Lots of W(h)ine, But No Curd (Cheese)

Curd - The part of milk that coagulates when the milk sours.

It's been interesting to read the various responses from the Brazil camp for the margin of victory that Sen. Rupp enjoyed in the primary.

Anything But Right has posted his wife's excuse, oops, I mean reason as to why things didn't go their way. They whine and complain about the campaign waged against their candidate yet they refuse to acknowledge the personal attacks on Sen. Rupp. They even go so far as to even refuse to acknowledge the existence of the anonymous letters sent out by someone in the campaign. I saw some of the letters and it is clear they were written by Brazil supporters. In fact, I could probably tell who but I have no proof so we'll just have to leave it undisclosed. Once again Anything But Right and his band of woeful followers follow the golden rule of "Do what I say, not as I do".

There appears to be two basic issues surrounding the apparently unbelievable loss of their stellar candidate.

The first revolves around the Missouri Republican Party (MRP) involvement in the primary race. If you believe the Brazil defense attorneys you would have to think that this is just unheard of in politics. Why, they even have Pal Joey appearing to support their notion. As a rule, in an open primary the party organization should stay out. However, in this case, there was NO open primary. We had a sitting Senator. Brazil was in fact the one to commit the offense not the MRP.

The second major excuse is that the MRP foisted upon the voters unthinkable, untrue things about Brazil. Steve Pokin's article in the 8/20/06 Suburban Journal addresses some of these issues. Anything But Right certainly thinks that Pokin's article and "facts" repudiate the attacks on Brazil, but do they really? Let's analyze the analysis. The Facts presented in the article will be addressed in somewhat of a different order from those "proven" to be substantially true to those political in nature.

CLAIM: "Was sued THIRTEEN TIMES for FAILURE TO PAY OFF HIS DEBTS."

FACT OR FICTION? Pokin's research found this claim to be entirely accurate.

CLAIM: "He also voted for eleven tax and fee increases."

FACT OR FICTION? Pokin's research found this claim to be entirely accurate.

CLAIM: "During his tenure as a councilman, Florissant City's (sic) budget increased by 56 percent."

FACT OR FICTION? Pokin's own words are "The figure is accurate."

CLAIM: "Has EIGHT LEVIES against him for failure to pay his taxes."

FACT OR FICTION? Pokin found the accusation to be substantially accurate although the levies have been paid.

These claims made by the MRP all, according to the research done by Pokin who I believe to be a very careful observer, are accurate. Brazil and his apologists can cry all they want but you can't argue with the truth.

But what about the other claims? They are clearly political in nature and in the eyes of the beholder. It does appear that some of them stretch the issue to a degree. Apparently Brazil's Democrat past didn't prepare him for some of his own medicine.

CLAIM: "Joe Brazil was the only St. Charles County councilman voting to require county government to recognize gay marriage."

FACT OR FICTION? Clearly Brazil didn't support recognizing Barb Hall's actions with the rest of the Council. Was the resolution symbolic in nature? Absolutely! Did Brazil think it was important enough to support it? No he didn't.

We should give credit to Brazil for being capable of learning though and demonstrating that he screwed up previously. The Pokin story reports that "A month later Brazil voted to approve a county ordinance that mirrors the state law banning gay marriage."

CLAIM: "Siding with liberal anti-gun zealots, Brazil voted to restrict the sale of firearms, and prevent law-abiding citizens from obtaining conceal & carry permits."

FACT OR FICTION? If you believe that the 2nd amendment shouldn't be abridged under any circumstance then this claim would be accurate. If you think that reasonable restrictions may be applied, then the claim is inaccurate.

CLAIM: "Joe voted himself a 15 percent pay increase, plus free health, dental, life and disability insurance!"

FACT OR FICTION? Always a sticky issue. The report was essentially true but there are additional details the mailing didn't provide.

Bottom line, Anything But Right and his stooges attempted to foist an ill prepared, problem candidate on the people of the 2nd District. Our faith in the electoral process can be renewed by knowing that the electors of the 2nd were far too smart for Anything But Right and his soiled candidate to be fooled by them.

The truth is there is a lot of sour milk, but it's not cheese that we smell.

Endorsement Story Update

While it may seem too late, I do want to issue an update on the "endorsements" of Anything But Right's group and an earlier post.

Alderman Barclay e-mailed me and said that he did not solicit in anyway the group's endorsement.

Other's have informed me that Councilman White also did not solict the group's endorsement.

There are times at which candidates cannot help who might endorse them. That is, they may not seek the endorsement and get it anyway. However, a candidate can disavow and reject any unsolicited endorsement such as those above.

The information I have received disavows the endorsement as being unsolicited but there was no rejection of the endorsement from an extremely divisive and questionable group.

