UPDATED @ 5:32 PM:  Part of the trouble with “She Said, She Said” beefs is that they can get pretty confusing pretty quickly. To clear things up, Jeanette Mott Oxford sent us an email making clear what she was — and was not — apologizing to Jane Cunningham for.

Antonio,

I hope it is clear that what I’m apologizing for is not meeting with Rep. Cunningham in advance and asking her to take the three steps in the press release I issued last week in that private session FIRST. I am taking no position on what really happened in her office. But I wish I had offered her a chance to say yes or no to those three steps before taking my case to the public.

Something about how the article from today is framed could lead one to believe I have accepted her side of the story. I still believe the students deserved a different response, a welcome. Even if she could not take time to meet with them that day, she could have invited them to write her with concerns. Being chair of that committee carries a responsibility to hear the witness of youths who have been bullied. And objections about how a young person’s fashion choices (if one chooses to voice them) could be stated in a manner that invites dialogue instead of language that shames that young person.

JMO

Jeanette Mott Oxford
State Representative, 59th District

Here’s our earlier story:

A Democratic legislator has apologized to one of her Republican colleagues after accusing her of disrespecting a group of teenagers attempting to lobby her support for an anti-bullying bill.

Last week, State Rep. Jeanette Mott Oxford (D-St. Louis) put out a press release claiming State Rep. Jane Cunningham (R-Chesterfield) refused to meet with students Desiree Bain and Austyn Langston of Jackson County because “she found their appearance very difficult to look at.” [Read our earlier story.]

Oxford, who did meet with the students, said they had multiple facial piercings and one had vividly colored hair. “Other than that they looked like regular teenagers to me,” Oxford said.

According to a press release for Oxford’s office, after refusing to meet with Langston and Bain, Rep. Cunningham told another group of students that “looking at these two young women was making her ill and that she didn’t understand why they hated themselves.”

Apparently that’s not exactly what happened.

Shortly after making the accusations at a press conference, Oxford, now armed with Cunningham’s side of the story, sent her colleague the following apology:

From:Jeanette Oxford 

Sent: Thursday, April 10, 2008 1:39 PM
To: Jane Cunningham
Subject: my apologies
 
Rep. Cunningham,

I owe you an apology. Today I led a press conference calling for passage of the Safe Schools bill (HB 1751) and for you to meet with students who were asked to leave your office. I asked for you to hear their experiences of being bullied at school and to attend the Inclusion Institute for Educators this summer. It should have occurred to me to come to you first and to ask you personally to take those steps. No legislator wants to feel ambushed by her colleagues or the media, and I had not thought this out properly.

It is no excuse, but this is a case where my heart got ahead of my head. As a person who experienced school bullying as a child (bullying based on size, on other appearance characteristics, and on religion), as the best friend of a gay boy who was bullied unmercifully when we were high school students, and as an out lesbian who feels a responsibility to make schools safer now than they were when I was a teen, I simply did not think the process through as well as I should. I wanted to highlight the problem of school bullying - and I can assure you that almost all of the press conference time today WAS indeed focused on information and questions about school bullying, not about you - but still when Bob Watson asked me during the press conference why I didn’t just go to you, it hit me that I should have done that first.

I ask you to recognize that I persuaded Rep. Lampe and Sen. Justus to participate in the press conference today and that my invitation to them focused on the importance of our moving the issue of safe schools forward. If the pace of our week here had allowed it, we quite possibly would have sat and talked through many issues related to the press conference and spotted that an important step had not been taken. Rep. Lampe and Sen. Justus may have even assumed that step HAD been taken; I’m not sure. They left the background work to me and agreed to show up and make a brief statement today. I believe they agreed to attend due to their relationship with me. No malice toward you was intended by any of us. What we want to see is safe schools for all of Missouri’s children. I believe you share that aim as well, but that you have not yet come to recognize some of the realities connected to the dynamics of oppression.

You are welcome to share my apology with the media (thus the written apology) if that is your desire, and I’ll be glad to meet with you and PROMO, the students, the media or anyone else with whom you invite me to meet on this topic.

JMO
Jeanette Mott Oxford
State Representative, 59th District
573-751-4567 (Jefferson City)
314-772-0301 (St. Louis)

Cunningham’s office also released the following statement on the matter:

Because of the heavy legislative role and hectic pace of Jane’s office they have a standard operating procedure that when they have tight deadlines, they try hard to take a few minutes to visit with constituents.  Jane’s office always asks if visitors are constituents. The teens misrepresented themselves as living in Jane’s district and would not leave when asked.  

Even the teen’s chaperone inserted her foot in Jane’s door when Jane’s assistant repeatedly told her we had to prepare for a committee hearing. The assistant was shaken by the experience.    

[UPDATE: Read our later story “Oxford Apologizes to Cunningham” to get even more info about what happened.]

Did State Rep. Jane Cunningham (R-Chesterfield) really turn tail on two teens who came to Jefferson City to support anti-bullying legislation?

