There’s a lot of momentum around a Missouri Senate campaign – but too bad for Senator Roy Blunt, it isn’t his. Though the Senate has not been in session this week, the vulnerable incumbent hasn’t held a single public event and waited until the end of the news cycle to launch his reelection. Maybe it’s the recent scrutiny of his failed national security record, deep lobbyist ties and previously undisclosed draft deferment, but this probably wasn’t the press coverage Blunt expected for his ninth federal campaign.
“After spending 18 years in Washington, Roy Blunt has become more interested in the special interests than in Missouri’s interests,” said Lauren Passalacqua, National Press Secretary. “He’s shown total disregard for answering voters’ legitimate questions about the conflicts of interest at the heart of his campaign, which his son manages while working as a political lobbyist. Not to mention Blunt’s failed national security record and misleading statements about his Vietnam War draft deferments. Missourians are eager to elect a public servant like Jason Kander, who will fight for their needs, not their own self-interest.”
Here’s a look at some of the stories Blunt’s earned:
Kansas City Star: Roy Blunt’s Vietnam-era draft deferments become issue in 2016 Senate race
In a news story posted online Wednesday morning, The Star reported Blunt received three draft deferments while a college student in the late 1960s. Blunt’s office did not disclose the deferments in 2015, when the newspaper specifically asked Blunt’s office about the senator’s draft history.
… But Blunt’s office did not disclose the deferments in February 2015, when The Star directly asked if he had ever received one. The newspaper was researching a story about the relevance of military service to political campaigns.
… Blunt’s staff said this week that poor memories and difficult-to-obtain draft records may have contributed to the confusion over the senator’s deferments.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch Editorial: Holes in Blunt’s draft story
The issue about Sen. Roy Blunt’s draft history is not that he had a student deferment during the Vietnam War. It’s not even that he had three student deferments. It’s that his office lied about it.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Roy Blunt’s draft deferments more than four decades ago roil campaign
Sen. Roy Blunt’s three draft deferments during the Vietnam War more than 40 years ago erupted in a campaign the senator Tuesday said he was still not going to engage in.
Blunt, R-Mo., told reporters Wednesday that he has always acknowledged getting student deferments during the war, even though the Kansas City Star reported that Blunt’s office last year did not mention the deferments when asked for a story about declining role of military service in elective office.
Springfield News-Leader: Blunt defends deferments from Vietnam War draft
Sen. Roy Blunt brushed off questions Wednesday about three student deferments he received to avoid service in the Vietnam War, saying he never hid his record and has been a strong advocate on veterans’ issues in Washington.
KMOX: Senator Blunt Denies Evading Service in Vietnam
U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt is coming under fire for evading service
in Vietnam and his voting record against veterans.
VoteVets.org chairman and Iraq War veteran Jon Soltz says Blunt hasn’t been honest with Missouri voters for 40 years.
Soltz says he doesn’t have a problem with Blunt not serving in Vietnam, buts adds it’s completely ironic.
Fox News: Questions raised over Sen. Blunt’s Vietnam-era deferments
Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt is facing questions in his re-election campaign over newly reported draft deferments he received during the Vietnam War.
Roll Call:Facing Afghanistan Vet Opponent, Roy Blunt Hit Over Draft Deferments
Democrats on Wednesday unveiled a new line of attack against Missouri Republican Sen. Roy Blunt, highlighting a report about the powerful Republican’s draft deferments during the Vietnam War.
As the 20-year lawmaker faces a re-election challenge by Democrat Jason Kander — Missouri’s secretary of state and a veteran of the war in Afghanistan – the Kansas City Star released a report that found Blunt received three student deferments, a part of his biography the paper said Blunt and his office had not revealed before.
… But it is new for Blunt. His deferments were not widely known in the state where he has been a prominent figure since the early 1990s.
Springfield News-Leader: Veterans deliver letter to Roy Blunt’s office in Springfield
A pair of veterans hand-delivered a letter to Sen. Roy Blunt’s district office in Springfield on Thursday morning expressing disappointment with recent news of the senator’s undisclosed draft deferments during the Vietnam War.
Jack Hembree, a Springfield man who served in the Korean and Vietnam wars, said he was upset when he heard the news about the deferments, and he wants answers.
“It’s a character issue for me,” Hembree said. “Why did he feel like he needed to conceal that for all these years?”
Springfield News-Leader: Andy Blunt says there is no conflict between his lobbying and running his father’s campaign
Democrats have criticized Andy Blunt for running his father’s campaign while simultaneously representing the University of Missouri after recent campus unrest there and for a recently announced contract in which Blunt on Jan. 1 will be executive director of the Missouri Cable Telecommunications Association.
… But Craig Holman, a government affairs lobbyist for Public Citizen, a non-profit watchdog group on campaign spending and ethics, said even the appearance of a conflict of interest is important in the nexus between elected office, campaign spending and lobbying. He said that over the past decade, he has documented about 25 senators who have family members as lobbyists, and Roy Blunt has the most.
