KC Buzz Blog

Remember the first day of kindergarten?

   Apparently that's kind of like the seating chart for a president's State of the Union speech. A wild scramble ensued last night and seniority does have its perks.(Apparently the "good" aisle seats to be able to glad-hand on national teeevee the president as he walks in and out of the House Chambers require staking 'em out 12 hours or so beforehand.)

   One of those on the aisle was Sen. Kit Bond, who was next to Penn. Sen. Arlen Specter on the Republican side. His bipartisan display was a blue paisley tie.

  On the Democratic aisle side no, that wasn't Congresman Emanuel Cleaver mauling President Bush last night and saying he was going to pray for him. That was his near twin, Rep. Sanford Bishop.

   A spokesman for Cleaver said Cleaver sat dead center in the Democratic side of the House chambers. Cleaver grabbed a salad beforehand and got to the chambers early. He said he couldn't imagine the pressure the president faced last night.

   Afterward, as Cleaver was on the telephone doing an interview with KCUR-FM, he waved at Sen. Claire McCaskill as she prepared to do an interview with KMBC.

   During the speech, McCaskill was several rows back from Sen. Hillary Clinton, which got her on television a bit. But apparently even closer to her and thus getting more camera time was Congressman Dennis Moore, who is today on The New York Times Web site thanks to this picture.

  He may be in the minority now, but Rep. Roy Blunt was one of the first to make his way to Bush after the speech. Cameras caught him broadly smiling his accolades to Bush. Right behind Blunt, but not seeking Bush out for any back slapping would be Mississippi Sen. Trent Lott, who blamed Bush in part for him losing the title of majority leader. Lott was smiling jovially to everyone else on his way out.

   Getting the biggest post-speech interview from our neck of the woods was McCaskill who charmed MSNBC's Joe Scarborough. (Check it out here). She was rewarded with almost 10 minutes of airtime, a lifetime by teevee standards. The best part of the interview was when she joked about the difficulties in knowing when to stand and clap and when to sit stoically.

   "It's a mess!" she joked, adding it was "silly" the whole "game" about when to stand up.

Posted by DeAnn Smith

T. Graves lauds U.S. Attorney pick

   Former U.S. Attorney Todd Graves said today he wanted to make certain KC Buzz Blog readers know he is delighted with the selection of John Wood as his replacement. He said his mind was elsewhere when asked yesterday about Wood's appointment, but that in no way should reflect on the nomination by President Bush. He said he believes Wood deserves effusive praise.

   "He has had a stellar career. He has had very important positions in D.C. He has clerked for a Supreme Court judge," Graves said. "The guy graduated magna cum laude from Harvard law school and nobody gives that to you."

   Graves said he wishes Wood well and wants to help him however he can.

   "I am thrilled they are going to get political leadership back in that job," he said, adding that will provide important long-term strategic direction for the 120 employees in the office.

Posted by DeAnn Smith

Kanatzar gets an overflow crowd

    New Prosecutor Jim Kanatzar formally took the oath of office this afternoon in a Jackson County courtroom to an overflow crowd. Afterward, a reception was held by the Tim Dollar law firm at a downtown hotel. The Dollar law firm employs Kanatzar's wife, Jill, who glowed throughout the event. Kanatzar was surrounded by family members during the swearing-in festivities. Afterward, his adorable four-year-old son, Sam, clutched his father's hand as they were surrounded by well wishers.

   Mayor Pro Tem Alvin Brooks and former U.S. Attorney Todd Graves were among the overflow crowd spilling out into an outside corridor.

   In an interview, Graves wasn't exactly effusive with praise for John Wood's nomination to replace him as U.S. Attorney. He said Wood appears to be qualified for the job. Wood, the cousin of U.S. Sen. Kit Bond, was recently nominated for the post.  Graves said he likes that Wood has connections to the area. He said such knowledge is important to be able to do the job well.

Posted by DeAnn Smith

Bond won't head UM system

   U.S. Sen. Kit Bond has squelched the rumor that he might become the new president of the University of Missouri system.

   He told the Columbia Tribune Thursday, "There are very few things that we can say definitely these days, but you can definitely kill that one.

    "I have no interest in it," Bond said. UM curators "would have no interest in taking me out of this post."

   That post includes his seat on the Appropriations Committee, a lucrative source of bucks for the UM system.

Posted by Steve Kraske

Bond on the bubble to head MU?

