After receiving the “Reporters’ Guide to Rex Sinquefield and the Show-Me Institute,” Kansas City Star columnist Barbara Shelly takes a closer look at the track record of the think-tank co-founder and is less than impressed.
For being such a brilliant businessman – he’s retired from a successful money management firm in Santa Monica, Calif. – Shelly concludes Sinquefield’s return on investment in Missouri politics is “pretty lousy.”
Since 2006, Sinquefield has disclosed spending nearly $32 million on campaigns in the state. The St. Louis native, who has returned to the Loo in retirement, has made his mark in philanthropy and is noted for turning the city into a chess Mecca.
Apart from a couple victories related to the St. Louis Police Department and election cycles in Kansas City and St. Louis, Shelly details his political investment flops:
- millions spent on attempts to eliminate or lower the state’s income tax, including $2.35 million on ad campaigns last summer to unsuccessfully convince legislators to override Gov. Jay Nixon’s veto of a tax-cut bill;
- donated $385,000 to Brad Lager, who lost in the 2012 Republican primary;
- gave $400,000 to secretary of state candidate Shane Schoeller, who lost to Democrat Jason Kander; and
- through Missouri Club for Growth, spent $54,000 trying to sink a bond issue sought by Nixa schools; it passed with 70 percent of the vote.
Shelly points out a few things guiding Sinquefield’s hand: Unions are bad. Public schools are inferior. Certain taxes should be eliminated.
She concludes there’s no doubt his deep pockets motivate legislators to work on his favorite issues year after year.
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