Is The Post Dispatch Calling For Robin Carnahan To Resign?

I read with interest an editorial in the Post Dispatch suggesting that powerful politicians in Jefferson City who seek a higher office should resign their positions, especially if there is the possibility of a conflict of interest.

Secretary Carnahan says she sees no problem serving as the Secretary of State in charge of the 2010 election while she runs to replace Kit Bond as a Senator next year. Of course she doesn’t.

We’re talking about the Missouri Royal Family, after all, where conflicts of interest bloom like dogwoods in spring. During this year’s electoral season, ACORN won a $450,000 judgement against the state of Missouri for not registering enough voters, while Carnahan prevailed in a suit claiming she had no control over Missouri voter rolls that showed more registrants than people alive.  Why, her own director of communications worked directly with Americans Coming Together to hire felons to go to door-to-door registering voters, and no one blinked an eye.  Now her brother, Congressman Russ Carnahan, hired a director of communications who worked with ACORN in 2006 to get out the vote.  Bringing that staff on board has cut out the middle man.

This week, both the US House and the US Senate voted to defund ACORN Housing, a closely related subsidiary to ACORN and SEIU allies of the Carnahan family. A spokesman for the Secretary called the historic vote, a “non-story.”

The sad thing is, given that Jefferson City is wallpapered with petty corruption, the spokesman is right. In that kind of atmosphere, it’s no wonder that Ms. Carnahan feels no burning need to give up her control (or lack thereof) over the voting rolls.

Ms. Carnahan assured the Post-Dispatch’s Tony Messenger that she wouldn’t use her life-or-death control over voter registration lawsuits to help her campaign for United States Senate. “That’s something I face every year,” she said. “I think you can make that case for a lot of positions [in government]. You have to walk a fine line and do what you think is the right thing to do.”

Ms. Carnahan is highly regarded by her colleagues as a woman of integrity. But every time someone files a Sunshine request, and that request is ignored because it addresses voting issues, it’s going to raise questions.

She would be doing herself — and the cause of good government — a favor if she resigned her position. The problem is that without her position, Ms. Carnahan would be just another Carnahan. That would place her at a distinct disadvantage in fundraising for the Senate race — people are tired of self-professed political dynasties.

And as for shaking down pimps and prostitutes for contributions, business licenses as street performers, and giving them advice on how to smuggle underage girls into the country for sex slavery, that’s just pathetic. Don’t these people have any dignity?

Or course, the Post wrote none of this in their editorial.  What you read was instead was the Post Dispatch editorial on Allen Icet, with the names and events changed.  It's funny how easily that story was to write using their template.  The logic is the same, but this editorial would never be written.  Still, one wonders if the Post Dispatch understands they have in essence asked Carnahan to step down in the name of good governance.  Maybe I'll write them a letter.

Comments

[kim]

What can we as Missourians do to check up on Acorn here? I just found your site after looking on the internet to see what havoc ACORN is wreaking here. I wanted to find out how the funding works for them. Do they get state funds as well as federal? I know they got that payoff, pushed by Carnahan, which is bad enough. Wanting info on state taxes going to them, and who to contact to get this stopped. Thanks.

[Mike Key]

ACORN is why Robin isn't out campaigning for senate against Blunt right now. She already knows she has enough votes to win the election in 2010. The votes are sitting in the trunk of an old Ford Escort just waiting to be found a la Al Franken.