Thursday, August 11, 2011 2:18:24 AM
Peter Kinder: Every Night's a Pantless Party?
Peter Kinder with a bartender at Verlin's, a nightspot that proclaims "every night's a pantless party!"
By Sarah Fenske
Fri., Aug. 5 2011 at 9:15 AM
UPDATED at 1:25 p.m.
Yesterday we showed you a picture of Missouri Lt. Governor Peter Kinder, grinning broadly at a bar with an unidentified blonde [ http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/2011/08/peter_kinder_missouri_lt_governor_barfly.php (the picture above)].
Today we can tell you where that photo was taken: Verlin's, a south-city bar famous for its "pantless parties." That's not to say the lieutenant governor wasn't wearing pants: The comely bartenders at Verlin's sling drinks in their undies; the patrons evidently remain fully clothed. As the bar's ad in RFT proclaims, "Every night's a pantless party."
A bartender at Verlin's, which recently moved from Soulard to Vandeventer, in the Grove district, confirmed to RFT that Kinder is a fan of the establishment. "People might catch him here," she said. "I'm not saying he's here every day..."
And the sexy blonde with whom Kinder is posing, Daily RFT can confirm, was a Penthouse "Pet of the Month" in the early '90s. She was a bartender at Verlin's at the time the photo was taken.
Kinder, a Republican, is widely believed to be planning a run for governor. The never-married Cape Girardeau native is a favorite of the Tea Party.
Kinder's spokesman, Jay Eastlick, expressed some skepticism over the [lieutenant] governor's presence at Verlin's when we reached him this morning.
"I really highly doubt the lieutenant governor is going to a bar where they don't wear pants on a night when they don't wear pants," he said. "I saw the picture. I don't know if it's an old picture. I just can't imagine he'd be drinking there."
Added Eastlick, "I don't know where he was -- whether he was there, or at some other place. I wasn't with him!"
UPDATED at 1:25 p.m. with new information about the woman in the photo.
©2011 Riverfront Times, LLC
http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/2011/08/peter_kinder_pantless_party_verlins.php [with comments]
===
Kinder spends time in St. Louis, courtesy of taxpayers
Missouri Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, left, applauds after Gov. Jay Nixon, right, gave his state of the state address Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2011, during a joint session of the house and senate at the capitol in Jefferson City, Mo.
(AP Photo/L.G. Patterson)
BY JAKE WAGMAN
Posted: Sunday, April 3, 2011 7:45 am
ST. LOUIS • Last November, Missouri Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder spent the night at the Chase Park Plaza hotel after speaking at a charity ball hosted by some of his largest campaign contributors.
Featuring entertainment from the Muny, the event was a who's who of St. Louis society held in the Chase's rooftop Starlight Roof.
Three weeks later, Kinder was back at the Chase, this time staying two nights for a round of holiday parties in St. Louis hosted by lawyers and politicos. A week after that, Kinder attended another gala benefiting the favorite charity of another campaign contributor. Once again, Kinder was a guest at the Chase, the landmark Central West End hotel that offers luxury amenities and a sweeping view of the city.
The state's No. 2 official, who has a home in Cape Girardeau and an office in Jefferson City, has grown accustomed to staying at luxury hotels in St. Louis - and letting taxpayers pick up the tab.
Since 2006, Kinder has billed the state for an average of more than two months per year at hotels in the St. Louis area.
Even with a discounted government rate, Kinder has charged taxpayers a total of $35,050 for at least 329 nights at hotels in St. Louis and St. Louis County during that time period. That includes 236 nights at the Chase and 42 nights at the downtown Four Seasons, his most frequented hotels.
The price tag doesn't include the cost of meals on those trips or the hotel and meal cost for dozens of trips elsewhere in the state that Kinder has taken at taxpayer expense.
At a time when Kinder and others in Jefferson City are calling for greater fiscal restraint, expense reports and invoices from the lieutenant governor's office show that:
• Kinder's taxpayer-funded hotel stays dwarf his predecessor's, and they are far above those of other statewide elected officials.
