Friday, August 10, 2007

Republican Representative Cooper a Felon - Give the Dirty Money to Charity!!


Representative Nathan Cooper (R), from Southeast Missouri, has plead guilty to a felony for lying about immigration paperwork. Kinda of ironic that Republicans, especially Rep. Nolte from Gladstone, are harsh critics of the immigration, yet pass no substantive laws, and one of their own is breaking immigration law for Republican donors. Representative Cooper (R) will be resigning his political office.
Two days before pleading guilty to a felony in federal court, Representative Cooper (R) transferred over $65,000 from his campiagn account to the "Friends of the 158th." There is symbiotic relationship between the "Friends of the 158th" and the "Friends of Nathan Cooper." They have the same treasure (Victor Gunn), they write checks back and forth, they jointly hosted a golf tournament.
Nathan Cooper (R) served on the Joint Committee for Government Accountability. You can tell he learned alot there. According to Missouri Political News, Democrats were quick to respond to the incident. "First they started trading tax credits for campaign contributions, then they sold fee offices to political allies, and now we learn that Rep. Nathan Cooper — one of Matt Blunt’s top lieutenant in the legislature — has been handing out visas to illegal immigrants for personal gain," said Jack Cardetti, Missouri Democratic Party spokesman. "Today’s guilty plea pulls back the curtain on the culture of corruption created by Matt Blunt and his legislative allies. It’s no wonder that Missourians are ready for change." The Missouri GOP has issued no official response regarding the incident. According to the Associated Press, Cooper took in at least $50,000 from trucking industry clients in the scheme between 2004 and 2005.

Many folks are calling for Cooper's tainted money, which now sits in the "Friends of the 158th" to be donated to charity. I cannot imagine that any Republican would want to get a donation from the "Friends of the 158th." Why not refund the money to the donors? Because even before pleading guilty to a felony, Cooper wanted to help his Republican friends. Victor Gunn and Rep. Cooper made sure they got refunds from the "Friends of Nathan Cooper" committee for the federal guilty plea.
Give the money to charity!!! Where is Blunt?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Like any partisan Democrat, I was happy when the state Supreme Court threw out the unregulated system of campaign finance created by Blunt, Inc. and Victor Callahan, a Republican operator in my opinion. However, I hope we can see real reform to the campaign finance system in the near future.

Our Balkanized approach to campaign finance that the Supreme Court has brought back from the dead is nothing to cheer about. The district committee system was never anything less than a massive money laundering system. Those who learned how to use the washers became the most powerful people in Missouri. Lobbyist! The Jefferson City Drink Buyers! Whoredom!

We need change.

Anonymous said...

With every widening scandal in our state, I am again amazed that there is not indepth coverage of this in today's Star.
Wish I wasn't so disappointed.

Phil Cardarella said...

Hey, Anonymous:

Don't hold your breath waiting for The Star to cover Republican corruption and abuse of power. It won't be fatal (unless you pass out & hit your head) but blue is a terrible shade for the face.

If Bob Holden had auctioned off the State-run licensing offices to political supporters (and practically given away the State equipment inside) they would still be running front-page calls for burning him at the stake. But Blunt got handled with kid gloves.

And, remember, they were months behind the national media on the Gonzales/Schlozman scandal, and still only covered it from the Todd-Graves-as-victim angle.

Cooper has all the makings of a perfect scandal: Illegality, money, hypocrisy. All it lacks is sex. It could blow up in the face of the Boy Governor and potentially turn the Assembly over to the Democrats. So don't look for much coverage in The Star.

Stephen Bough said...

For a highly entertaining view of the Cooper incident, check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7NuWKlWpLw

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