Remember when Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), the top Republican on the Senate Banking committee, told an "enthusiastic crowd" of banking lobbyists that the best way for Wall Street to prey on consumers without hindrance was to send Roy Blunt $10,000 and help Republicans win seats in the Senate? 

ABC News reports today that "Wall Street got the message."

An ABCNews.com/Center for Responsive Politics analysis of financial industry contributions to senatorial campaign fundraising arms and to candidates in a dozen key races revealed a distinct fiscal alliance between Wall Street and the Republicans.

Any questions?

Top Tuesday Topics:

• Nieves named in police complaint; allegedly assaulted opposing campaign worker
• Court hearing set related to allegations against state Senate nominee Nieves
• Low economy, higher enrollments 
• Roy Blunt's TARP claims: You know it's bad when the AP calls bullshit 
• Carnahan campaign rebounds on earmarks, TARP
• Wall Street Opens Wallet for GOP Senatorial Candidates 
• Congressman Skelton says aid worker massacre is “Taliban mentality” 
• McCaskill returns to Missouri for town hall meetings
• Bond, McCaskill push for delay in new EPA ozone rules
• Dog breeders cry foul over Prop B

Shawn Bell and Brian Nieves, in happier times

The St. Louis Beacon:

A court date has been set for Thursday morning in Cole County Court in Jefferson City on a protection order being sought against state Rep. Brian Nieves, R-Washington, Mo... The order is being sought by Shawn Bell, who had been the campaign manager for one of Nieves' rivals, former Washington, Mo. mayor Richard Stratman. Bell has filed a complaint with the Washington, Mo. police department alleging that Nieves threatened him with a gun during a contentious meeting in Nieves's office last Wednesday, the day after the primary...

According to Bell's complaint, Nieves was angry, grabbed Bell and shouted obscenities. At one point, Bell's complaint alleges that Nieves  displayed a gun and threatened to kill Bell. Nieves ordered Bell to take off his shirt, in part so Nieves could see if Bell was wired with a hidden tape recorder, the complaint says. Bell also was ordered to lie on the floor and feared he was going to be killed, the complaint says.

Missourinet's Bob Priddy today advises readers to stay away from unnamed websites he doesn't think they're mature or smart enough to handle, because only Missourinet and the Associated Press have the capacity to provide useful and insightful information to Missourians. (I'm paraphrasing here -- he doesn't really say which sites are on his pre-approved list.)  

Priddy points to David Lieb's analysis of Roy Blunt's "parsing" of his 2008 TARP vote (discussed in this space here), and asserts the piece "is a clear illustration of how hard it is to sort out what major candidates stand for or have stood for."

I'm not sure what's hard to sort out on this subject at all.  Roy Blunt voted 'yes.' 

UPDATE: The Star is the first to report on the full complaint:

According to the complaint, which the Kansas City Star has obtained, Bell was leaving Washington last Wednesday following the Tuesday’s primary. On his way out of town, he stopped at Nieves’ campaign headquarters to congratulate an aide there on Nieves’ victory. Soon after he stepped inside the office, however, the complaint says Bell was grabbed by Nieves and thrown against a wall. Nieves then, according to the statement, pulled a gun from his pocket and placed it deliberately on a nearby table.

Bell alleges that Nieves then threatened to kill to him and asked if he was wearing “a wire.” Nieves allegedly head-butted Bell and slapped him across the face.

After several similar indignities, according to Bell, Nieves pulled him into an office, looked through Bell’s phone, forced Bell to call and apologize to Nieves’ wife for things that happened during the campaign and asked him pointed questions about the campaign.

Eventually, Bell alleges, he was allowed to leave.

The hand-written statement is written on Washington Police stationary and is signed by Bell.

---------------

Three days after Washington Police Chief Ken Hahn confirmed that his office is conducting a police investigation into allegations against Representative (and State Senate primary winner) Brian Nieves, I don't see a single article about the investigation on the websites of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, St. Louis Beacon, KMOX, KSDK....

Who needs Medicaid when the poorest Americans and their children can get the medical care they need by just finding a provider who will give it to them for free?

The Star's Steve Kraske posted a chart to Prime Buzz on Friday detailing the ratio of Democratic voters to Republican voters in Missouri primaries from 1944-2010. "The chart says a lot," Kraske wrote, citing it as evidence that "Democrats are gradually losing their edge" in Missouri.  Here it is, as posted by the Star:

There's no denying a trend in the data, but shouldn't primary turnout be matched up with general election results before we draw any conclusions?

Recall that in 2008 -- presumably the worst year for Democrats -- Governor Jay Nixon trounced now-private-citizen Kenny Hulshof by 19 points in the November election. In 2006 -- the chart says this was probably a bad year for Dems :( -- Claire McCaskill and Susan Montee both won statewide races, and progressives won on stem cell and minimum wage ballot initiatives.  There's also a drop in 2000, when Democrats won pretty big contests for U.S. Senate and Governor.  Conversely, there's an uptick in 2004 (good news for Dems!), but I have vague recollections of someone named Blunt in the Governor's Mansion from 2004-2008. 

Following up on last week's post about how Jefferson City's own Adam Smith Foundation has funneled $498,000 into a California campaign to suspend California's greenhouse gas reduction law, the San Francisco Chronicle reports that the money came from "about 10 individuals," and not from corporations or industry groups.  But incredibly, Foundation president John Elliott previously told reporters that "he did not recall who contributed the money or who had argued for spending the money on California's Prop. 23."

The Chronicle breaks down the legal questions surrounding the huge cash transfers, and notes that "neither the spokeswoman for the campaign to pass Prop. 23 nor a lawmaker leading the effort said they had contact with the group, and they did not know any of its leaders."

So far, the other major contributors to the campaign to pass Prop. 23 are the Valero and Tesoro oil companies, which have spent $5.025 million on the campaign. Valero donated $3 million Friday, bringing its total contributions to $4.5 million. Some of the largest U.S. coal companies are headquartered in Missouri.

The legal issue is whether the foundation, which is named for the 18th century economist, violated its status as a 501(c)4 organization under IRS rules. Such nonprofits are supposed to exist "only to promote social welfare," but they can have some political involvement, according to the IRS.

However, the IRS guide for such states, "in order to retain tax-exempt status ... an organization must ensure that its political campaign activities do not constitute the organization's primary activity."

The foundation, created in 2007, has received $93,500 in contributions over the past three years, according to its tax filings. It has made some small donations to conservative groups in Missouri during that time. It consists of a president, treasurer, two directors and an unpaid executive director, Elliott said. He said the group meets either monthly or quarterly.

When first contacted by The Chronicle, Elliott said he did not recall who contributed the money or who had argued for spending the money on California's Prop. 23.

From The Washington Post's Plum Line blog: "Everyone is digging through the lively exchange that David Gregory had with GOP leaders John Boehner and Mike Pence on Meet the Press yesterday over whether to extend the Bush tax cuts for the rich....But the most interesting aspect of the exchange was that Pence, the chairman of the House Republican Conference, openly admitted that the GOP has a 'credibility problem' on tax cuts and the deficit."

ThinkProgess has posted video:

Note that Pence's three examples of "runaway spending under Republicans" are No Child Left Behind, the Medicare prescription drug bill, and the Wall Street bailout.  Roy Blunt played a key role in passing all three of those programs as a top leader for House Republicans.