• Kinder billed the state for hotel stays and meals when he came to St. Louis to attend society balls, baseball games and political events, even though Missouri guidelines state that taxpayer-funded travel must be "essential" for state business.
• Kinder often listed no official reason on his expense reports for billing taxpayers for nights at the Chase or Four Seasons.
Kinder, a Republican who is widely expected to run for governor next year, declined to be interviewed for this story. "I'm not talking to you," Kinder told a reporter before hanging up the phone.
His office issued a four-page statement that acknowledged Kinder "may schedule or fit meetings around social events he attends in his role as Lt. Governor or around personal social events that on rare occasion appear on his calendar."
On Friday, before this story was published, Kinder addressed the issue in an opinion piece he wrote in the St. Louis Business Journal. He defended his taxpayer-funded hotel stays, saying they show a commitment to St. Louis.
The lieutenant governor has stayed at hotels in St. Louis far more than he has in any other area of the state over the last five years, records show. His next most common destinations were Kansas City, with at least 38 taxpayer-paid hotel stays, and Springfield, with 22.
"The St. Louis region is almost half of the state's population so it is reasonable that a full-time Lt. Governor would stay in the region often," his office statement said.
But his travel habits may attract attention even within his own party as Kinder prepares to run for the state's top job next year.
"If I was lieutenant governor," said state Rep. Mark Parkinson, a St. Charles Republican who is head of the committee that oversees spending by elected officials, "I probably wouldn't do that."
‘PERKS OF THE JOB'
In 2004, Kinder campaigned for his first term with the slogan "Every Dollar Counts." Now in his second term, he has criticized Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat, for taking advantage of the "perks of the job - the ribbon-cuttings, the prime seats at sporting events."
Records show that those kinds of events also have filled Kinder's calendar, bookended by taxpayer-funded meals and hotel stays.
For example, in July 2007, the lieutenant governor billed taxpayers for two nights at the Chase and a $44 dinner in the Central West End. The only event listed on his expense form was a ribbon-cutting at a refurbished apartment complex in St. Louis.
In June 2009, he spent two nights at the Chase, charging taxpayers for his hotel stays as well as two lunches at Plaza Frontenac and a $55 dinner at Vin de Set, the rooftop restaurant on Chouteau Avenue that serves southern French cuisine. Kinder's official schedule for those two days in St. Louis lists an appearance on KMOX and a concert and VIP reception for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
Last September, Kinder billed taxpayers for another night at the Chase so he could attend - using a ticket purchased for him by an Ameren lobbyist - the annual Mizzou-Illinois college football game at the Edward Jones Dome.
The lieutenant governor, with a salary of about $86,600, is the lowest paid of Missouri's statewide elected officials and has the smallest staff. That has led some previous inhabitants of the office to treat the job as a part-time post.
Kinder, who is single, has embraced a full-time role, raising his profile enough that he has wide backing among the GOP to challenge Nixon in 2012.
Along the way, Kinder has become a regular in St. Louis, sometimes mingling with campaign contributors during his taxpayer-funded visits.
On Nov. 11 of last year, Kinder - who is the state's official senior citizens' advocate - attended a benefit at the Chase Park Plaza for Memory Home Care Solutions, an organization that helps those suffering from Alzheimer's and dementia. The dinner committee for the black-tie optional gala included a group of Republican fundraisers - philanthropist Sam Fox, rental car king Jack Taylor - who have collectively donated more than $100,000 to Kinder's campaign.
Kinder has three times billed the state to stay at the Chase while he attended a benefit for Marygrove, a Catholic residential care facility in Florissant. The president of the Marygrove board is Tim Drury, the hotel scion whose family has been one of Kinder's major backers.
On Dec. 9 of last year, Kinder billed taxpayers to stay at the Chase while he attended a benefit for St. Vincent Home thrown by wealthy free-market enthusiast Rex Sinquefield, the state's most prolific campaign contributor. Last week, Sinquefield gave Kinder's campaign a check for $115,000.