The office of Jeanette Mott Oxford (D-St. Louis) put out a press release Thursday claiming Cunningham refused to meet with students Desiree Bain and Austyn Langston of Jackson County because “she found their appearance very difficult to look at.”

Oxford, who did meet with the students, said they had multiple facial piercings and one had “vividly colored hair.”

“Other than that they looked like regular teenagers to me,” Oxford said.

The incident happened March 26. Langston and Bain were at the State Capitol in support of the Missouri Safe Schools legislation (House Bill 1751). The bill contains training provisions for teachers and school administrators to better recognize and stop school bullying. The bill also addresses harassment of homosexual and transgender students.

The bill is presently being held up by Rep. Cunningham who is the Elementary and Secondary Education Committee chairperson.

PubDef.net has tried to contact Cunningham’s office for her side in this incident, but so far all attempts have been unsuccessful.

According to a press release for Oxford’s office, after refusing to meet with Langston and Bain, Rep. Cunningham told another group of students that:

(L)ooking at these two young women was making her ill and that she didn’t understand why they hated themselves.

Oxford would later meet with those same students and recalled how upset they were.

We all have different polices about who can see us in our offices, but anytime students make it to the capitol I try to talk to students … I try to treat them with hospitality whether they are dressed ‘properly’ or not.

The students involved went to the office of Sara Lampe (D-Springfield). She wasn’t in so her assistant got me. The kids were quite upset and I wanted them to see an elected official who’s going to receive them warmly.

Oxford said Cunningham may tell the story one way, but others find it another. She thinks Cunningham should set aside her prejudices and work with her fellow representatives to fight bullying.

I am not in anyway impugning some kind of lack of compassion or ill motivation on Rep. Cunningham’s part. She and lots of other will meaning people don’t understand the dynamics of hateful speech.

The state passed a law saying ‘no bullying.’ That’s not good enough. Unless there’s some training for teachers and principals on when and how to spot bullying, schools are not doing a good job with it. I sat down with a student who’s since dropped out of school because of the bullying she was receiving.

Governor candidates (left-to-right) Kenny Hulshof, Sarah Steelman and Jay Nixon.

The Columbia Tribune’s Politics Blog reported Thursday that the talk of the governor’s race is taxes.

Both Republican candidates are promising not to raise taxes.

State Treasurer Sarah Steelman’s campaign sent out a press release today announced the first-term statewide official had signed Grover Norquist’s Taxpayer Protection Pledge from Americans for Tax Reform.

Steelman called on U.S. Rep. Kenny Hulshof, R-Columbia, to sign the pledge as well. Scott Baker, a spokesman for the six-term congressman, noted that Hulshof signed the pledge in the past and would sign the pledge again. That, he said, means that he would also promise not to raise taxes if elected governor.

Even lone Democrat candidate Jay Nixon got in on the action.

“Jay won’t raise taxes. During these difficult economic times, when Missouri families are feeling squeezed, that’s the last thing we should be doing,” said Nixon spokesman Oren Shur. “We can change the direction of Missouri, not with new taxes, but with a new Governor who will spend the money available in a more responsible way. That means tax relief for people who need it, such as property tax cuts for seniors and by making college tuition tax deductible.”

State Treasure candidate Andria Simckes (D) is raising some eyebrows in Springfield.

According to KY3 Political notebook, at a small gathering of with lawyers Simckes said she’d “received the unofficial tap from Sen. Claire McCaskill, and John Temporiti.”

“They are quietly supportive of me,” quotes KY3.

But the blog shoots down that claim writing that an unnamed, “highly placed” Democratic source said Simckes is way off base.

A Democratic operative with close ties to the party said that’s not true. “Claire McCaskill and John Temporiti have not made an endorsement in this race. They are aggressively neutral,” the operative said.

When I asked if either had suggested to Simckes at any time that they supported her privately or in any other way, the source replied, “never.”

“If there was only one candidate, of course they would’ve been supportive. But they never said, you’re the person. If they were encouraging here before, that didn’t mean they endorsed her. When different circumstances came out, then events changed. That’s how this works,” the operative added.

“I just need to stress that they are totally neutral,” the Democratic source said.

Simckes is among four Democrats vying for the treasurer nomination. Also in the hunt are Mark Powell, Rep. Clint Zweifel of Florissant and Charles Wheeler of Kansas City.

Congressman William Lacy Clay, Jr. (D-Mo.) will hold a House joint oversight hearing on hand-held devices meant to collect data for the 2010 US Census that were deemed faulty.

Recently the Secretary of Commerce called for a major change in the design of new hand-held, electronic census gathering technology partly because of failures in the equipment. Because of these flaws, the cost of the 2010 census may increase by $2.2 to $3 billion.

Clay has pushed the department on its failures in the Field Data Collection Automation Program, created for the devices. The hearing will take place Wednesday at 2 p.m. in Washington, D.C.

Gov. Matt Blunt nominated Michael J. Schmid (D) to serve on the Missouri Ethics Committee Wednesday.

