This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, July 16, 2012 - There's an old saying that politics makes strange bedfellows. And that adage came alive, so to speak, during a clash between the three major Republicans running for the U.S. Senate.
It started when former state Treasurer Sarah Steelman lambasted Frontenac businessman John Brunner over donations the former Vi-Jon executive made to St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley's campaigns. Brunner has donated to Dooley over the years, including when the Democrat was locked in a tight race with Republican attorney Bill Corrigan.
Steelman wondered aloud at a Republican debate at Washington University why Brunner would support someone who was, in her words, “pro-abortion, anti-gun and pro-Obama.”
Brunner responded that Dooley was a friend who “understood what the issues are for the minorities and jobs in that area.” He also said that Dooley had personally toured a Vi-Jon plant.
For his part, Dooley said he didn’t see the debate. He had heard about the comments though.
“John Brunner’s a friend of mine. I have a lot of Republican friends,” said Dooley when asked for his reaction. Former U.S. Sen. "Kit Bond’s a good friend of mine as well. So I have a lot of Republican friends – [and] a lot of Republican contributors.”
Asked whether such comments would make it difficult for him to work with Steelman if she should win the primary and then upend U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., Dooley said, “I don’t want to comment on the Republican candidates.”
“I’m going to work with whoever’s there,” Dooley said. “That’s going to be my statement.”
Despite her jab, Steelman and Dooley have something in common: retired financer Rex Sinquefield, who donated to Steelman’s U.S. Senate bid and to a supportive Super PAC, was one of Dooley’s prominent backers during his 2010 run for re-election. It could be argued that the nearly $131,000 Sinquefield gave to Dooley made a far bigger difference than the money Brunner provided.
Asked whether Sinquefield’s donations complicated the issue, Steelman's spokesman Patrick Tuohey said, “A politician’s supporters may give to all sorts of causes that one politician doesn’t care for.”
“That happens and it’s just the nature of the beast,” Tuohey said. “But that’s not what the Steelman campaign is pointing out. We are pointing out specific, personal contributions from Mr. Brunner himself to Dooley and other organizations. And that is the difference. It is not a matter of to whom do your supporters also give contributions. The question is: To whom did you give your money?”
Tuohey went onto say that if Steelman's elected U.S. senator, she would have no problem working with Dooley – who will be in office until at least 2014.
“Dooley is the … duly elected leader of St. Louis County and absolutely Sarah will work with all sorts of people,” he said. “The difference is that Sarah would not personally contribute to Dooley’s campaign. That’s the difference. Adults work together, even if they don’t agree.”
The flap in the U.S. Senate primary isn't the only recent case of the curious political contributions. Sam Fox - a former ambassador to Belgium and major Republican donor --gave $50,000 last week to Attorney General Chris Koster, a Democrat.
Koster, of course, left the Republican Party in 2007.
While they are of opposing political parties, both Koster and Fox are proponents of embryonic stem cell research.
And just hours after Fox's contribution hit the Missouri Ethics Commission's website, the Beacon confirmed that former Sen. John Danforth will headline a fundraiser this week for Republican Ed Martin's attorney general bid.
Of course, both Danforth and Martin are Republicans. But what may raise some eyebrows is that Danforth was a key backer of a 2006 constitutional amendment protecting stem cell research and Martin was a outspoken opponent. It should be noted though that Danforth raised money for Martin's narrowly unsuccessful bid for U.S. Congress in 2010.
(Sinquefield, Fox and Danforth are also donors to the St. Louis Beacon.)
Campaign Trial, a weekly column appearing every Monday, weaves together some of the intriguing threads from the world of Missouri politics.