Also in December, Kinder charged taxpayers to stay two nights at the Chase and one at the Four Seasons to attend holiday parties thrown by the city's 17th Ward political organization; the Evening Whirl, a racy weekly newspaper that chronicles crime in St. Louis; and Blitz, Bardgett & Deutsch, a prominent government relations law firm.
Democrat Joe Maxwell, who was lieutenant governor before Kinder, said social events are an important part of winning elections, not the official function of the office.
"Politically, I attended a bunch of those because that's how I got elected. I went to a lot of Christmas parties in St. Louis," said Maxwell, who lives in Mexico, Mo. "The thing I did was - I drove home. I don't remember spending the night."
Maxwell, who was lieutenant governor from 2000 to 2005, was reimbursed for less than $2,500 for hotel stays in Missouri during his four years in office.
Kinder has billed the state three times to attend events organized by Tea Party groups, which have criticized government spending. On April 15, when he spoke at Tea Party events in St. Louis and St. Charles counties, Kinder charged taxpayers $118 to stay at the Chase and $28 for dinner at Oceano in Clayton.
At the St. Charles event, Kinder was introduced as "our next governor." Video from the event in St. Louis County is posted on Kinder's campaign website.
Still, the lieutenant governor says the events were not political. It was appropriate to charge the state for expenses related to the event, Kinder's office said, because "invitations were sent to his official office, addressed to him as Lt. Governor, and requested his official presence at the event."
"The Tea Party is a grass-roots movement of Missouri taxpayers that have every right to request the presence of state officials," the statement said.
Chuck MacNab, a Tea Party activist from St. Charles County, said that "in view of all of the profligate spending in the trillions" nationally, he doesn't think taxpayers mind paying $120 to put Kinder up in a nice hotel for the night.
"He's the lieutenant governor," MacNab said. "He's not chopped liver."
Kinder's expense records show he traveled often to promote the Tour of Missouri, the bicycle race he founded that became a budget casualty last year. He also came to St. Louis to hand out senior citizen awards and meet with developer Paul McKee, who benefited from a massive tax break Kinder helped advance in the Legislature.
Other times, baseball was the draw.
When the Cardinals were in the World Series in 2006, Kinder billed taxpayers to stay at the Chase so he could attend an invitation-only party thrown by Major League Baseball at the City Museum.
On the night before the 2009 Cardinals opener, invoices from Kinder's office show he billed taxpayers to stay the night at the Chase. While his expense report lists no events for the day, according to Ethics Commission filings, an Anheuser-Busch lobbyist gave Kinder a $150 ticket to the game.
Later in 2009, Kinder spent three nights at the Chase - costing taxpayers $357 - the week that baseball's All-Star Game was held in St. Louis.
More than two dozen times since 2006, Kinder billed taxpayers for hotel stays when no official events appeared on expense reimbursement forms or invoices. Kinder's office says his "schedule often excludes appointments and meetings that are made while he is traveling" or that he schedules himself.
At least one hotel stay coincided with a personal social event. In August 2009, Kinder billed the state for a night at the Four Seasons. That night, Kinder was a guest at the Soulard wedding of Scott Leiendecker, a Republican elections official in St. Louis.
On another occasion, in June 2009, Kinder was scheduled to attend the groundbreaking for the Kansas City Chiefs practice facility in St. Joseph. The night before, he drove from his home in Cape Girardeau to the Four Seasons hotel near Laclede's Landing. He charged taxpayers for his night at the hotel and a $59 dinner at the Lumière casino before departing the next day to St. Joseph, on the other side of the state.
Kinder's office said it was "perfectly normal" to spend the night in St. Louis instead of trying to drive straight to St. Joseph.
KOSTER'S TABS
Kinder's office says that he often doesn't charge the state for mileage and almost always travels alone, without support staff. When Kinder did stay at the Chase or the Four Seasons, he paid a standard government rate - usually around $120 a night, including tax - which reflects the maximum the state will reimburse its employees for travel in St. Louis.
But his in-state hotel spending still far exceeds amounts spent by other state officials.
Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster has spent $3,347 on hotel stays in the state since he took office in January 2009. In that same period, Kinder charged taxpayers more than $7,500 to stay at the Chase alone.
The charges from Koster represent 29 hotel nights - eight of which were spent for a week he was in Kansas City trying a murder case. State Treasurer Clint Zweifel, whose term also began in 2009, has spent 14 nights in Missouri hotel rooms paid for by his office. Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan - a Democrat, like Koster and Zweifel - has not billed the taxpayers for a single hotel stay inside the state since she took office in 2005.
Kinder and other Republicans have accused Nixon of attempting to hide his travel expenses by dividing the costs for his trips on state planes - about $400,000 since 2009 - among different executive departments. But because his predecessor, Republican Matt Blunt, traveled frequently on charter flights paid for by private supporters, it's difficult to compare whether Nixon is traveling more than previous administrations.
While taxpayers pay for the roof over Nixon's head - the governor's mansion - he rarely bills the state to stay elsewhere. Nixon has charged taxpayers for six nights in hotel rooms in Missouri since he took office two years ago, as well as six nights for lodging in state parks.
The governor, the state's chief executive, also has broad responsibilities under the state constitution. The lieutenant governor's role is more prescribed. In addition to serving as senior citizens' advocate, he is the tie-breaking vote in the state Senate, heads the line of succession to replace the governor and sits on several economic development boards.
While public employees are prohibited from using state resources for personal or political purposes, travel guidelines leave room for ambiguity.
According to Missouri regulations, the state government will foot the bill for travel only if "limited to those expenses authorized and essential for transacting official business of the state."
But when it comes to elected officials like Kinder, they define for themselves what constitutes official business.
"We process the checks," said Mark Kaiser, head of the state's accounting division. "But as far as doing oversight or audits, that's not something we are involved in."
Kinder's frequent stops in St. Louis have made him a popular figure at City Hall and around town. Earlier this year, St. Louis Board of Aldermen President Lewis Reed invited Kinder to give the invocation at the weekly meeting of the board, made up of 27 Democrats and just one Republican.
"I, for one, am very appreciative of the fact that he has taken out of his time to spend time in St. Louis, getting to know St. Louis for more than just a flyover," Reed said.
Kinder is a regular at Central West End restaurants such as Liluma, where the general manager says he usually sits alone at the bar, and Bar Italia, where the owner praised his warm demeanor with the staff and other guests.
"In terms of political style, he's very smooth. Great smile," said Mengesha Yohannes, part-owner of the popular restaurant on Maryland Plaza. "He's warm and friendly. He's got the good vibes."
Kinder billed the state for a $44 dinner at Liluma while in town during the 2008 flooding that damaged hundreds of local homes. A year later, he enjoyed a $21 dinner at Bar Italia after speaking to the Eureka Tea Party.
Kinder has said he will make an announcement this spring about whether he intends to run for governor, but that seems to be a foregone conclusion. Since last year, he has collected more than $1 million in campaign contributions, including $300,000 in a single day last month.
Kinder's affinity for St. Louis does not appear to have hurt him with the rest of the state. State Rep. Wayne Wallingford, a Republican who represents Kinder's hometown of Cape Girardeau, said he's seen Kinder several times at events in southeast Missouri.
"Maybe there's two of him," Wallingford said. "It does seem like he's everywhere."
Indeed, Kinder has kept an almost frenetic pace as the GOP's standard-bearer in Missouri. On Sept. 12, he attended a large Tea Party gathering at the Gateway Arch, followed by a town hall meeting sponsored by the website SpendingRevolt.com [ http://spendingrevolt.com/ ]. At the event, Kinder was praised for being on the "leading edge of spending issues and helping making sure Missouri lives within its means."
After leaving, Kinder ate dinner at Culpeppers in the Central West End and retired to his room at the Chase Park Plaza, expenses paid by taxpayers.
Copyright 2011 STLtoday.com
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_512538ba-80de-5ea4-9d1d-9b7cd926eacb.html [with comments]
Peter Kinder with a bartender at Verlin's, a nightspot that proclaims "every night's a pantless party!"