According to a release from the governor’s office, Schmid is a Jefferson City attorney serving the Fourth Congressional District. He was previously an assistant attorney general in the Missouri Attorney General’s office.

His appointment needs to be confirmed by the senate before he can serve a four-year term ending on March 15, 2012.

Schmid will be replacing Michael Dunard whose term expired.

State Rep. Connie Johnson is under investigation by the city Election Board for possibly living outside of her district.

KMOX Radio reported Tuesday that the Missouri Senate candidate met with the Board to discuss allegations Johnson lived outside of the 61st District last year.

In the report Johnson admitted to moving into a house outside of the district last fall to take care of her mother.

“(T)he fourth Commandment said honor thy mother and thy father (if I didn’t do that) everything I did in life would fail,” she told KMOX.

Johnson told KMOX she still owns property in the 61st district and considers it her legal residence. She said she has since moved back to the home.

Johnson is one of three candidates seeking to replace the term-limited Sen. Maida Coleman for the state senate seat. The other two are Rodney Hubbard* and Robin Wright-Jones.

*Hubbard is a client of PubDef.net publisher Antonio D. French.

It’s a preemptive thanks, but no thanks.

State Rep. Connie Johnson sent a letter to Firefighters Local 73 Tuesday stating she would not “seek nor accept” any endorsement from the union due to the “racial discrimination” she has seen in the St. Louis City Fire Department.

Johnson is currently running for the Fifth District Senate seat.

In the letter addressed to Chris Molitor, president of Firefighters Local 73, Johnson writes how she was invited along with other Fifth District candidates to meet with Local 73’s board last week, but did not attend due to her opposition over the department’s behavior surrounding the ousting of embattled Fire Chief Sherman George last year.

She sent the letter to Molitor stating, “In the eyes of most of our St Louis community - particularly the African-American community - the fact that we have a fire department that is essentially segregated is repulsive.”

“And what makes matters even more alarming is the additional fact that we have a Union that defends and even appears to take pride in this segregation. Local 73 cannot escape either responsibility or accountability for this current state, and I cannot and will not ignore my duty to stand and fight against it.”

Johnson wrote that she is a staunch supporter of organized labor but could not support a group that possibly “engineered, the most racially divisive event to occur in this city in years.”

It is unclear if Johnson was ever likely to receive Local 73’s endorsement.

Johnson is one of three candidates seeking to replace the term-limited Sen. Maida Coleman. The other two are Rodney Hubbard* and Robin Wright-Jones.

*Hubbard is a client of PubDef.net publisher Antonio D. French.

Come on down to a Democratic candidates forum in the fightin’ 15th ward.

Party representatives will be talking turkey about state and citywide candidates. On Thursday, there will be a discussion on the US Rep race for District 3, the races for Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General, State Treasurer, Circuit Attorney, Public Administrator, Sheriff and City Treasurer.

The event will take place at 7 p.m., Thursday at the Fire Fighters Hall at 4271 Delor, east of Bevo Mill.

Then on Monday, April 14, there will be a second forum on candidates associated with the 15th Ward, 7 p.m. at Carpenter Branch Library, 3309 S. Grand Blvd., between Utah & McDonald.

Offices to be discussed include the race for District 5 State Senator, State Representatives for districts 59 and 67, as well as 15th Ward Committeeman and 15th Ward Committeewoman.

The Missouri Democratic Party held their fund-raiser, the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner, Saturday night at the Renaissance Grand Hotel in downtown St. Louis.

Dem politicos and their friends and family were crammed into the venue due to a sudden switch from America’s Center to the hotel due to a union dispute. It was settled late last week, but it was too late for JJ, so over-flowing tables were set up in the hallway and the dining room was wall-to-wall packed with candidates, legendary Missouri Democrats and current individuals running for office.

The event honored distinguished party members former US Senator and wife of deceased Missouri Governor Mel Carnahan, Jean Carnahan, former US Congressman William Clay, Sr. and former US Congressman and Democratic presidential candidate Dick Gephardt.

Also in attendance were current US Senator Claire McCaskill, Rep. William Lacy Clay, Jr., state senate candidate Rodney Hubbard, state senate candidate Connie Johnson, state rep. candidate Mike Roberts Jr., City License Collector Mike McMillan, governor candidate Jay Nixon as well as hundreds of others, from party leaders, like Party Chairman John Temporiti to numerous party operatives.

PubDef was invited to the event by Missouri Democratic Party Exec. Ken Franklin.

Gehpardt kicked off things with a thumping speech that exalted Democrats and bashed Republicans, especially the current president.

And the barbs didn’t stop there. Sen. McCaskill peppered her speech with a series of old age jokes about Republican presidential candidate John McCain. And Carnahan, Clay Sr., Nixon and State Auditor Susan Montee all had terse words for the opposition while praising Missouri Dems. and predicting success statewide and nationally.

In an unscientific count by PubDef, the number of Democrats wearing Obama buttons versus Clinton buttons was near 3-to-1. Most attendees simply wore party emblems and pins, but for those who did don a pro-presidential candidate button or sticker, Obama was the clear winner.