This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Oct. 1, 2010 - Wealthy financier Rex Sinquefield is still sending over those daily $5,001 checks to St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley, but Sinquefield hasn't forgotten his first love -- Proposition A, which seeks to bar and restrict local earnings taxes.
The Missouri Ethics Commission reports today that Sinquefield gave $3.9 million on Thursday to Let Voters Decide, the group leading the charge for the Nov. 2 ballot proposal, which would require local votes every five years in St. Louis and Kansas City, which already have the earnings tax. All other communities in Missouri would be barred from ever imposing such a levy.
As first noted by FiredupMissouri.com, Sinquefield has given more than $10.7 million to the anti-earnings tax drive, which has collected less than $6,000 from other sources. Also Thursday, the group received $5,001 from Travis Brown, who lobbies for Sinquefield.
Sinquefield's latest contribution signals that a TV ad campaign on behalf of Proposition A is just about to get underway.
The opposition campaign, led by public-safety groups and labor unions, contends that its polling has indicated that Proposition A isn't the shoo-in some have predicted.
Meanwhile, the Missouri Ethics Commission shows two more donations late this week to Dooley, making 10 daily $5,001 donations from Sinquefield in the past two weeks. The financier still isn't saying why he's making his contributions to Dooley in such an unusual way, and when the largesse will end.