By Sarah Fenske
Fri., Aug. 5 2011 at 9:15 AM
UPDATED at 1:25 p.m.
Yesterday we showed you a picture of Missouri Lt. Governor Peter Kinder, grinning broadly at a bar with an unidentified blonde [ http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/2011/08/peter_kinder_missouri_lt_governor_barfly.php (the picture above)].
Today we can tell you where that photo was taken: Verlin's, a south-city bar famous for its "pantless parties." That's not to say the lieutenant governor wasn't wearing pants: The comely bartenders at Verlin's sling drinks in their undies; the patrons evidently remain fully clothed. As the bar's ad in RFT proclaims, "Every night's a pantless party."
A bartender at Verlin's, which recently moved from Soulard to Vandeventer, in the Grove district, confirmed to RFT that Kinder is a fan of the establishment. "People might catch him here," she said. "I'm not saying he's here every day..."
And the sexy blonde with whom Kinder is posing, Daily RFT can confirm, was a Penthouse "Pet of the Month" in the early '90s. She was a bartender at Verlin's at the time the photo was taken.
Kinder, a Republican, is widely believed to be planning a run for governor. The never-married Cape Girardeau native is a favorite of the Tea Party.
Kinder's spokesman, Jay Eastlick, expressed some skepticism over the [lieutenant] governor's presence at Verlin's when we reached him this morning.
"I really highly doubt the lieutenant governor is going to a bar where they don't wear pants on a night when they don't wear pants," he said. "I saw the picture. I don't know if it's an old picture. I just can't imagine he'd be drinking there."
Added Eastlick, "I don't know where he was -- whether he was there, or at some other place. I wasn't with him!"
UPDATED at 1:25 p.m. with new information about the woman in the photo.
©2011 Riverfront Times, LLC
http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/2011/08/peter_kinder_pantless_party_verlins.php [with comments]
===
Kinder spends time in St. Louis, courtesy of taxpayers
Missouri Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, left, applauds after Gov. Jay Nixon, right, gave his state of the state address Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2011, during a joint session of the house and senate at the capitol in Jefferson City, Mo.
(AP Photo/L.G. Patterson)
BY JAKE WAGMAN
Posted: Sunday, April 3, 2011 7:45 am
ST. LOUIS • Last November, Missouri Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder spent the night at the Chase Park Plaza hotel after speaking at a charity ball hosted by some of his largest campaign contributors.
Featuring entertainment from the Muny, the event was a who's who of St. Louis society held in the Chase's rooftop Starlight Roof.
Three weeks later, Kinder was back at the Chase, this time staying two nights for a round of holiday parties in St. Louis hosted by lawyers and politicos. A week after that, Kinder attended another gala benefiting the favorite charity of another campaign contributor. Once again, Kinder was a guest at the Chase, the landmark Central West End hotel that offers luxury amenities and a sweeping view of the city.
The state's No. 2 official, who has a home in Cape Girardeau and an office in Jefferson City, has grown accustomed to staying at luxury hotels in St. Louis - and letting taxpayers pick up the tab.
Since 2006, Kinder has billed the state for an average of more than two months per year at hotels in the St. Louis area.
Even with a discounted government rate, Kinder has charged taxpayers a total of $35,050 for at least 329 nights at hotels in St. Louis and St. Louis County during that time period. That includes 236 nights at the Chase and 42 nights at the downtown Four Seasons, his most frequented hotels.
The price tag doesn't include the cost of meals on those trips or the hotel and meal cost for dozens of trips elsewhere in the state that Kinder has taken at taxpayer expense.
At a time when Kinder and others in Jefferson City are calling for greater fiscal restraint, expense reports and invoices from the lieutenant governor's office show that:
• Kinder's taxpayer-funded hotel stays dwarf his predecessor's, and they are far above those of other statewide elected officials.
• Kinder billed the state for hotel stays and meals when he came to St. Louis to attend society balls, baseball games and political events, even though Missouri guidelines state that taxpayer-funded travel must be "essential" for state business.
