I made you wait a day, but it was well worth it to find out that the second Secretary of State employee to leave Robin Carnahan's employ and head to America Votes was actually her Chief of Staff, Mindy Mazur. Again, I'm going to have to thank FiredUpMissouri, whose job posting system once again led me right to the evidence.
Mazur was the Missouri State Director for America Votes while the League of Conservation Voters was running attack ads against Roy Blunt and Blue Dog Democrats Mike Ross and John Barrow. That was a strange decision. Of all of the votes in Congress to attack, why pick two conservative Democrats and Roy Blunt? Blunt is not a squishy moderate that an ad would work on - but he was running against Mindy's once and future boss. And the decision to air ads outside of Blunt's congressional district tells us it was about the upcoming Senate race, and not Blunt's vote against cap and trade.
The answer is pretty clear. While Robin was laying low, Mindy's job was to coordinate the hundreds of thousands of dollars spent attacking Blunt outside of his district. It allowed the Carnahan campaign to engage Blunt without having to actually get out there and work for it. Call it a "shadow campaign," orchestrated by the woman who is Robin's most important resource.
Mindy worked at America Votes until she was "reassigned" to come back and take over as campaign manager for the Robin Carnahan for Senate campaign. She went from Chief of Staff to America Votes to Campaign Manager. The only way the connection could have been closer would be for Robin to direct the television ads herself from her secret underground lair. Mindy now has the national connections to assist the Carnahan campaign - and a loyal servant in Paula Hodges to keep it all nice and legal.
This was the golden plan to get elected. Coast on the success of the 2008 election campaign, keep Robin above the fray, and use loyal Missouri state government employees to coordinate the third party attacks. Mindy herself even tries to play up the strategy, talking about a campaign tired of "the same old partisan attacks and politics as usual," and then complaining about how much money the Blunt campaign will have. This is the campaign update posted on the Carnahan YouTube channel.
There's no mention of the third party attack ads that Mindy was tasked with coordinating. Just an "aw shucks", down-home couple of gals trying to do right by the people. Contrast Mindy's cynical attempt to be above the fray with the truth of how the Carnahan campaign is run, and you see yet another Missouri Democrat saying one thing and doing another.
We're used to Democrats playing the moderate in Missouri, but we're not having it anymore. America Votes represents the Far Left of the country. It includes all of our favorites, from ACORN and SEIU to Emily's List and Planned Parenthood. The organization is simply a larger version of the ACT program in Missouri, which gave us Sara Howard, Buffy Wicks, race-baiting flyers and the largest election fine in history for spending $100 million in soft money on third party attack ads and coordination.
Carnahan's staff and campaign now lie exposed as part of the progressive infrastructure that has just been repudiated in NJ, VA, and MA. Missouri almost bought that lie in 2008 - but they're regretting it. We won't fall for it again.
Perhaps we could respect Robin Carnahan if she simply campaigned on her beliefs. I don't fully understand why politicians like Robin can't simply say yes, they're into the way left fringe stuff. It's not that she thinks we're stupid - it's that she thinks we just don't know any better, so if she has to lie to get into office, well, it's for our own good. That kind of attitude is what has led so many of us to oppose her for national office. She should embrace her ties to ACORN and other progressive organizations, and let the voters decide if that's the kind of Senator they want.
But enough hiding. Bring on the sunlight.
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