This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Oct. 23, 2012 - Wealthy financier Rex Sinquefield is hosting a fundraising event at his St. Louis home Thursday to assist Republican secretary of state nominee Shane Schoeller.
Schoeller is competing against Democrat Jason Kander, a Democratic legislator who has amassed more money than Schoeller, according to the most recent campaign-finance reports.
Sinquefield has bankrolled several statewide initiative-petition campaigns, including a successful 2010 effort to outlaw municipal earnings taxes outside of St. Louis and Kansas City, and a stalled effort to persuade Missouri voters to end the state’s income tax and replace it with a higher sales tax. The secretary of state’s office writes the ballot summaries for such initiatives if enough signatures are collected.
Sinquefield's political-contribution largesse has attracted national attention, including an article this week in the New York Times. (Sinquefield also is a philanthropist, and is a donor to the St. Louis Beacon.)
Schoeller is competing against Democrat Jason Kander, a Democratic legislator who has amassed more money that Schoeller, according to the most recent campaign-finance reports.
Sinquefield has homes in the Central West End and near Lake of the Ozarks.
According to the invitation, the “invited guests’’ for Sinquefield’s St. Louis fundraising event for Schoeller include most of Missouri’s Republican congressional delegation or candidates: U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt, GOP U.S. Sen. Nominee Todd Akin, Reps. Sam Graves, R-Tarkio; Jo Ann Emerson, R-Cape Girardeau, Vicky Hartzler, R-Harrisonville, Billy Long, R-Springfield, Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-St. Elizabeth; 2nd District congressional nominee Ann Wagner, and state Sen. Jane Cunningham, R-Chesterfield.
Tickets range from $250 to $1,000 apiece. Missouri has no campaign donation limits.