• Kinder often listed no official reason on his expense reports for billing taxpayers for nights at the Chase or Four Seasons.
Kinder, a Republican who is widely expected to run for governor next year, declined to be interviewed for this story. "I'm not talking to you," Kinder told a reporter before hanging up the phone.
His office issued a four-page statement that acknowledged Kinder "may schedule or fit meetings around social events he attends in his role as Lt. Governor or around personal social events that on rare occasion appear on his calendar."
On Friday, before this story was published, Kinder addressed the issue in an opinion piece he wrote in the St. Louis Business Journal. He defended his taxpayer-funded hotel stays, saying they show a commitment to St. Louis.
The lieutenant governor has stayed at hotels in St. Louis far more than he has in any other area of the state over the last five years, records show. His next most common destinations were Kansas City, with at least 38 taxpayer-paid hotel stays, and Springfield, with 22.
"The St. Louis region is almost half of the state's population so it is reasonable that a full-time Lt. Governor would stay in the region often," his office statement said.
But his travel habits may attract attention even within his own party as Kinder prepares to run for the state's top job next year.
"If I was lieutenant governor," said state Rep. Mark Parkinson, a St. Charles Republican who is head of the committee that oversees spending by elected officials, "I probably wouldn't do that."
‘PERKS OF THE JOB'
In 2004, Kinder campaigned for his first term with the slogan "Every Dollar Counts." Now in his second term, he has criticized Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat, for taking advantage of the "perks of the job - the ribbon-cuttings, the prime seats at sporting events."
Records show that those kinds of events also have filled Kinder's calendar, bookended by taxpayer-funded meals and hotel stays.
For example, in July 2007, the lieutenant governor billed taxpayers for two nights at the Chase and a $44 dinner in the Central West End. The only event listed on his expense form was a ribbon-cutting at a refurbished apartment complex in St. Louis.
In June 2009, he spent two nights at the Chase, charging taxpayers for his hotel stays as well as two lunches at Plaza Frontenac and a $55 dinner at Vin de Set, the rooftop restaurant on Chouteau Avenue that serves southern French cuisine. Kinder's official schedule for those two days in St. Louis lists an appearance on KMOX and a concert and VIP reception for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
Last September, Kinder billed taxpayers for another night at the Chase so he could attend - using a ticket purchased for him by an Ameren lobbyist - the annual Mizzou-Illinois college football game at the Edward Jones Dome.
The lieutenant governor, with a salary of about $86,600, is the lowest paid of Missouri's statewide elected officials and has the smallest staff. That has led some previous inhabitants of the office to treat the job as a part-time post.
Kinder, who is single, has embraced a full-time role, raising his profile enough that he has wide backing among the GOP to challenge Nixon in 2012.
Along the way, Kinder has become a regular in St. Louis, sometimes mingling with campaign contributors during his taxpayer-funded visits.
On Nov. 11 of last year, Kinder - who is the state's official senior citizens' advocate - attended a benefit at the Chase Park Plaza for Memory Home Care Solutions, an organization that helps those suffering from Alzheimer's and dementia. The dinner committee for the black-tie optional gala included a group of Republican fundraisers - philanthropist Sam Fox, rental car king Jack Taylor - who have collectively donated more than $100,000 to Kinder's campaign.
Kinder has three times billed the state to stay at the Chase while he attended a benefit for Marygrove, a Catholic residential care facility in Florissant. The president of the Marygrove board is Tim Drury, the hotel scion whose family has been one of Kinder's major backers.
On Dec. 9 of last year, Kinder billed taxpayers to stay at the Chase while he attended a benefit for St. Vincent Home thrown by wealthy free-market enthusiast Rex Sinquefield, the state's most prolific campaign contributor. Last week, Sinquefield gave Kinder's campaign a check for $115,000.
Also in December, Kinder charged taxpayers to stay two nights at the Chase and one at the Four Seasons to attend holiday parties thrown by the city's 17th Ward political organization; the Evening Whirl, a racy weekly newspaper that chronicles crime in St. Louis; and Blitz, Bardgett & Deutsch, a prominent government relations law firm.
