A PAC's gotta do what a PAC's gotta do
COLUMBIA, Mo 1/25/25 (BEAT BYTE) -- Five-figure donations from political action committees (PACs) to incumbent Mayor Barbara Buffaloe and challenger Michael "Blair" Murphy are raising eyebrows among commenters and commoners: voters and donors without the money to make loud shows of support, but who want their rightful say in public affairs.
Without Buffaloe bucks or Murphy money, average people fear they won't be heard or worse, listened to at City Hall. PACs represent special interests, with money a form of free speech per a US Supreme Court ruling.The Murphy for Mayor campaign reported twenty five large ($25,000) from Citizens for a Better Columbia (CBC) a PAC subject to past controversy for their financial backing from a development lobby that was itself a cauldron of controversy for decades.
CBC had terrible taste in potential politicians too, putting tens of thousands of dollars behind tone-deaf, ill-equipped, and ill-mannered candidates who prompted head shaking and head scratching among seasoned political observers.
But things can change, and early indications suggest Blair Murphy could break that mold and shine, both on the campaign trail and in office.
In a move that speaks well of Murphy's commitment to transparency, CBC donated the money Dec. 11. Campaign treasurer John W Fields Jr. reported it to the Missouri Ethics Commission (MEC) four days later, months ahead of the April election.
Social media critics are nonetheless voicing righteous worries, that candidates and PACs are trying to "buy" the election.
The Murphy campaign's real concern may be less glamorous or scandalous: Just trying to keep up with an incumbent Mayor who raised over $85,000 for her first campaign and $12,000 for her re-election bid so far, including a $5,000 loan to herself.
Big labor, insurance, fossil fuel, and development interests donated over $20,000 to the first Buffaloe for Mayor campaign, all of it reported long enough after election day that its donors and their motives escaped media scrutiny -- and social media snark.
Readers may recall how Mayoral and 4th Ward candidates Randy Minchew and Erica Pefferman lost the 2022 elections to Buffaloe and Nick Foster. "They were the only two seeking office that said they were willing to consider privatization of the city’s solid waste services," Mike Murphy reported. "This triggered Laborers Local 955..."
In an "amended" MEC report filed ten days after the April 5, 2022 election, Buffaloe for Mayor reported $18,572 from the Missouri and Kansas Laborers PAC, roughly three thousand dollars cash and the rest "in kind," goods and services, which can be more valuable than cash. The union's "in-kind contribution was unintentionally omitted (but previously reported as a late contribution)," the Buffaloe campaign explained about the Labor PAC donation in its April 15 report.
In the same post-election report: former Enron director and natural gas magnate Randal Clay Spears' $1,000 contribution, covered in this Jan 20 Heart Beat story.
Two weeks after the election, on April 19 mega-TIF recipient and Broadway Hotel owner Dave Parmley gave Buffaloe five hundred dollars.
Parmley's donation just missed a mandatory 30-day After Election report Buffaloe filed one day earlier, April 18. Her campaign did not report Parmley's contribution until July 15.
The waning days of summer brought another $500, this time from the insurance lobby. But it wasn't until Fall the Buffaloe campaign reported the Shelter Insurance Missouri State PAC donation, in a quarterly report dated October 15.
In short, Barbara Buffaloe had already been elected Mayor for days, weeks, and even months before her campaign reported her largest and most potentially-controversial contributions. All legal, of course. But transparent? Or in keeping with her cheery image as the leader who cares the most for the least among us?
Back in the days of lower costs and higher hopes, PAC Man ate quarters and dots. But a Supreme Court decision and many elections later, PAC today is a married man with a passel of children -- all those politicians who took PAC money to get elected.
And since a PAC's gotta do what a PAC's gotta do when there's a lotta hungry candidates to feed: Now, instead of your quarters and dots, PAC Man eats your votes.