My father was in the publishing and newspaper business all his life.

He knew that what he wrote and what news he decided would go in the newspaper had the potential to influence people's thoughts and attitudes.

He believed he had a moral duty to his subscribers and readers to explore every aspect of a story, especially a controversial story. He was a strong believer in fact checking.

I used to help him out with the fact checking. In those pre-internets days it was a lot harder to do it than it is now.

A story in today's SN-L demonstrates the need for fact-checking and a red pen.

The story, Billy Long outraises Scott Eckersley six- , attributed to SN-L staff, appeared in today's SN-L. Excerpted below, it appears the reporters made a rookie mistake and the editors didn't catch it:

In the race for 7th District, Republican Billy Long raised six times as much money as Democrat Scott Eckersely, according to reports filed in mid-October.

According to Open Secrets.org Long reported raising $1.3 million. Eckersley reported $201,897. Long has been campaigning about a year and a half, while the Eckersley campaign kicked off in March 2010.

The largest individual expenses listed by the Long campaign in September were to Axiom Strategies for $19,919; followed by $18,000 to Public Opinion Strategies for polling. Axiom got eight payments totalling $51,308. The J. Harris Company, LLC, a consulting firm received $12,494 for consulting and travel.

The largest individual expenses listed by the Eckersley campaign were a $15,005 and a $6,500 media buy, followed by $5,000 for Campaign Strategy Research Services, an Arlington, Va., firm.

OpenSecrets.org said the organization making the largest contribution to Long was Med-Pay, $17,000.

The largest organizational contributor to Eckersley was ActBlue, $10,650.00

Did you catch it?

Federal election campaign limits the amount an individual can donate per election cycle, usually $2400 to a candidate. The chart below is from the FEC website:
The article's reporters said, "OpenSecrets.org said the organization making the largest contribution to Long was Med-Pay, $17,000."

Read the chart above. Medpay's $17,000 contribution exceeds the contribution limit in any category.

Something ain't right here. Let's take the bus over to opensecrets.org and look up Long's top donor list. The chart below is a screen shot of the top half of the page which lists Long's top donors and the amounts given:
Just to be fair and balanced, here is a screen capture of the bottom half of the page which lists Eckersley's top donors (I could not get the entire page in one screen capture but you can see the entire page onOpensecrets.org.

Oh my.

Oh my, my, my.

Look at that disclaimer that is at the bottom of the screen capture of Eckersley's top donors.

Why, parts of it are even highlighted in bold print:

This table lists the top donors to this candidate in the 2009 - 2010 election cycle. The organizations themselves did not donate, rather the money came from the organization's PAC, its individual members or employees or owners, and those individuals' immediate families. Organization totals include subsidiaries and affiliates.

Open Secrets even explains the statement:Writing on the SN-L boards as 'Busplunge', I left the following comments on this story:

"OpenSecrets.org said the organization making the largest contribution to Long was Med-Pay, $17,000."

Are there any fact checkers at the SN-L?

Contribution limit per election cycle is $2400.00 per election cycle.

How can Med-Pay legally contribute more than $17,000 then?

From the Opensecrets web page: "The organizations themselves did not donate, rather the money came from the organization's PAC, its individual members or employees or owners, and those individuals' immediate families."

ah, jeez

Jim Lee
10/30/2010 8:28:59 AM

and a short time later, this comment:

When a donation is made to a political candidate, there is usually a form to fill out listing the donors employer. A lot of employees at MedPay or lots of Gordon Kinney (sp) family members donated to Long.

www.opensecrets.org/races/contrib.php?cycle=2010&id=MO07

Also, Long told Steve Grant this about farm subsidies (Long wants to end them): "They're bringing milk in from out of the area. Our farmers here have to pay to have milk trucked in from other states. So there's a lot of things in the farm subsidies that have to be looked at."

The California Dairies Federal PAC gave Long a substantial donation.

Why is Long accepting money from the California Dairies PAC when he told Grant that "Our farmers here have to pay to have milk trucked in from other states"?

Haliburton, Arch Coal, Exxon, General Motors, Koch Bros, Beer Wholesalers, Great Southern Employees all donated to Long's campaign.

The FEC site: www.fec.gov/DisclosureSearch/HSProcessContributorList.do

Jim Lee
10/30/2010 8:46:03 AM

The "our farmers here are having to pay to have milk trucked in from out of state" can be found here: "There's been many a slip between the cup and the lips"-- Billy Long KY3 News.