Democrat Joe Maxwell, who was lieutenant governor before Kinder, said social events are an important part of winning elections, not the official function of the office.
"Politically, I attended a bunch of those because that's how I got elected. I went to a lot of Christmas parties in St. Louis," said Maxwell, who lives in Mexico, Mo. "The thing I did was - I drove home. I don't remember spending the night."
Maxwell, who was lieutenant governor from 2000 to 2005, was reimbursed for less than $2,500 for hotel stays in Missouri during his four years in office.
Kinder has billed the state three times to attend events organized by Tea Party groups, which have criticized government spending. On April 15, when he spoke at Tea Party events in St. Louis and St. Charles counties, Kinder charged taxpayers $118 to stay at the Chase and $28 for dinner at Oceano in Clayton.
At the St. Charles event, Kinder was introduced as "our next governor." Video from the event in St. Louis County is posted on Kinder's campaign website.
Still, the lieutenant governor says the events were not political. It was appropriate to charge the state for expenses related to the event, Kinder's office said, because "invitations were sent to his official office, addressed to him as Lt. Governor, and requested his official presence at the event."
"The Tea Party is a grass-roots movement of Missouri taxpayers that have every right to request the presence of state officials," the statement said.
Chuck MacNab, a Tea Party activist from St. Charles County, said that "in view of all of the profligate spending in the trillions" nationally, he doesn't think taxpayers mind paying $120 to put Kinder up in a nice hotel for the night.
"He's the lieutenant governor," MacNab said. "He's not chopped liver."
Kinder's expense records show he traveled often to promote the Tour of Missouri, the bicycle race he founded that became a budget casualty last year. He also came to St. Louis to hand out senior citizen awards and meet with developer Paul McKee, who benefited from a massive tax break Kinder helped advance in the Legislature.
Other times, baseball was the draw.
When the Cardinals were in the World Series in 2006, Kinder billed taxpayers to stay at the Chase so he could attend an invitation-only party thrown by Major League Baseball at the City Museum.
On the night before the 2009 Cardinals opener, invoices from Kinder's office show he billed taxpayers to stay the night at the Chase. While his expense report lists no events for the day, according to Ethics Commission filings, an Anheuser-Busch lobbyist gave Kinder a $150 ticket to the game.
Later in 2009, Kinder spent three nights at the Chase - costing taxpayers $357 - the week that baseball's All-Star Game was held in St. Louis.
More than two dozen times since 2006, Kinder billed taxpayers for hotel stays when no official events appeared on expense reimbursement forms or invoices. Kinder's office says his "schedule often excludes appointments and meetings that are made while he is traveling" or that he schedules himself.
At least one hotel stay coincided with a personal social event. In August 2009, Kinder billed the state for a night at the Four Seasons. That night, Kinder was a guest at the Soulard wedding of Scott Leiendecker, a Republican elections official in St. Louis.
On another occasion, in June 2009, Kinder was scheduled to attend the groundbreaking for the Kansas City Chiefs practice facility in St. Joseph. The night before, he drove from his home in Cape Girardeau to the Four Seasons hotel near Laclede's Landing. He charged taxpayers for his night at the hotel and a $59 dinner at the Lumière casino before departing the next day to St. Joseph, on the other side of the state.
Kinder's office said it was "perfectly normal" to spend the night in St. Louis instead of trying to drive straight to St. Joseph.
KOSTER'S TABS
Kinder's office says that he often doesn't charge the state for mileage and almost always travels alone, without support staff. When Kinder did stay at the Chase or the Four Seasons, he paid a standard government rate - usually around $120 a night, including tax - which reflects the maximum the state will reimburse its employees for travel in St. Louis.
But his in-state hotel spending still far exceeds amounts spent by other state officials.
Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster has spent $3,347 on hotel stays in the state since he took office in January 2009. In that same period, Kinder charged taxpayers more than $7,500 to stay at the Chase alone.
