Missouri House Republican Steve Tilley dove to cover questions of his judgment this week by blasting members of the grassroots organization that kept his party on life support while his establishment clique spent us into oblivion during the Bush years. Tilley chose the path of progressives in attacking the tea party to hide his own faulty judgment in championing a member of the legislature with radical connections by calling those who criticized him “race baiters.” He did so from the floor of the Missouri House and via the local paper. It’s the tactic of the establishment trying to exert control over a grassroots movement that is stronger than the GOP – sadly, they chose to use a tactic of the ideology from which they hope to differentiate themselves.
It began when St. Louis blogger and tea partier Reboot Congress called attention to the background of Rep. Jamilah Nasheed, the sponsor of the local control legislation. Nasheed’s has a redemptive story, though her apparent participation with the New Black Panther Party – the group at the center of the DOJ voter intimidation scandal, whose leaders preach about killing babies and hating “crackers” – poses the question as why Tilley would align himself with someone who has an active connection to a group making headlines.
From Reboot Congress:
Make no mistake, this is not about Rep. Nasheed who’s personal story ranges from tragic to redemptive. If the people of Missouri’s 60th house district want her to represent them, so be it. However, that does not mean that a Missouri House dominated by Republicans should place her in a leadership position. Speaker Tilley has demonstrated a lack of judgment and opportunistic leadership in his rush to get the Local Control bill passed.
From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Before the bill passed, both Nasheed and Rep. Tishaura Jones, D-St. Louis, said they were ashamed at those fighting local control for injecting race into the debate. The representatives were referencing a blog post affiliated with the St. Louis Tea Party that accused Nasheed of being affiliated with the “New Black Panther Party.”The blog post also criticized Speaker of the House Steve Tilley, R-Perryville, for supporting the bill. In a speech on the floor before the vote, Tilley drew attention to the race issue.
“I think we’ve seen race-baiting at a level that I haven’t seen since I’ve been here,” Tilley said.
Either St. Louis Post-Dispatch writer Tony Messenger misquoted Tilley or Tilley meant what he said and used Messenger as a stooge to connect the dots. Only one of these premises is valid. This is expected from Democrats but from Republicans?
Many pieces are in play in this local control story, including the police pension fund, which those concerned about local control say the city would have free reign to raid. The concerns over the local control issue weren’t only raised by St. Louis grassroots – local police raised concerns with them as well:
Some members of the local Tea Party group are also members of the St. Louis Police Officers Association, which has opposed local control. Members of the police association have argued that the bill could affect their pensions, health insurance, and payouts to family members of police officers who die in the line of duty.
But the above is completely irrelevant to both this piece and the tea party beef. The point is how ridiculous it is for a newspaper article and a Republican state legislator to pull the race card simply because a blogger points out that someone in the Missouri legislature influencing legislation – advocacy for legislation in part bankrolled by a large Tilley campaign donor – has a very radical connection. Can you imagine if the situation was reversed, how the Missouri GOP would be absolutely vilified if someone with whom they aligned in Jefferson City had such a radical connection?
But apparently asking any such question is “race-baiting.” A connection to a radical group like the New Black Panther Party isn’t bad, only voicing concern about it is such. Apparently, Speaker Tilley now favors making the same baseless, defaming accusations against grassroots Americans as progressives as a way to defend his questionable judgment – and Speaker Tilley double-downed on the tactic yesterday during Dana Loesch’s radio program.
Perhaps Missouri voters need to think about that when Tilley is up for reelection. The last thing people need after booting Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) from the house is another speaker, a state speaker, employing the same verbal tactics against conservatives when challenged.
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