“While it is not uncommon for lobbyists to be part of a lawmaker’s campaign staff, or for family members of a lawmaker to be registered lobbyists, the Blunts are deeper into these conflicts of interest than any other family on Capitol Hill,” Holman said.
Springfield News-Leader: Andrew Blunt’s lobbying work faces scrutiny as he manages father’s re-election bid
As Andy Blunt ramps up his father’s Senate re-election campaign, he’s also snapping up new lobbying clients who are paying his firm big money to push their legislative priorities in Jefferson City.
… But critics, including Missouri Democrats gunning to oust his father from the Senate, say Andy Blunt has used his last name and family connections to build a lobbying empire. And they argue his dual roles as a Missouri lobbyist and the senator’s campaign manager are rife with possible conflicts of interest.
Kansas City Star: Andy Blunt insists there’s no conflict of interest
“I am a son who loves my father and helps his political campaign.” — Andy Blunt, son of Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt, insisting there’sno conflict of interest in his role as Roy Blunt campaign manager and Statehouse lobbyist.
Springfield Business Journal: Andy Blunt: No conflict between lobbying work, father’s Senate campaign
In response this week to pressure about state lobbyist Andy Blunt running his father’s Senate campaign, the younger Blunt told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch there is no conflict of interest between the two roles.
Politico: Blunt combines lobbying, campaign managing in Missouri
Andy Blunt might be Missouri’s most successful Republican political operative in recent years. He’s also one of Jefferson City’s most successful lobbyists. He’s also the son of GOP Sen. Roy Blunt.
That nexus of lobbying, campaign management and family is under fire from Democrats as the younger Blunt manages the elder Blunt’s 2016 reelection campaign. Democrats in the state hope they can hold up Andy Blunt — who has continued to lobby at the state level and just last week added a new title, executive director of the Missouri Cable Telecommunications Association — to argue that the Republican senator has used his position to enrich his family.
Roy Blunt’s wife, Abigail, is a lobbyist for Kraft Foods. Matt Blunt, Roy’s son and Andy’s brother, is a former governor of Missouri who now runs the American Automotive Policy Council. But neither personally lobbies the senator, and Blunt allies scoff at any notion of impropriety. They note that when Andy managed Roy’s 2010 campaign, Democrats argued the family’s lobbying made the senator “the worst of Washington” — and Missourians elected Blunt over Democratic Secretary of State Robin Carnahan by a 14 percentage-point margin.
…Democrats have noted the elder Blunt sits on the Senate Commerce subcommittee with oversight of the cable industry. But the senator declined to discuss the issue.
“I thought you were told I wasn’t going to talk to you about this,” he told POLITICO in the Senate hallways.
National Journal: Blunt’s Son Sees No Conflict of Interest Between Lobbying and Running Father’s Campaign
Andy Blunt, the son and campaign manager of Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) said “he sees no conflict of interest between his lobbying in Jefferson City and managing his father’s Senate campaign.”
Columbia Daily Tribune: Blunt deflects campaign questions after food bank tour
U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt on Thursday deflected questions about attacks on his national security record and his son’s role in his re-election campaign during a visit to the Food Bank for Central & Northeast Missouri.
When asked for a response to reports that critics saw his lobbyist son Andy Blunt’s role as his campaign manager as a conflict of interest, Blunt replied flatly, “Talk to the campaign.” His response was the same to a question about criticism from his likely opponent in the Senate race, Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander, a Democrat.
KTVO: Sen. Blunt faces heat for backing cable companies son represents
The outside employment of Sen. Roy Blunt’s son and campaign manager is continuing to cause controversy after the Senator wrote a letter to the FCC supporting cable companies his son represents.
Andy Blunt, a well-known lobbyist and campaign strategist in Missouri, has been a frequent target of criticism for continuing his lobbying work while taking on his father’s re-election bid.
The Blunt family has downplayed the issue of any conflicts of interest in the past. The younger Blunt said last year that he only lobbies within the state, not the federal government, and never lobbies his father.
However, a letter sent by six Senators to the FCC last month–including Blunt–criticizing its redefinition of broadband standards has reignited accusations from opponents that the interests represented by the younger Blunt privately are leaking into public policy decisions made by his father.
St. Louis Public Radio: Sen. Blunt’s lobbyist son sets up new firm in Jefferson City
Along with several lobbyist colleagues, Andy Blunt, the son of U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt, has formed a new firm, Statehouse Strategies LCC, in downtown Jefferson City near the state Capitol.
…Andy Blunt also is the campaign manager for his father’s re-election bid this fall. Democrats have closely monitored the younger Blunt’s client list and attempted to link some of them to the elder Blunt’s voting record. Father and son have denied any link; the senator also has repeatedly declined to discuss his son’s business.