  This from Wonkette:  According to a Wonkette operative who heard this from two different sources, Republican Senator Kit Bond is going to bail on the Hill and become Chief Lord of the University of Missouri. In a dastardly move that won’t change the Balance of Power (unless it also involves somebody sneaking into Tim Johnson’s hospital room), Republican and Missourah Guv Matt Blunt will do a Dick Cheney and appoint himself to the Senate seat.

UPDATE: Roy Temple of FiredUpMissouri.com called to gently chide KC Buzz Blog that his Web site had the Bond rumor two weeks ago. Here's the link.

Posted by Keith Chrostowski

Bond to ding the bell

   U.S. Sen. Kit Bond of Missouri ring-a-ding-dings it tomorrow for the Salvation Army.

   The place: Marshall’s at Zona Rosa.

   The time: 3:30 p.m.

   Beware: The press release notes he'll be encouraging passersby to donate. It's safe to assume that given Bond's record of bringing home the pork to Missouri, he can be fairly persuasive.

Posted by Steve Kraske

Bond on Lamar Hunt

   Sen. Kit Bond issued a statement on the passing of Lamar Hunt:

    "Lamar was a good friend and will be sorely missed. He will be remembered as an innovator who changed the face of professional football. As the founder of the Kansas City Chiefs and a true entrepreneur, Lamar left his mark on Kansas City. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Hunt family."

Posted by Keith Chrostowski

Bond slated to become vice chair of Intel

   AP is reporting that Missouri Sen. Kit Bond will become vice chair of the Intelligence Committee, replacing Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts.

Posted by Keith Chrostowski

Federal "hanging" judge Dean Whipple taking senior status

   Who is going to be the next Johnson County or Jackson County prosecutor is so yesterday's news. The legal community now is buzzing about who will get the really plum gig: a federal judgeship. 

  KC Buzz Blog heard through the grapevine that Federal Judge Dean Whipple had taken senior status and was trying to confirm it. And lo and behold having lunch today at see-and-be-seen Pierpont's was KC NAACP President Anita Russell and U.S. District Judge Fernando Gaitan Jr.

   And Gaitan kindly confirmed that, yes, Whipple's last "full-time" day is April 30 and that he will no longer be chief judge as of Jan. 22. What Gaitan modestly did not mention is that he will be the next chief judge.

   Taking senior status is not the same as retiring. Whipple will still have an office and staff. He can keep any existing cases that he chooses, but will have more say over which new cases he takes. There are already two senior judges and both carry heavy caseloads.

   Whipple is best known as the final judge in the 26-year, $2 billion Kansas City School District desegregation case. He often railed about patronage and micromanagement in the district and when he ended the case he said the district had a long ways to go before becoming a public school system that KC residents could be proud of. He also oversaw the Kansas City Housing Authority case and often provided wry and punchy quotes from the bench in a variety of cases.

   Whipple came to the bench in 1987 through an appointment by President Ronald Reagan. He had served 13 years as a state court judge in the Lake of the Ozarks area. He had previously served as a county prosecutor. 

    Colleague Dan Margolies says Whipple obtained a reputation as a "hanging judge" while on the state court bench, which Whipple confirmed in one of his earliest cases. In December 1988, he sentenced a real estate developer to 10 years in prison for bank fraud charges. In handing down the sentence, Whipple said he wanted to "send a message" to white-collar criminals, says Margolies who covered the sentencing.

   Politicos and attorneys are also curious to see how partisan of a replacement appointment does President Bush make with the Senate now controlled by Democrats. But several attorneys and politicos said today that Sen. Kit Bond, a Missouri Republican, is good about making sure the president nominates a well-qualified candidate.

  Of course, incoming Sen. Claire McCaskill can have her say and put a hold on anyone she objects to (remember Ronnie White?). Which brings to mind an election-eve comment from Bond about how important a Jim Talent win was to him: "I've tried it with my vote being canceled on every important issue I've worked on."

   Look for a story from reporter Mark Morris in Thursday's Star about Whipple.

Posted by DeAnn Smith

Don't stand so close to me

   Incoming Virginia Sen. James Webb apparently had no interest in getting photographed with or chit-chatting with President Bush at a recent reception and icily let him know, according to a Washington Post report. Senators and their staff are trying to figure out this unusual political character.

   But memo to Overland Park native and Virginia Gov. Timothy Kaine who in the same article proclaimed that Webb will be the only senator who faces everyday anxieties about a son on the front lines of Iraq. Ever heard of a guy named Kit Bond? The Missouri senator's son, Lt. Sam Bond of the U.S. Marines Corps, has done duty in Iraq and the day before the senior Bond's Iraq visit earlier this year five members of the officer's unit were killed.

