Billionaire political investor Rex Sinquefield and Travis Brown, who runs Sinquefield’s primary political shop Pelopidas, are always teaching the rest of us about “how money walks,” as Brown titled his new book. Brown writes about corporate money walking across state lines to dodge onerous taxes, but the rest of us with a view of the field where these guys are playing see money walking out of Sinquefield’s pocket and into Brown’s.
Together these guys gave us the impression that they were bringing a brazen new transparency to the flooding of political campaign and ballot initiatives with venture/vulture capital. In the Twittersphere, Brown got the Pelopidas Twitter handle noticed by posting all political contributions of scale as soon as they went public via the Missouri Ethics Commission, and then Brown got Rex to show off by often donating $1 over the threshold amount that mandated instant reporting.
In its own way, this was amazing. The operative was making a name for making a show over how much his client threw away into frequently losing campaigns and initiatives. If you’ve got it and are throwing it away, seemed to be the logic, then flaunt it.
This was interesting political theatre when Sinquefield was investing, or gambling, on Shane Schoeller’s campaign for Missouri Secretary of State. This office governs the state’s ballot initiative process, which has become a Sinquefield/Pelopidas political implement of choice. So when Sinquefield invested (and Pelopidas reported) $400,000 in campaign contributions to Schoeller, it looked to the rest of us like the fox was very brazenly buying the guardian of the henhouse.
But it turns out Rex and his boy Pelopidas were even foxier than that. Now that all the reporting is in, we see that Sinquefield also gave $475,000 to the Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC) on October 23, in the heat of the November 2012 general election race. RSLC gave $550,000 to Schoeller in five contributions from October 24 to November 5 (whether mistakenly or not, Schoeller’s people called the committee “RSCL” instead of “RSLC” on three of the contributions, further obscuring the donation).
Had Sinquefield given this cash to Schoeller straight up, like he did for the initial contribution of $400K, Schoeller (and Pelopidas, on Twitter) would have had to report it within 48 hours. This scheme allowed Sinquefield and Schoeller to evade scrutiny until after the election. It’s hypocritical of Sinquefield to say we don’t need campaign contribution limits because we have good disclosure laws, then move to find a way around the disclosure laws so he doesn’t have to disclose his huge contributions until after the election. Particularly when your political shop is making a flashy, false show of transparency on your behalf.
So doing the math: If we include that $475K that Sinquefield gave to RSLC, he ended up giving $875K to Schoeller, not the $400K we all thought. And if you are keeping score, those 875,000 dollars Sinquefield 0 guardians of the henhouse, as Schoeller was defeated by 31-year-old Jason Kander.
Archie Bunker slams Sinquefield
The EYE takes a special delight when the same dubious operator gets whacked in the same news cycle by The American and The Post, so it was a pleasure on Sunday – knowing Rex’s playing funny money with the Schoeller campaign would occupy this space – to see Sinquefield get part of his head taken off by a Post editorial. The Post calls out Sinquefield for investing in corporate tax-busting initiatives in Kansas and Oklahoma just to put economic pressure on Missouri to follow suit.
“Think of it: To goose Missouri, where he has nothing much to show for the $12 million in political contributions he’s made since retiring from his investment firm in 2006, Mr. Sinquefield is willing to buy influence in Kansas and Oklahoma, too,” The Post smirked at him.
The EYE checked with P-D editorial page editor Tony Messenger to see who wrote this screed, and he said it was Kevin Horrigan. It is good to be reminded from time to time that all those good old boy grouchy Archie Bunker Democrats down at the Post (Horrigan being the poster grouch) are after all Archie Bunker Democrats. Keep Horrigan away from sharing his beliefs about a black man acting in a leadership role, and this Archie can speak some righteous truth.
OBS rejects Slay
This one won’t shock anyone, but the Organization for Black Struggle has endorsed Lewis Reed for Mayor. Actually, in the statement OBS does not endorse Reed in any detail – but it sure does berate and reject incumbent Mayor Francis G. Slay.
“For the last 11 years, the Slay administration has continually worked to limit our ability to participate in our government by opposing civilian review of the police, encouraging state control of our public schools while expanding charter and private schools,” OBS states.
“Under this administration we’ve watched them wage an undeclared war on public sector workers (including teachers and firefighters) and refuse to enforce the minimal minority inclusion standards. The mayor has proven to be one of the most racially divisive leaders in a generation and repeatedly has shown contempt for working with African-American community leaders and activists around issues of fairness and justice.”
Flashback: When Reed first ran for citywide office against incumbent aldermanic president Jim Shrewsbury, the EYE got into trouble with OBS by reporting that the activist group was considering an endorsement of Shrewsbury, who is white, over Reed, who is black. Shrewsbury had garnered black support by standing up for Fire Chief Sherman George and black firefighters against Slay, among other things. No one was sure if Reed would stand up for Chief George if elected – and in fact, he did not. But OBS denied angrily it ever contemplated a Shrewsbury endorsement and did endorse Reed then and now.
Tea poisoner for Slay
The EYE is pleased that Slay’s staff Archie Bunker, Jeff Rainford, is not officially running the mayor’s current re-election campaign as he did four years ago. Longtime Slay operative Richard Callow, who is running the campaign, is more responsive and easier to put up with.
“While there is actually a ‘Ladies for Lewis’ organization,” Callow wrote to The American about Lewis Reed, “‘Sisters for Slay’ was the title of an event. A column that ran in your newspaper [by Lizz Brown] was incorrectly premised.”
Rainford comes at you with a crowbar, trying to puncture a hole in your face while you are looking at him. Callow sidles up next to you and quietly poisons your tea. The EYE prefers to deal with tea poisoners.
Can a white mayor say ‘thug’?
Alderman Antonio French, a strong supporter of the Lewis Reed for Mayor campaign, thinks he cracked a code in the Slay camp. French distributed an email with links to five mainstream news reports or Slay press releases where Slay was quoted on crime in the city. In each case, Slay refers to “thugs.” One example, with a caped crusader vibe: “St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay vowed to ‘find the thugs that are victimizing the city,’” KTRS reported last August.
The EYE knows where French is headed with this, and whether Slay knows this or not many black people will hear him speaking in racial code here. But many people of many backgrounds speak of “thugs” in this city; our East Side columnist James Ingram seldom files copy without that term of insult. We can agree that when a white man says the N-word it means something different then when a black man says it, but does the same apply to “thug?” Can a white man or a white mayor call a criminal a “thug”?
Absentee voting is open
Absentee voting – often the determinant of low-turnout municipal contests – is open in the city for the March 5 primary. Get your absentee ballot at the Board of Election Commissioners, 300 N. Tucker Blvd., during regular office hours of 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The board also will be open to the public the Saturday before the Election, March 2, from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m.
The last day the Election Board can accept an absentee ballot application by mail is Wednesday, February 27. The last day to vote an absentee ballot in person is Monday, March 4, at 5 p.m.
For info, call 314-622-4336 or visit www.stlelections.com.