The documentation for the contribution from the California Dairies Federal PAC can be found here: "The two sides of Billy Long: "They're bringing milk in from out of the area. Our farmers here have to pay to have milk truckedin from other states." Billy Long accepts California Dairies Federal PAC donation to Long campaign."

Other areas of this story that need explanation to the readers:

Who the Axiom Strategies principals are and their history and why did Long pay them so much money: "Decision awaited on libel suit against Billy Long advisor".

James Harris' connection to the fake Scott Eckersley 'withdrawing from the race' email: "Billy Long consultant James Harris pushes false rumor about Scott Eckersley"

"There's been many a slip between the cup and the lips.*" Billy Long and Missouri values

Anti Billy Long ad runs on KY3. KY3 explains why the ad is run:

The content of it will upset some people because of the use of the "n word" -- a word that is not usually used in broadcasts -- but KY3 and all other stations can’t prevent it from airing, and can’t censor or change it because of federal law.

“I have been asked by viewers as well as staff why we allow certain political ads to air. The truth is that television stations are required by federal law to provide reasonable access for ads for federal candidates. The law also says that, if the candidate appears in his or her own ad, then we cannot censor or edit it,” said KY3 General Manager Mike Scott.

The "n word" is not spoken in the commercial. It is shown on the screen as a part of the letter Case wrote to the Eckersley campaign.

In context, the statement Case attributes to Long: “We need to take back this country from the niggers and women running it… that’s the problem in D.C.”

In vino veritas.

*"There's been many a slip between the cup and the lips." Billy Long

More hyperbolic statements from auctioneer Billy Long: "I've yet to find anyone that's happy with 'Obamacare'. "

Long says 'the people' are furious from top to bottom on 'Obamacare' -- well, except him. Remember when he said this about 'Obamacare'? It's on the video below: "There are lots of things about the healthcare bill that are good"

Long sings a different song to Steve Grant during the KY3 interview:

The people are furious from top to bottom on Obamacare...I've not, I've have yet to find anyone that's happy with 'Obamacare'.

Well, apparently the auctioneer Billy Long didn't look very hard. Isn't that Billy saying in this video excerpt from the Joplin debate, isn't that Billy saying, more than once, that there are "Lots of things about the healthcare bill that are good"?

Yeah, I thought so.

On October 13, Cory deVera, reporter for the SN-L wrote an article based on an email distributed to her by the Long campaign spokesperson Jason Klindt:

Jason Klindt, spokesperson from Billy Long's campaign, distributed an e-mail Tuesday to the News-Leader regarding Eckersley's "criminal history," citing 11 "apparent" traffic violations, including three from Utah and two from Arizona.

Who is Jason Klindt? I recalled there was a legislator from up in northern Missouri named Klindt, was this the same guy?

No, it wasn't him, the legislator's name is David Klindt.

Maybe Jason is related to David? Nope. David Klindt has a wikipedia page on which he lists his children and grandchildren, no Jason Klindt listed there.

I knew I recognized that name from somewhere, but I couldn't place where from.

Jason Klindt, Jason Klindt.

And I knew I knew of him through some political connection. I just couldn't remember the connection.

Turns out I didn't have to. Bungalow Bill has a lengthy post about Jason Klindt and his affairs:

Jason Klindt

Remember Billy Long told the Springfield he was tired of negative campaigning? From October 3, 2010,"I deal from a positive prospective," he said. That's one thing about this political world I don't like: all the negative. I finally decided I just have to let it go like water off a duck's back."

For someone who claims to be sick of the negative in campaigning, Billy Long sure keeps some interesting company. Yesterday, we saw how deep the Long campaign is willing to dig to go negative, laying out a story of traffic tickets to Cory DeVera busy in the News-Leader, and delivering this attack propaganda was Jeff Roe operative Jason Klindt. Like I said, for Billy Long to claim he is sick of the negative in campaigning, he keeps some interesting company.

The Long campaign is about to go extremely negative. I have no doubt about it. This little traffic story was the warning shot, and Billy Long's handlers have quite the reputation for launching some very nasty campaigns, and Klindt is closely connected to what has been labeled as the Goon Squad. A group even detested by many in the GOP across the state of Missouri, most recently noted by Republican Brian Neives and his supporters. These Goons threaten unity within the ranks of Missouri's GOP.

Any Republican connected to the Goons mentions above deserve a level of scrutiny in their character and judgement. There seems to be a good reason Klindt was brought into the Long campaign. As you know Billy Long doesn't like to be asked questions in uncontrolled environments that may show Long's weakness on the issues. Klindnt has a history of being the attack dog against any moves the media may make against the candidate he serves and insulating the candidate from the media. Long has been successfully insulated from the local media since Klindt showed up on the scene. Consider the following description of Klindnt's work with Conrad Burns and apply it to what you know about Billy Long.

