Today might go down in the history books as a bad day for new Missouri House Speaker Steve Tilley, a Republican from Perryville, Mo.
First, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch ran an article within which the term “race baiting” was used to describe a member of the St. Louis Tea Party Coalition who had written a blog post about the issue of state versus local control of the St. Louis Police Department — a hot issue lately.
Next, I published an early-afternoon snippet (below) on my Facebook page:
Five days ago, I shared a post [http://bobmccarty.com/?p=36355] about local control of the St. Louis PD. It included a video from a Reboot Congress post. Today, Reboot’s post was mentioned in a St. Louis Post-Dispatch article [http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/political-fix/article_279adc6e-3eaf-11e0-a3ae-0017a4a78c22.html] as “race baiting.” Nothing could be further from the truth.
A short while later, I was copied on a news release (below) from the St. Louis Tea Party Coalition:
St. Louis Tea Party Coalition Admonishes Tilley for “Race-Baiting”
(February 22, 2012) The St Louis Tea Party Coalition publicly admonishes Missouri House Speaker Steve Tilley for “race-baiting” accusations aimed directly at the organization. House Speaker Tilley lobbed these accusations while speaking on the house floor just minutes before a vote on HB 71, better known as Local Control.
“We truly regret that Speaker Tilley has chosen to make the vote over Local Control an issue of race, as opposed to what is truly best for the citizens of the city of St. Louis,” Bill Hennessy, Co-Founder of the St. Louis Tea Party Coalition, said in reaction to Tilley.
This controversy grew out of a blog post from Reboot Congress in which the author ties Rep. Jamilah Nasheed, D-St. Louis, and sponsor of HB 71, to the New Black Panther’s Organization, none of which has been denied. That same blog post also raised question as to Tilley’s judgement in assigning HB 71 to the Urban Issues Committee, the same Committee he had assigned Nasheed to Chair. Blogger Darin Morely notes, “The focus has always been on Tilley’s judgment, not on Nasheed, whose life story has been a redemptive one.”
The St Louis Tea Party Coalition has a long history in denouncing racism at its root. The organization was the first to advocate for Kenneth Gladney, a black man, in April of ‘09 after being beaten by SEIU Union members outside of a local town hall meeting. The group has also displayed unprecedented vigilance at rallies, sending teams of video bloggers armed with cameras into crowds to publicly denounce any racism to be found, though it should be noted that racism was rarely found. Co-Founder, and Conservative talk-show host Dana Loesch duked out accusations of racism within the organization on several prime-time national media outlets last summer. It should also be noted that the NAACP found no evidence of racism within the St. Louis Tea Party Coalition.
“It appears to me that it is Speaker Tilley who is doing the actual race-baiting here,” said Martin Baker, another member of the St. Louis Tea Party Coalition. Steve Tilley, current Speaker of the House in the State of Missouri, was initially elected in 2004. In the 2010 election cycle, Tilley received $200,000 from billionaire investor Rex Sinquefield, to run an uncontested primary and general election. While we understand Tilley’s need to please his handlers on this issue, his statements on the House floor were unwarranted.
To top it off, I came across another Reboot Congress post about Speaker Tilley’s “astroturfing” efforts in relationship to the upcoming Lincoln Days, a statewide GOP event Feb. 25-27 in Springfield.
Though I don’t know Speaker Tilley at all, what I’ve read about him lately isn’t very flattering.
UDPATE 2/24/11 at 3:57 p.m. Central: Dana Loesch interviewed Speaker Tilley on her radio show this afternoon to discuss this matter. I recommend anyone listen to her podcast — go here — as soon as it’s posted. I listed, but don’t want to taint your opinion of the discussion. Listen and decide for yourself. Good job, Dana!
UPDATE 2/25/11 at 9:37 a.m. Central: The podcast is up on The Dana Show web site. See “2:24 Steve Tilley.” Unfortunately, Dana’s post-interview commentary isn’t on the podcast, but a new post at BigJournalism.com seems to sum up well what she said.
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9 responses so far ↓
1 B.L.P // Feb 22, 2011 at 5:09 pm
Bob, thanks for letting a little air in the room. I don’t like the way the young State Representatives are getting put though the ringer if they don’t go along with Tilley’s playbook. We elected our leaders to think for themselves! They need to support the voters, not appease the leadership!
