conceded that he does not have enough votes to win the Third District race for U.S. Congress. The Republican challenger phoned incumbent Congressman Russ Carnahan this morning to c ... More >>

Kevin Jackson wrote the book on how to win (white) friends and influence (black) people

Voting Maps Show Political Divide in Missouri; St. Louis and Kansas City vs. Everyone Else

If you need anymore convincing that the people of St. Louis and Kansas City have nothing in common -- politically -- with their fellow Missourians, consider these election results....In the race for U.S. Senate, Democrat Robin Carnahan won only three regions in Missouri: Kansas City, St. Louis and S ... More >>

What Options Does Ed Martin Have Left?

Photo by Jennifer SilverbergMartin's gonna have to go to court to avoid a loss.​UPDATED below the jump. As Daily RFT reported earlier today, Republican challenger Ed Martin has refused to concede the 3rd Congressional District race to incumbent Democrat Russ Carnahan. But does it even matter? By a ... More >>

Rex Sinquefield Registers His Bentley and His Vote in Osage County

Sinquefield's 2008 Bentley Continential Flying Spur could provide the city with $3,000 in taxes this year -- if he registered it in St. Louis.​The man who's poured millions of dollars of his own money into an effort to change the tax structure in St. Louis is not registered to vote in St. Louis, e ... More >>

Shocking: Ed Martin Picks Up Tea Party Endorsement

Calling him an "original Tea Partier" and someone who will do the "patriotic thing" in Congress, the St. Louis Tea Party has officially thrown its support to Ed Martin.In the video below, St. Louis Tea Party founder Bill Hennessy adds that he'll even contribute $52 dollars to Martin's campaign -- on ... More >>