Ashcroft has a history from Mo. that most want forgotten. A D.O.T. that ran $15 Billion out of control being one item. Don't forget that's at the State Level too. Most of that was political paybacks via highways to runaway mob influence in St. Louis and K.C.
MOD.O.T. gets its funding from the Missouri legislature, not from the governor's office.
St. Louis and KC union bosses... are Democrats, and from the Democratic party comes their favors, and from the Democrat straight-ticket plantation multi-voter cometh the power of the MO Democratic party. They get a lot of help from southern MO "Poplar Bluff" rednecks who are genetically Democrat and who all too often fail to remember to protect their gun rights more than they protect their welfare checks.