2 Tweets that mention Missouri House Speaker Steve Tilley Has Bad Day | Bob McCarty Writes -- Topsy.com // Feb 22, 2011 at 6:22 pm
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Alltop Politics, Bob McCarty Writes. Bob McCarty Writes said: Allegations of "race-baiting"don't fly: Missouri House Speaker Steve Tilley Has Bad Day – http://bobmccarty.com/?p=36534 [...]
3 Greg Zotta // Feb 23, 2011 at 9:33 am
Carl Bearden is a proponent for local control of the St. Louis Police Department and says one of the reasons he supports it is because of corruption. Bearden is also a lobbyist for billionaire Rex Sinquefield, who supports local control. There are corrupt people in the world and Carl points out the resignation of Vince Bommarito from the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department’s Board of Commissioners, after Bommarito made a special request to have his nephew let out of jail after being arrested for a DWI. Bommarito was one of five members of the Police Board and using that type of logic try multiplying the possibility of corruption by 28+. Carl responded, “… I haven’t seen pictures of aldermen or the mayor being arrested for corruption.” Maybe that’s because they do not have control of the Police Department.
Speaker of the Missouri House of Representatives, Republican Steve Tilley now favors returning the SLPD to local control and played the race card against the St. Louis Tea Party, regarding their opposition to local control. Is Tilley trying to deflect the fact that he received two hundred thousand dollars in campaign contributions from Rex Sinquefield to run an uncontested primary and general election? Could people say Rex Sinquefield is buying influence? Does anyone find this type of behavior troubling? I do.
Statists, the so-called Main-Stream Media and others who oppose the Tea-Party movement want to marginalize and silence them with false claims of racism and telling lies. It’s unfortunate that the Tea Party has to respond to these false claims of racism; however they must because as Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels said, “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.”
4 Missouri GOP Establishment Says Don’t Question Us: Tea Partier “Race Baiters” - Big Journalism // Feb 25, 2011 at 9:02 am
[...] Missouri House Speaker Steve Tilley Has a Bad Day jQuery('#lazyload_post_0 img').lazyload({placeholder: '/wp-includes/images/blank.gif'}); [...]
5 Missouri GOP Establishment Says Don’t Question Us: Tea Partier “Race Baiters” « South Capitol Street // Feb 25, 2011 at 9:14 am
[...] Missouri House Speaker Steve Tilley Has a Bad Day [...]
6 Marshell Jay Foss // Feb 26, 2011 at 10:39 am
YOU AND YOUR “PARTY” ARE MAKING HAY WITH THIS; I SUSPECT TILLEY WOULD HAVE USED A DIFFERENT APPROACH HAD IT HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO SAY THINGS DIFFERENTLY, HOWEVER, THE ENEMY IS NOT TILLEY, OR EVEN HIS MISGUIDED WORDS, THE ENEMY IS LIBERALISM AND THOSE WHO ARE WAITING FOR US TO SELF-DISTRUCT. YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO CRITISIZE REPUBLICANS, HOWEVER, YOU CAN CRITISIZE TO SUCH AN EXTENT THAT IT TAKES ON A LIFE OF ITS’ OWN, HAS LESS MEANING, AND ALL CONSERVATIVES LOSE, WHILE THE LIBERALS COME OUT OF HIDING AND FINISH US OFF. BOTTOM LINE: YU’VE MADE YOUR POINT. EITHER GET TILLEY’S PERSONAL COMMENTS IN RESPONSE, OR MOVE ON AND REDIRECT YOUR ATTENTION ON MORE MEANINGFUL DISCUSSIONS. THIS “I DON’T KNOW HIM PERSONALLY, BUT WHAT I READ…” HAS TO STOP IF YOU WANT TO CONTINUE TO BE BELIEVED AND CREDABLE.
7 BobMcCarty // Feb 26, 2011 at 1:54 pm
If the GOP establishment in Missouri can’t stand questions being asked, then they shouldn’t hold office. When it comes to my coverage of issues, I’ll decide what I cover and how I cover it. In my book, both Republicans and Democrats are fair game. I’m looking for good government, not political “brownie points.”
8 Marge // Mar 12, 2012 at 5:53 pm
So sad to see how these people act. They are aways right about everything ,except what is really important in this country.
9 Black Crack Whack « Countenance Blog // May 18, 2012 at 2:52 pm
[...] Meanwhile, Tilley’s antics don’t surprise me in the least. [...]
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