In addition to his role as one of a half-dozen or so folks charged with making sure an actual reporter doesn’t get anywhere near Conrad Burns, and maybe turning hot laps around Billings in his Mazda, Klindt will also have another title while he’s in the Treasure State: Tourist.

Consider how distant Long keeps from the media and how controlled the situation is when Long is in front of the media. It's obvious why Klindt was called into the Long campaign.

Dirty campaigning is part of Klindt's specialty and he is one of the reasons people around Sam Graves came to be known as the Good Squad.

"They're evil," says Clay County Assessor Cathy Rinehart, who challenged Graves in 2002. "Their tactics are evil."

These tactics are well known with both republicans and democrats across the state of Missouri. A well reported story about Klidnt's role in the Goon Squad told across multiple Web sites, includes intimidation of many by shoving cameras in their faces. It's funny how Billy Long doesn't like these tactics used against him, but he hires people well familiar with the tactic.

In 2004, when Klindt was Graves’ deputy press secretary in his race for the 6th District house seat in Missouri, Graves took part in what could only be described as the Intimidation of a Missouri Senior Citizen. As he walked to his car, 66-year-old Charlie Bloomfield – Graves’ opponent in the race – was approached by a man hiding his face with a camera. The man, who refused to give his name, got in Bloomfield’s face with the camera while yelling at him and snapping pictures, then jumped in a waiting car and sped away. Bloomfield jotted down the plate number for the car, a Mazda sedan owned by none other than Jason Klindt. Half an hour later, Bloomfield filed a report with the Gladstone, MO police. “I think it was fairly close to assault, if not actually assault,” he said at the time.

And as it turns out, this wasn’t exactly an isolated incident.

"Their tactics are the worst I've ever seen, and I've been in politics fifty years," says former Kansas City Councilwoman Teresa Loar, who opposed Graves in a Republican primary in 2000. "It's truly incredible what they get away with."

So, as Billy Long's Minister of Attack propagranda launches the first negative attacks against Scott Eckersley, after Long claimed he was sick of the negative in politics, it's interesting who Long has befriended in his quest for Congressional power. Long picked the most negative campaign team he could, which shows as much hypocrisy on Long's part as about everything else he has claimed to be.

If you think your food prices are high now....

I will support the elimination or reduction of obsolete agricultural subsidies. Our food supply is important and should be able to operate in a free market without the distortions of government’s politically motivated subsidies.
Billy Long, CAGW Survey, June 17, 2010.

And he also thinks you only need to get mail three days a week.

Billy's new BFF doesn't answer questions either

This is important because Think Progress is reporting the Chamber of Commerce (which endorsed Roy Blunt) is using foreign money to buy political ads.

1) The Chamber acknowledges that it receives foreign sources of funding.
2) The foreign funds go directly into the Chamber’s general 501(c)(6) entity.
3) At least $300,000 has been channeled from foreign companies in India and Bahrain to the account.
4) The foreign sources include foreign state-owned companies, including the State Bank of India and the Bahrain Petroleum Company.
5) The Chamber’s 501(c)(6) entity is used to launch an unprecedented $75 million partisan attack ad campaign against Democrats.

This is scary stuff. Read more here.

test

Maps No One Wants You To See

"I don't care if you publish this or email it to everyone you know. I mean I gave this story a year of my life and I didn't do it because I thought it wasn't interesting." Pete Smith December, 2008

Maps no one wants you to see
Access to taxpayer-financed data may diminish as copying costs rise.

Counties throughout Missouri are moving away from hand-drawn maps coupled with thick books of property records and beginning to store property information in powerful databases.

These Geographic Information Systems are commonly harnessed by developers, engineers and a slew of other businesses to derive profits. Yet this information is often inaccessible to the common citizen even though it's funded with taxpayer money.

Although state officials see this information as something that should be free and accessible – one of the compelling reasons to switch to GIS was cost efficiency – local officials tend to guard the data like a hot commodity.

Governments began converting property data and maps into digital format to save time and money. GIS technology makes creating digital maps 10-100 times faster than creating a map by hand-scribing, estimated Kari Craun of the United States Geological Survey.

Craun is chief of the USGS's Central Region NSDI Partnership Office in Rolla and has witnessed the transition from analog to digital mapping techniques for the past 20 years working with GIS in Missouri.

"GIS has definitely been a benefit because we can provide information to a lot more people a lot more quickly," Craun said. "Ultimately, yes, it has saved money."

