Subject: Sam Graves

• Fear doesn’t always strike out — sometimes it’s a line drive at your head

  March 26, 2009

• Bond Ran in Kansas, But He Didn't Mow the Lawn

  September 13, 2007

• Daily Briefs: Influenza; We're All Going to Die; Death From Above

  March 5, 2008

• Libertarian Candidate Says He's No Tinfoil Hat Wearer

  June 28, 2008

• Survey USA/KCTV 5 poll: Graves up 9 on Barnes

  September 22, 2008

• Kit Bond hates Jeff Roe after all

  September 29, 2008

• Stealing Time: Monday, November 3

  November 3, 2008

• Graves gets dirty in election's final days

  November 4, 2008

• Upset! Sam Graves isn't the sleaziest campaigner

  Sam Graves, as it turns out, isn't sleazier than John McCain or Liddy Dole. It's not for lack of trying -- see Graves' abortion-loving, interracial, San Francisco sodomite wet dream: Graves' homophobic campaign ads finished third -- third?!? -- in Talking Points Memo's Golden Duke Awards. I totally thought Graves had this one; the ads were good enough to win a 2008 Best Of Kansas City award from The Pitch. But our endorsement couldn't propel Graves' ads above Dole's "godless atheists" or John M

  January 5, 2009

• Welcome Home

  November 29, 2001

• Hard Ball

  June 13, 2002

• Bidness as Usual

  June 20, 2002

• Young Ass

  May 13, 2004

• MoDOT stimulus funds = FAIL

  The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (otherwise known as "the bailout," "the stimulus plan" or "Porkulus," depending on whom you ask) is very clear in its requirements regarding the funding of road and bridge projects. The Missouri Department of Transportation will receive $577 million of this stimulus cashola to distribute to projects, if: (1) the projects can get under way in 90 days or less, (2) they will take no more than three years to complete, (3) they create jobs and (4) they are

  March 19, 2009

• With all of his talk about the “middle class,” Congressman Sam Graves sounds like the idiot on Main Street

  January 22, 2009

• Yes, notable Kansas Citians really said these stupid things in 2008

  January 1, 2009

• Life of Kemper

  November 13, 2008

• Former KC Mayor Kay Barnes tries to sell her small-town roots in her run for Congress

  June 12, 2008

• One hot contender, Sarah Steelman takes help from the much-maligned Jeff Roe in her run for governor

  April 3, 2008

• The Real Mrs. Semler

  A few months ago, mostly just gardeners and Minutemen knew the woman who’s been at the center of Kansas City’s biggest controversy.

  October 11, 2007

• Pick One!

  February 15, 2007

• Laundry Rooms

  February 16, 2006

• The Big Sell

  October 13, 2005

• Backwash

  We drag the river for stuff you didn't know you were missing.

  July 7, 2005

• Black Hole

  A year later,the taxpayer-funded Blue Springsgoth study reveals shocking results.

  June 3, 2004

• Goon Squad

  U.S. Rep. Sam Graves and his lackeys never miss an opportunity to rough up a local political race.

  May 13, 2004

• Fish Story

  What’s a Republican doing championing evolution?

  March 18, 2004

• Lush Life

  Finally, one local Democrat promises that next year's primary won't be straight-up Karen McCarthy.

  September 4, 2003

• Black Tuesday

  Rich Nadler tries to divide and conquer the African-American vote.

  December 12, 2002

• Oh My Goth

  Vampires aren't half as scary as Blue Spring's war on dregs.

  May 30, 2002

• Paradise Lust

  Home Depot wants tax bucks to pave wetlands.

  October 11, 2001

• Health-care reform BS roundup for the week

  Health and Human Services Secretary (and former Kansas Governor) Kathleen Sebelius worked the Sunday morning talk-show circuit yesterday. The topic was health-care reform. ABC's George Stephanopoulos thinks the "news" he got out of their conversation was that "the secretary wouldn't commit to a presidential veto on health care reform legislation that adds to the federal deficit." He seemed most concerned about how Obama plans to pay for covering everyone. More helpful, however, would be some ser

  June 15, 2009

• Your chance to yell at Claire McCaskill

  Claire McCaskill​Town hall meetings have been shouty, Brick Tamland like affairs. Here's your chance to yell like hell at U.S. Sen. Claire "Bear" McCaskill. But only if you want a stern talking to (and she'll do it, too). McCaskill is holding a town hall in the Swinney Recreation Center on the campus of University of Missouri-Kansas City on Monday, August 24, at 4:30 p.m. RSVP here. Just try not to tear up any Rosa Parks posters. Loud noises!Via Prime BuzzUpdate (12:40 p.m. Tuesday, August 18)