Posted by DeAnn Smith

Bond: It's all DeLay's fault

     Missouri Sen. Kit Bond blasted corruption in Republican ranks this morning, blaming the congressional atmosphere fostered by former House Majority Leader Tom Delay for much of the GOP’s election night debacle.
    Noting that he had seen Delay on television saying Republicans lost the House -- and maybe the Senate -- because the party abandoned its core principles, Bond said: "Nobody better exemplifies that than Tom Delay."
    "If anything, this was a vote against the Tom Delay regime…golf trips, partisanship, midnight redistricting," Bond said. “People saw that as not playing the game fairly. Nobody tolerates scandals. Nobody should."

Posted by Matt Stearns

Bond welcomes McCaskill

   KC Buzz Blog ran into Missouri Sen. Kit Bond near the hotel lobby in St. Louis this morning. Bond put a lot of money and a lot of effort into trying to help re-elect fellow Republican Sen. Jim Talent.

   That was before election day.

   "I had a good conversation with Sen.-elect McCaskill this morning," Bond said. "We intend to work together for the good of the people of Missouri...As I told her when we talked, bipartisanship is the only way I've ever got anything done in Washington."

   First up:  Bond and wife Linda will get together for dinner with McCaskill and husband Joe Shepard, whom Bond said he has known "very well" for close to 20 years.

Posted by Matt Stearns

Kit Bond: Smells like 1986

    Nobody seems to be having more fun on the GOP side than Missouri's irascible senior senator, Kit Bond. The close Senate race between Jim Talent and Claire McCaskill has brought out Bond's podium-pounding inner political animal.

   Traveling with Talent Monday on the race's last campaign day, Bond reminded supports that back in 1986, the polls showed him down three points to his Democratic opponent. Like this year, it was a Democratic year. Like this year, it was the sixth year of a Republican president's term.

   "Man, I felt like a salmon swimming upstream, all these bodies coming at me," Bond said at a rally in Columbia.

   Seven Republican senators lost that year. Bond won.

   "Not because I was so good-looking and so smart, but because you worked so hard," Bond told party volunteers.

Posted by Matt Stearns

Last-day roundups

   The latest AP reports on:

    Talent, McCaskill

    Ryun, Boyda

Posted by Keith Chrostowski

Kit Bond: Hey Carl! This Bud's for you (not!)

    Missouri Sen. Kit Bond is a huuuge St. Louis Cardinals fan - check here and here - so he's got a wager going with Michigan Sen. Carl Levin on the outcome of the Cards-Tigers World Series. (Bond called the Cards NLCS win the biggest October surprise of the season).

   The wager: Dinner for the staff.

    If St. Louis wins, Levin is ponying up a dinner of Michigan-made Kowalski Sausages and Black Star wine.

  If Detroit wins - perish the thought - Bond will buy Levin's staff something called Super Smokers St. Louis Style BBQ (note from Kansas City: St. Louis Style BBQ? Ummm, whatever, Kit), to be washed down with good old Budweiser.

   For a Friday afternoon giggle, check out Kit's slugging stylings.

Posted by Matt Stearns

North Korea: What they're saying

  House Majority Whip Roy Blunt:  "The idea of a nuclear-armed North Korea should concern everyone in the civilized world...Dangerous weapons are now in the hands of a regime with a proven record of proliferation and hostility towards its neighbors...Now is the time for the world community to demonstrate its resolve in stopping nuclear proliferation."

    Sen. Kit Bond:   "An outlaw regime with a nuclear capability and the ability to transfer weapon technology to other countries such as Iran, or non-state terrorist groups, cannot be tolerated...We must confront this threat to restore regional and global stability, as well as protect the long-term safety and security of the American people."   

   Sen. Sam Brownback: "We will fight tyranny with freedom. We call on all freedom-loving nations around the world, especially the United States, to take every North Korean refugee that legally seeks entry into their country...Over a million North Korean refugees have died of starvation, and it will only get worse, as this rogue regime isolates itself further from the world while more and more people flee such a desperate situation."

Posted by David Goldstein       

Please Mr. Postman

  In an era of often divisive politics, one federal agency's cost-cutting move has managed to bring bipartisan opposition from Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, a Democrat, and Republican Senators Kit Bond and Jim Talent.

