Out-of-state businessmen were top soft-money donors in Missouri

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Out of staters, wanting to protect Gephardt and Carnahan write huge checks.
Steven Kirsch - Infoseek
Daniel Abraham - Slim Fast Foods

Who are the watchdog groups? The article doesn't name them although we should be very interested if they are going to post this kind of information!

Steven Kirsch is a California high-tech executive with no family roots or business interests in Missouri.But Kirsch poured $300,000 into the state's Democratic Party coffers during the 2000 election cycle, making him the second largest soft-money donor to either state party.

We have got to get a viable Ruplican Party going in California so that these modern day carpet-baggers will have to spend their money in thier own state.

Kirsch used to have his own website where he pontificated on everything political. He has set up his own foundation whose raison d'etre seems to be a search for a cure for baldness. It also seems that his argument with Bush is over his devotion to Christianity and his policies on stem-cell research. In search of eternal life, he likely has never read Faust, or read a biography of William Randolph Hearst, or "After Many a Summer Dies the Swan".

Politicians will take money from anyone, but I'm not sure why anyone would want this guy on his team. Creepy, very creepy.

fyi

"All politics are local". The trouble is, with Congress thinking they are entitled to regulate every aspect of our lives all Senators and Representatives have an effect on us "locally". Thus it becomes important to pay atttention to, and try to influence to the extent you are able, politics all over the U.S.A. Put your money and/or time where it will do the most good. The Missouri Senate race between Jim Talent and (the appointed, not elected) Senator Carnahan is one of those places.

here's what I found on Kirsch's web site. I responded and thought you might be interested. Obviously, Kirsch's thoughts are bulleted.

* Why did Bush cut the budget for his own education bill from the dollar amount suggested by the House?
-School funding is and should be a state and local responsibility. As a percentage we get little money from the feds.
* Why is there virtually zero increase in education spending if education is the most important thing?
-Money isn't the problem. Too many American youth don't see the value in education. Why do we import thousands of immigrant engineers? Do they come from wealthy countries with education systems awash in money? You know better.
* Why didn't Bush use the trillion dollars in "excess funds" that he's refunding as a tax cut to us and instead apply that money first to fixing our schools, and then, only after our schools are fixed and working great, return anything leftover as a tax cut. Heck, I live in one of the wealthiest communities in the entire country, and our school buildings are falling apart. If Bush put that money just into bringing our existing schools up to building codes that would be a big step.
- American schools are not falling down. This is so bogus. I live in an area of Washington state that has the highest percentage of welfare. The schools are by far the best buildings in the area. In what kind of buildings do the software engineers from India learn their trade?
* How can you have no money in the budget for the #1 most important thing in America, yet have over a trillion dollars available for a tax cut?
- Refer to previous. Americans don't need to give the government more money. They need business leaders to quit squandering untold fortunes on stock scams, political fundraising, whine fests, etc.. Lead by creating jobs. Don't expect the government to do it. The super-rich liberal elites always blame the government. Take the money you pour down the political campaign cess pool and create jobs or fund education!
* Why, if "no child left behind" is the motto, did Bush not fund special ed students as mandated by federal law? Do these kids not count as a "child?"
- Special ed students get thousands more dollars per student than regular ed kids. Visit a special education classroom where I teach and you will find a student to teacher ratio of 4 to 1(regular ed/25-1or higher) Some with behaviour problems have 1-1 help all day.. Each special ed student gets their own computer(regular ed/ 8-1). A battalion of psyches, specialits etc. meet continually in their cause (regular ed 0/1). I'm not saying this is wrong. I'm just saying it is. If parents of regular ed students really knew how much of the education pie is spent on special ed they might be shocked.
* How can you possibly hold schools "accountable" if we have not provided the resources and authority for them to succeed? I live in one of the richest communities in America and we have to cut 50 teachers from our small school district next year because of lack of funds. Class sizes will rise to 30+ kids. It's worse in less wealthy communities. The US government is providing zero aid to us. Before the budget cuts, our school district was one of the top performing in the state. So Bush won't help out with the funds we need, so we'll cut 50 teachers and raise class sizes. Test scores will suffer. And Bush will hold our schools accountable? That's a setup for failure. Why isn't he providing the funds we need just to maintain the status quo?
- One of the richest communities in America? The federal government is not providing you with any aid????? It's Bush's fault??? Quit whining about the federal government not funding your teachers. Do it your yourselves. There is no law that says you can't hire your own teachers. If there is, get the law changed.
- Bottom line-those of us in plain old, mainstream, month to month, America get tired of limousine li berals whining about how the government isn't doing it's job for us. Create some jobs (train them if you need to). Just quit thinking the federal government is the answer to everything. You can't on one hand critisize government for not being able to do what you want to and then want it to do what it can't on the other. Why do capitalist multimillionaires/billionaires think socialism is the solution for us poor folks?

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