The charges from Koster represent 29 hotel nights - eight of which were spent for a week he was in Kansas City trying a murder case. State Treasurer Clint Zweifel, whose term also began in 2009, has spent 14 nights in Missouri hotel rooms paid for by his office. Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan - a Democrat, like Koster and Zweifel - has not billed the taxpayers for a single hotel stay inside the state since she took office in 2005.
Kinder and other Republicans have accused Nixon of attempting to hide his travel expenses by dividing the costs for his trips on state planes - about $400,000 since 2009 - among different executive departments. But because his predecessor, Republican Matt Blunt, traveled frequently on charter flights paid for by private supporters, it's difficult to compare whether Nixon is traveling more than previous administrations.
While taxpayers pay for the roof over Nixon's head - the governor's mansion - he rarely bills the state to stay elsewhere. Nixon has charged taxpayers for six nights in hotel rooms in Missouri since he took office two years ago, as well as six nights for lodging in state parks.
The governor, the state's chief executive, also has broad responsibilities under the state constitution. The lieutenant governor's role is more prescribed. In addition to serving as senior citizens' advocate, he is the tie-breaking vote in the state Senate, heads the line of succession to replace the governor and sits on several economic development boards.
While public employees are prohibited from using state resources for personal or political purposes, travel guidelines leave room for ambiguity.
According to Missouri regulations, the state government will foot the bill for travel only if "limited to those expenses authorized and essential for transacting official business of the state."
But when it comes to elected officials like Kinder, they define for themselves what constitutes official business.
"We process the checks," said Mark Kaiser, head of the state's accounting division. "But as far as doing oversight or audits, that's not something we are involved in."
Kinder's frequent stops in St. Louis have made him a popular figure at City Hall and around town. Earlier this year, St. Louis Board of Aldermen President Lewis Reed invited Kinder to give the invocation at the weekly meeting of the board, made up of 27 Democrats and just one Republican.
"I, for one, am very appreciative of the fact that he has taken out of his time to spend time in St. Louis, getting to know St. Louis for more than just a flyover," Reed said.
Kinder is a regular at Central West End restaurants such as Liluma, where the general manager says he usually sits alone at the bar, and Bar Italia, where the owner praised his warm demeanor with the staff and other guests.
"In terms of political style, he's very smooth. Great smile," said Mengesha Yohannes, part-owner of the popular restaurant on Maryland Plaza. "He's warm and friendly. He's got the good vibes."
Kinder billed the state for a $44 dinner at Liluma while in town during the 2008 flooding that damaged hundreds of local homes. A year later, he enjoyed a $21 dinner at Bar Italia after speaking to the Eureka Tea Party.
Kinder has said he will make an announcement this spring about whether he intends to run for governor, but that seems to be a foregone conclusion. Since last year, he has collected more than $1 million in campaign contributions, including $300,000 in a single day last month.
Kinder's affinity for St. Louis does not appear to have hurt him with the rest of the state. State Rep. Wayne Wallingford, a Republican who represents Kinder's hometown of Cape Girardeau, said he's seen Kinder several times at events in southeast Missouri.
"Maybe there's two of him," Wallingford said. "It does seem like he's everywhere."
Indeed, Kinder has kept an almost frenetic pace as the GOP's standard-bearer in Missouri. On Sept. 12, he attended a large Tea Party gathering at the Gateway Arch, followed by a town hall meeting sponsored by the website SpendingRevolt.com [ http://spendingrevolt.com/ ]. At the event, Kinder was praised for being on the "leading edge of spending issues and helping making sure Missouri lives within its means."
After leaving, Kinder ate dinner at Culpeppers in the Central West End and retired to his room at the Chase Park Plaza, expenses paid by taxpayers.
Copyright 2011 STLtoday.com
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_512538ba-80de-5ea4-9d1d-9b7cd926eacb.html [with comments]
Greensburg, KS - 5/4/07
"Eternal vigilance is the price of Liberty."
from John Philpot Curran, Speech
upon the Right of Election, 1790
F6
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