Still many county administrators continue to view it as an extra expense.

And as GIS datasets are collected over time they can also yield powerful analyses in terms of changes in property tax assessments and appraisals that realtors, developers or the average homebuyer may find invaluable.

But invaluable is just a word. And counties throughout the state are testing the waters to be able to put a more concrete number on their worth and try and create additional funding from their sale.

Currently the price range for one year of a county's GIS property data can start at $30 in the case of St. Louis County and top out at about $20,300 for Jackson County, which encompasses Kansas City.

Putting the data to good use

Most counties that collect data in GIS format provide a rudimentary internet search engine so that anyone can access information about the ownership of a specific piece of land.

When Springfield developer Bob Fitzgerald was first imagining where his Cobblestone Creek subdivision could be located, he began his search on the Greene County assessor's web site.

Bob Fitzgerald, of Fitzgerald First Realty uses GIS data from local governments to make maps that help him develop property.

Fitzgerald is the owner of Fitzgerald First Realty. With over 12 years of first hand experience in the Springfield real estate market, he had a good idea of where he wanted to build his new subdivision. He even had the owner's name of the piece of property he liked.

But when he queried the assessor's online GIS database, his results showed that no map could be found to show information about the property.

To avoid delays such as this, Fitzgerald subscribes to an FTP site run by Greene County where his business can download the raw GIS data known as shapefiles.

FTP sites exist so that any person can download any computer file hosted on the site whenever they need it without the need to request the file from anyone.

With the shapefiles available whenever he needs them, Fitzgerald can then load it into a program called ArcMap for the more in-depth analysis he needs.

The government data quickly shows the locations of sewer lines, utilities, property boundaries, sinkholes and elevation contour lines essential for managing water runoff and creating a profitable housing development.

More importantly, Fitzgerald can join outside datasets to the government data for further analysis.

Mapping property sale prices is one example of how developers commonly merge government data with privately maintained data.

Like any Realtor, Fitzgerald has access to the Multiple Listing Service, which records housing sales prices, information not available through county assessors. With the valuable sale prices from the MLS, plus the GIS files, Fitzgerald could then map not just the last sale price of the property he wanted, but the last sale price of all the surrounding properties.

It's the kind of analysis that no county web site can provide. And it can do more than just shape Fitzgerald's profits, the data also shapes the look and design of the subdivisions he builds.

Without it, his company would have to pay for an expensive topographic survey to determine drainage and then waste valuable time trying to find utility information from various government bodies before he could even think about developing the land.

"It's good information to have when you're looking at a property to develop," Fitzgerald said.

Fitzgerald said the GIS data has definitely given his business a leg up over the competition in the 6 years he has been using it and that the data pays for itself after one development.

"It's getting harder and harder to find a piece of property of any size that can easily be developed," Fitzgerald said. "This helps us know whether it's economically feasible."

Data's use extends beyond development

The Greater Springfield Board of Realtors also collects the county's data and uses it in an internal mapping application board president Scott Rose said.

The data can help realtors plot out listings and show how close schools, police stations and fire stations are to the property. A thorough analysis of tax records and school info is also critical to
realtors in setting the price of any property.

Former County commissioner Jim Payne was instrumental in converting the existing government data into new GIS databases in the late 1990s. Payne was also involved the Greene County real estate industry for over thirty years and he knows how important the information is to anyone trying to buy or sell real estate.

"It's invaluable," Payne said. "Realtors have to be using this information if they're doing their job right."

GIS is an essential technology for anyone involved in high growth areas, national GIS expert Lisa Derenthal said. Derenthal, now with Gimmal Group, has 25 years experience using GIS that included time at one of the nation's largest homebuilders, Centex Homes.

GIS technology originated in government planning, Derenthal said. Eventually the real estate industry finally began leveraging the data after years of outsourcing the work to engineering firms.

From the development aspect, in an undersupplied market, the data is used to show current ownership, acreage, school boundaries, value and how those values have increased over time.

In an oversupplied market, the marketing department would use it to map where buyers and leads were coming from and then target direct mail in those specific areas.

"In better times and markets, developers were willing to go out and purchase the data because the value of finding the right tract of land was so valuable," Derenthal said.

It's not just realtors combing the web for data. Almost every recent home buyer has done internet research on the market and properties they are interested in.

"Google earth has driven an awareness of what is possible in the general population and demand for that information will only continue to grow," Derenthal said.

Rose warned that market snapshots collected from internet data are often times wrong or misleading. But that doesn't mean the Board of Realtors will bend over backwards to correct all those errors than stem from the so-called snapshots.