  August 18, 2009

• Angry town-hall alert: Claire McCaskill at UMKC today

  Claire McCaskill​I want you to let all the anger out. Preferably before you go to U.S. Sen. Claire "Bear" McCaskill's town hall meeting in the Swinney Recreation Center on the campus of University of Missouri-Kansas City later today. Do some yoga. Smoke a cigarette. Punch a wall. OK, maybe not the last one. And no ripping up posters of civil rights activists. Show starts at 4:30 p.m., and McCaskill requests the favor of an RSVP.Also this week, Congressman Sam Graves' Bob Seger-esque "Main Stre

  August 24, 2009

• Congressman Sam Graves' health-care campaign contributions

  Sam Graves​In honor of Missouri Rep. Sam Graves' town hall meeting scheduled for 5 p.m. this afternoon at Park Hill High School, here's a list of medical-industry campaign contributions that went to the 6th District Congressman in his last election. We've already counted up the industry's contributions to Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts and Rep. Dennis Moore, so we figured it was time to take a look at the Missouri side. Graves sits on committees dealing specifically with transportation, agriculture a

  August 26, 2009

• Claire McCaskill's health-care campaign contributions

  ​So far, in our August-recess series of reports on local politicians' campaign contributions from the medical industry, we've counted up contributions to Sen. Pat Roberts and Rep. Dennis Moore of Kansas and Rep. Sam Graves from Missouri. We couldn't let Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill's week of difficult town hall meetings end without adding up her totals, too.According to Federal Election Commission reports from her first and so-far only Senate campaign, McCaskill had banked $11,906,356 in to

  August 27, 2009

• The latest Pitch and 21 things we learned this week

  ​U.S. soldiers are committing suicide in record numbers, and the Army is struggling to fix the problem. This week's Pitch feature story, "Exit Strategy," looks at one solider who almost became a statistic. Also, Martin covers MoDOT's shoddy maintenance of inner-city bridges. Ferruzza reviews Café Trio. And Buckle Bunny talks tour managing. 1. Lynn Jenkins' "hope" for change is white. 2. Living next to a Rockhurst frat sucks. 3. Riverfront Heritage Trail is pretty cool. 4. 26 homicides in KCK.

  August 28, 2009

• Health-care campaign contributions for Senators Kit Bond and Sam Brownback

  For today's August-recess-celebrating tally of how much medical-industry money is going to the campaigns of metro-area politicians, we've decided to be extra efficient. We've already counted the totals for Sen. Pat Roberts ($525,000), Congressman Dennis Moore ($62,000), Sen. Claire McCaskill ($132,000) and Congressman Sam Graves ($85,500). Today, we've decided to combine the lists for Senators Kit Bond (Republican of Missouri) and Sam Brownback (Republican of Kansas) in one entry.Neither man rea

  August 31, 2009

• Rep. Lynn Jenkins' health-care campaign contributions

  ​In honor of her town hall meeting scheduled for 4 p.m. today at the Dole Institute on the University of Kansas campus in Lawrence, here's a list of Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins' campaign contributions from the health-care industry. (We'll refrain from saying anything here about other town hall meetings that got her in the news recently.)In 2007-2008, running in her first-and-only U.S. House campaign, former Kansas Treasurer Jenkins raised $1,803,976. Of that, $33,129 came from medical-industry

  September 1, 2009

• Congressman Sam Graves' hypocritical anti-government rally

  ​Last week, after Missouri Congressman Sam Graves held a health-care town-hall meeting at Park Hill High School, KMBC Channel 9 reported that the debate had taken a "new turn." Reporter Jim Flink noted that Graves' crowd was "friendly" (to the Republican) and "partisan," but also suggested that there had been "a shift in strategy." The night's focus, he said, was "less on the fear and the frustration over the plan and more focusing on the fix -- fixing what's wrong with the current system."I b

  September 1, 2009

• A sick, toxic summer of health care ends in a trip to the surgery center

  September 3, 2009

• Rep. Emanuel Cleaver's health-care campaign contributions

  ​Considering where this series began -- with Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts' $525,000 in campaign contributions from the health-care industry -- it ends on a number that's almost pathetic by contrast. When I started counting campaign contributions earlier this month, Roberts was the first; his amount struck me as outrageous (Roberts sits on the Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, so I wasn't surprised that medical interests were heavily invested in his work). I didn't know what

  September 2, 2009

• One Missouri Republican votes to rebuke Joe Wilson's 'You lie' outburst

  Joe Wilson​Congress voted yesterday on a resolution denouncing South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson's "You lie" outburst during President Obama's speech to Congress. The resolution passed 240-179, and locally the vote fell on party lines, except one Missouri Republican: Jo Ann Emerson. The New York Times reported how every representative voted, and here's the breakdown. Joining Emerson in condemining Wilson's attempt to turn the address into British Parliament were Kansas Rep. Dennis Moore and Misso

  September 16, 2009