Rep. Nolte Bankrolled by Pro-Voucher Multi-Millionaire

Rep. Jerry Nolte (R - Gladstone) told the N. K. C. School District he is opposed to vouchers. The N. K. C. School district passed a resolution against vouchers. So, what does Rep. Nolte do - he takes over $27,000 from a pro-voucher, St. Louis multi-millionaire Rex Sinquefield.

Here is Jerry Nolte's campaign finance report from the most recent quarter...you can see where he is getting his money. Bottom line...he is taking over 90% of his money from campaign committees controlled by one man...a wealthy St. Louis businessman that is a supporter of right wing causes including school vouchers, charter schools and tax cuts for big corporations. Rex set up a hundred PACS so he could funnel money to folks through committees called "Missourians Needing Education Alternatives" and "Your School Your Choice."

Nolte shows he raised $29,300 this last reporting period. Of that $29,300 not a single dollar was raised from any individual inside his district. There are only two contributions from individuals that total $425. Five contributions come from other Republican State Rep. candidate committees...$1,275 total. He took money from Enterprise Rent A Car - the folks who opposed the Sprint Arena.

The balance of $27,600 come from multiple political action committees controlled by one St. Louis businessman that supports right wing causes. Rex Sinquefield is buying school vouchers one politician at a time. Looks like Rep. Nolte is the most recent person to sell out.

You have to ask yourself who is Jerry Nolte representing and who is he obligated to!!

Vouchers and Open Enrollment, one politican at a time

Rex Sinquefield is on a mission; to buy enough politicians to get school vouchers and open enrollment in Missouri. Those ideas are the exact opposite of the alleged Republican principles of smaller government and local control. Who wants Matt Blunt running the North Kansas City school district?

You will recall a previous post on Buying Vouchers, One PAC at a Time. That one discussed how Rex set up 100 PACS to pass his money through since the Missouri Supreme Court struck down the unlimited contributions that the Republicans put in place. You will also remember the hub bub about Missouri School's getting a bad report grade from President Bush's Department of Education. Getting told by Bush - a guy who struggles with the English language - that your schools stink really hurts.

So here's the question, who has been benefiting from Sinquefield's mission to get school vouchers? Rep. Jerry Nolte? Sen. Luanne Ridgeway?

Buying Vouchers, One PAC at a Time

What's the hottest story coming out of the recent quarterly reports. No, it's not Jay Nixon raising more than Blunt when the caps are in effect. Its not even Dr. Sam Page having a great quarter. Its BILLIONAIRE Rex Sinquefield creating 100 PAC's and giving each of them $2,500 to get started. Yep, he just dropped $250,000 in to the old political bucket and quess who got almost half of it..

The Post did a pretty extensive write up on this extremely strange move. Why would someone do such a thing, even if they are worth a billion. Rex is the kind of guy that can and HAS written Blunt a hefty $100,000 check. As the Post pointed out, "A network of PACs, with each giving $1,275, would be a legal way for donors like Sinquefield to get around the limits while helping favored causes and candidates."

Who is Rex Sinquefield? Let's see what his friends say - "We just click on so many levels, on so many issues," said Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, a Republican who agrees with Sinquefield’s quest to abolish Missouri’s income tax. According to Wikipedia, Rex Sinquefield was the co-founder of Dimensional Fund Advisors and was its co-chairman until his retirement in 2005. In the 1970s, he did influential research on historical stock market returns and pioneered many of the nation's first index funds. Rex is a huge pro-voucher supporter.

Rex Sinquefield set up these 100 PACs and who got the money? Chris Koster. The Columbia Daily Tribune did a great job tracking Koster getting $99,450 from Rex's new PAC's. The Tribune also reported "the campaign spent $63,384.73 during the fundraising quarter, with bulk of that money going to Axiom Strategies - a firm run by GOP strategist Jeff Roe." Here's the link to Koster's recent MEC filing.

All Democrats want to welcome Senator Koster to the party. It's a big tent. Two issues that don't fit under our tent, however, are school vouchers and Jeff Roe. Expect an uproar from Harris and Donnelly about their position on school vouchers.