   After getting a call from Jackson County Ex Katheryn Shields, Cleaver became so angry at the decision of the agency that he went, er, postal, calling it "customer disservice." Bond fired off a letter to federal officials making clear his concerns. And Talent offered any assistance possible to Jackson County to get its service restored.

    One Jackson County judge joked that if the county went to court to stop the move he would sign a temporary restraining order blocking it.

  What has 'em all up in arms? And did the federal agency back down in the face of Congressional outrage or just postpone the inevitable?  You'll have to read tomorrow's Star to know, or check The KC Buzz Blog in the morning.

   Posted by DeAnn Smith

A chill in the air

   The Missouri Press Association is worried that Sen. Kit Bond wants to chill the ability of government whistleblowers to leak important information that public officials don't want you to know.

   Bond introduced a bill this month that would make it easier to prosecute leaks of classified information. The association, which represents most of the state's newspapers, told him by letter last week that his bill could prevent the public from learning about "government wrongdoing, waste and mismanagement."

    "A delicate balance is continually sought between the public's right to know and the need of the government to protect secrets," the letter stated.

    Bond proposed the bill in response to recent newspaper disclosures about secret government efforts to track the financial dealings of terrorists and acquire Americans' telephone records.

    Defending his bill, Bond wrote in an op-ed piece that it's only intended to cover government employees or contractors who deliberately leak classified material to unauthorized people. "It does not affect the media, business, or private citizens...We must send a message that leaks will not be tolerated."

Posted by David Goldstein   

Talent and Bond on Iraq

    "To pull out now or to set an artificial timeline on withdrawl - especially after the victories of the last few weeks - would imperil everything the sacrifice that our service men and women has gained [sic]," Sen. Jim Talent, a Missouri Republican, said today. "We are winning, not just in Iraq, but in the larger global war on terror...The question is whether we have the resolution to win."

    During Wednesday's debate, Sen. Kit Bond invoked his son, Sam, a Marine.   

    "My only son returned from Iraq over a year ago and is preparing to go back. When I told him we were going to have this debate, I said, 'What's your view on it?'"

    Then Bond read his son's e-mail reply: "'In case anyone has been paying attention, there is progress being made. (Abu Musab al-Zarqawi) indicated as much in the confiscated letters around the time of his death. If al Qaeda...confesses the U.S. is having good success, who here has the understanding to contradict...I'm not wild about going back to Iraq. But I'd sure as heck rather do that than essentially invalidate every we've done to date by leaving too early and inviting chaos. Happy Father's Day.'"

Posted by David Goldstein

Republicans in Love

    Capitol Hill's most-fun fashionista bids adieu to the single life this weekend.

   Shana Stribling, Sen. Kit Bond of Missouri's No. 2 spokeswoman, marries fellow Hill staffer Sam Marchio, who works for Rep. Sherwood Boehlert of New York (also a Republican).

    The nuptials take place in Stribling's notably romantic hometown of Jefferson City.

    KC Buzz Blog laments its invitation was lost in the mail but wishes Stribling and Marchio the best of luck.

Posted by Matt Stearns 2:30 p.m.

Bond takes his Guard battle to the floor

   Missouri Sen. Kit Bond and strange-bedfellow ally Pat Leahy of Vermont think the National Guard gets no respect. They introduced a bill earlier this year to give the Guard more juice in the byzantine halls of the Pentagon, including a seat on the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

   Predictably, the status-quo lovin' military brass balked.

    Thursday, Bond and Leahy introduced much of the bill as an amendment to a defense bill. A vote will likely occur next week. Stay tuned...

Posted by Matt Stearns 4 p.m.

They've got the power - sort of

   This just in: Republican Pat Roberts of Kansas is the 24th most powerful senator and Kit Bond of Missouri is No 30. At the other end of the scale, Democrat Emanuel Cleaver turned up fourth from the bottom in the House. But he's a freshman in the minority party, after all.

    To find the rankings of every senator and House member, go to http://congress.org, site of a new report by Knowlegis, a Virgina company that tracks Congress. It measured lawmakers' clout by committee assignments, leadership roles, bills passed, media time and more.

     Check The Star tomorrow for a detailed report on the rankings.

Posted by David Goldstein 12:40 p.m. 

Leahy v. Bond

Missouri GOP Sen. Kit Bond, a member of the Intelligence Committee, and Vermont Democratic Sen. Pat Leahy appeared on PBS's "NewsHour" Thursday night debating the NSA domestic phone database program. Transcript here.

Posted by Keith Chrostowski 9:20 a.m.