"We don't release information from our web site," Rose said. "A lot of clients wouldn't want people to know what they sold their house for or what they paid for it."

Or, as Derenthal said, "Realtors don't want you to know too much."

Access to housing data is often out of reach to government agencies as well as the public.

Because Missouri doesn't require the disclosure of home sales prices, property appraisals by local assessors often have little grounding in reality and instead rely the subjective judgement of local assessors.

How price affects access

A map of counties using GIS technology for storing and analyzing land records shows that its use directly correlates to population density and real estate activity.

Forty percent of the 115 counties in Missouri currently use GIS and an estimated sixty four percent will have it in the next year. Of that percentage, ten counties refused to provide the News-Leader with copies of the data at any price.


"The GIS statute is a terribly written law," James Klahr of the attorney general's office said of the law that governs how the information is to be shared.

If the varying prices and differences in access to the data don't illustrate the inconsistency written into the statute, then the sharp contrast between how state government and county governments interpret the law is blinding.

The state of Missouri's policy in regards to GIS data is to post every file that doesn't violate privacy or security to the state-run Missouri Spatial Data Information Service web site so that any person can download it at anytime for free said State Geographic Information Officer Tim Haithcoat.

"In many cases the law needs to come up to speed on how to interpret data sharing," said Haithcoat.

Right now the state is in the midst of discussing GIS data sharing policy and should have an answer by early next spring.

"I would come down on the side of sharing everything we can," said Haithcoat.

Even then, a state policy could not mandate a change in the practices of county government.

So what then is to stop a county such as Greene from next year charging $20,300 for its GIS data like Jackson County does?

Greene County spokeswoman Jenny Filmer Edwards said the question is leading and declined to answer.

According to documents from the county assessor's office and developers such as Fitzgerald, Greene County provides access to the shapefiles via a subscription FTP site on the county's web site.

When the News-Leader asked Edwards and Information Services Director Jason Kerr why the county charged the public anything to access the FTP site, Kerr denied that the files were available online. He appeared surprised to discover such an FTP even existed when the News-Leader guided him to the site on his own computer.

The pay-for-access FTP site is available under the "public information" section of Greene County's web site.

"Government ought to be providing data in the most expedient and cheapest way," said Charles Davis, a University of Missouri professor and co-author of a 2002 paper on public access to GIS data. "Instead, they do it in the most expensive way. It's illogical," said Davis.

Level Headed Kit Bond

Representative Roy Blunt (R), MO 7

City of Springfield, Mo., to Receive Brownfields Grant for Contaminated Land Cleanup and Local Job Creation

Release date: 08/04/2009
Contact Information: Belinda Young, (913) 551-7463, young.belinda@epa.gov
______________________________
__
Environmental News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Kansas City, Kan., Aug. 4, 2009) - EPA has announced that the City of Springfield, Mo., has been selected to receive $510,000 to provide loans and sub-grants to help carry out cleanup activities, redevelopment projects, and create jobs for local residents living near brownfields sites.

EPA selected Springfield to receive the grant based on the city's demonstrated ability to assist the community through effective brownfields redevelopment loans. Revolving loan funds are generally used to provide low- or no-interest loans for brownfields cleanups. This grant was funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Acting Regional Administrator William Rice said, "The Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund provides up to $1 million to capitalize a fund from which loans or sub-grants may be made to conduct cleanups of Brownfield properties."

Springfield will use its supplemental funding to replenish the revolving loan fund, from which it will provide loans and subgrants to support cleanup activities at several of 11 shovel-ready projects identified as being contaminated with hazardous substances and petroleum.

Brownfields are sites where expansion, redevelopment or reuse may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant or contaminant. In 2002, the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act (Brownfields Law) was passed. The Brownfields law expanded the definition of what is considered a brownfield, so communities now may also focus on mine-scarred lands or sites contaminated by petroleum or the manufacture and distribution of illegal drugs.

The Brownfields Program encourages redevelopment of America's estimated 450,000 abandoned and contaminated waste sites. Since the beginning of the Brownfields Program, revolving loan fund grant recipients have executed 146 loans and awarded 41 sub-grants to support brownfields cleanup totaling more than $76.8 million. The loan funds have leveraged more than $1.8 billion in public and private cleanup and redevelopment investment and enabled the leveraging of 3,285 jobs in cleanup, construction and redevelopment.

President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 on February 17, 2009, and has directed that the Recovery Act be implemented with unprecedented transparency and accountability. To that end, the American people can see how every dollar is being invested at
http://www.recovery.gov.