Election Eve Tales

Several of my friends and I, being in our late 20's early 30's and still not learning that there is only so much we can do as we "age", were around the county election eve helping out friends get ready for the big day. In between stops erecting signs for our friends, a lot of discussion and catching up goes on. Even more goes on when you have the beers after the signs are done :)

The hot topic was the Senator Rupp v. wanna-be senator Brazil and his loser backers. This bunch of misfits and ne'er-do-well's apparently have spared little when it comes to "winning at all costs".

According to one of my buddies, the Brazil camp, led by Anything But Right, attempted to smear Senator Rupp. Based on the info flying around, the stuff Anything But Right's group was passing around more likely came from Anything But Right's candidate's past, maybe present and perhaps future escapades.

The Brazil camp knew they couldn't win on issues so they had to invent stuff. You know the "I'm not really better than you but I will be when I get done lying about you" crowd. Perhaps Mr. Brazil should resign now and spare himself future humiliation in an unfortuante re-election attempt. I understand there is even more information on his past that surely would come to light in the next election.

I suppose Anything But Right doesn't run for office because he couldn't stand the scrutiny. For example, he would have to explain such things as why he paid Brandy Pederson, another piece of work, money to work for one of his PAC's. Seems rather cozy to me. Unfortunately, she was re-elected to the Central Committee.

And then he would have to bear up under the ridicule of others when he explains his "risk" with the PAC's he established. Why, he loaned both of the them $350 each for about 12 days before he got paid back. He actually had a total of $700 at risk for 12 whole days before he snookered, cajoled and otherwise beguiled others to invest $1,000's of their money without putting any of his own at risk according to his Ethics filings.

For their sake, I keep hoping that surely the money boys contributing to these PAC's don't really recognize the sordid people they are contributing to. If they do, then it just goes to show the old adage of "a fool and his money are soon parted" is really true.

All remained as it should in the world and Senator Rupp didn't just walk out of the primary a landslide winner, he won the 440. Mr. Henke doesn't appear to be prepared to take Rupp on in another major battle in November.

The election for Central Committee members was one of the most unfortunate outcomes on Tuesday. The only real bright spot was the resounding defeat of Mrs. Anything But Right. The always embarrasing Pederson's attempt to hijack the Republican Central Committee may not be entirely successful but only time will tell.

The Central Committee is already a mere ghost organization. The Democrat youthful group runs circles around both their own Central Committee and for sure the Republican one. A takeover by Pederson's ilk will insure the destruction of the central committee and will have laid the road bed for Democrat successes. On the other hand, sometimes you have to raze an old building to get a newer, better one built.

Central Committee members like Tom Kuypers and Penny Bennett have done admirable jobs on the committee but with the likes of Pederson undermining almost everything good that was attempted, it is no wonder Kuypers said enough is enough.

Even with Mrs. Anything But Right's loss, if Anything But Right and Pederson succeed in hijacking the committee, you can pretty much kiss the RCC goodbye and it's effectiveness will dwindle from a little to absolutely none. I have heard a number of our state delegation say that they will make sure the word gets out to the rest of the state GOP that these people do not represent them or most Republicans in St. Charles. Hopefully they will identify the guys in white hats and put wanted posters out on the Pederson and her black hat gang.

One can only hope that if the worst scenario becomes reality that the rest of the state won't hold it against us. We will be embarassed enough.

Stay tuned -

A Voter's Guide to Tuesday's Election - Who Not to Vote For

Wondering who to vote for in contested primaries on Tuesday?

I recommend you "tune in" to Endorsed Candidates. Once you go there, see who they have endorsed, and then consider voting for anyone but those candidates. It's too bad because at least two good people are on the list like Patrick Barclay and John White. Why these otherwise seemingly sensible individuals even wanted to be considered by this rogue group is bewildering.

Anything But Right has moved on, temporarily anyway, to the PAC world. When his real target candidate, RINO Joe Brazil, is soundly trounced on Tuesday hopefully his financial supporters will recognize what a loser they have teamed with and run as quickly as possible in the other direction. On the other hand, the primary money man hasn't seemed to have learned his lesson easily. Guess that comes with not having worked for your money.

It has become well known that this camp has attempted to cover up the past dalliances and short comings of RINO Brazil by trying to intimate some sort of wrong doing by Senator Rupp. I have heard one State Rep who received the anonymous letters appropriately label them as "gutless" attempts to sling mud on the Senator. Seems funny given the scratching of the surface of RINO Brazil's apparently somewhat sordid past as reflected in joe_joe_brazil. From all accounts, the oppo research that has been done on the RINO indicates that the forgoing post contains quite tame escapades compared to what is in his file.

In this case, seems to be a perfect example of the old saying "people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones."

PS - Aside from the voting against the RINO Brazil, real Republican voters should absolutely vote against all the Central Committee recommendations. The election of even a few of these individuals will contribute to the rapid decline of the Republican party in St. Charles County. The Democrats won't have to work nearly as hard at defeating Republicans since it will be an inside job.