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The billionaire with the great big blimp buys another politician.
After a raising a measely $66k in campaign contributions, Catherine Hanaway sold her soul to wierd billionaire Rex Sinquefield. The price? $750,000 down plus $10,000 a week through the election.
With Rex, nothing is ever what it appears.
You might know that Rex is tight with Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster, a Democrat. You might also know that Koster is planning to run for governor himself. Or, at least, he was. The New York Times story about Koster pimping out the AG’s office might have changed his mind. And if Senator Claire McCaskill decides to run for governor, Koster will take some other primary-free race like a good Democrat. In the meantime, Koster is the lone Democrat seeking the office of governor after Jay Nixon stops mishandling the buck.
So, has Rex abandoned his old friend Koster? Hardly. In fact, from where I sit, Rex is using Hanaway to clear the field for Koster.
Hanaway is a sloppy candidate. She’s about as inspiring a speaker as Ben Stein in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. She fought against concealed carry in Missouri, even blocking a bill as Speaker of the House in 1998, earning an NRA rating of D. That’s D, as in dill weed. (Hanaway reluctantly voted for a concealed carry bill in 1999 because she could no longer muster support to suppress the bill.)
If Catherine Hanaway is the Republican candidate, Koster will stroll into the governor’s mansion without a fight. And Rex knows it.
Rex’s $1 million payout to Hanaway looks like a bid to discourage more viable Republicans from running.
If I’m right, Catherine Hanaway ain’t getting a ring and a date from Rex. She’s getting used. She’ll cash in, and that’s it. It’s a transaction. She’s a pawn. Catherine Hanaway will be tossed aside like yesterday’s paper once the field is cleared.
That’s how Rex plays chess.