DIGGING INTO MAMTEK MESS — ‘Records: Mo. officials cautioned about Mamtek,’ AP: “Missouri economic development officials were made aware of concerns about a Chinese artificial sweetener manufacturer several months before they announced they had awarded the company millions of dollars of incentives to build a factory in Moberly. The emails raising the red flags were publicly released Tuesday by a Missouri House committee investigating whether government officials and private financial advisers failed to thoroughly research Mamtek U.S. Inc. before committing state and local incentives to the company.

“Construction halted this fall on the partially built Mamtek factory after the company’s financing fell apart and it failed to make a payment on $39 million in bonds issued by Moberly to finance the building. The state had pledged an additional $17 million in incentives, but those weren’t paid because the project collapsed before the state aid was triggered. The Missouri attorney general’s office and the federal Securities and Exchange Commission are now investigating the Mamtek deal. While seeking government incentives, Mamtek said it had developed proprietary technology and begun manufacturing the artificial sweetener sucralose in China. The company said it wanted to expand production in the U.S., and its project was presented to 12 Midwestern states by former Missouri Gov. Bob Holden, who is chairman of the Midwest U.S.-China Association, which promotes trade between the countries. The Missouri Department of Economic Development then offered the “… [S]tate economic development officials asked for a background check to be conducted on Mamtek by Armstrong Teasdale attorney Edward Li, who is a Chinese trade consultant for the Missouri Department of Agriculture. In an April 13, 2010 email to two Department of Economic Development officials, Li said that Mamtek’s plant in Fujian Province, China, had never started to manufacture artificial sweetener… In May, Department of Economic Development project manager Lynne Shea asked Li to check out other potential addresses for Mamtek in Hong Kong, noting that the company claimed to be producing a product in China. Li responded that there were no manufacturing plants at those addresses. It’s unclear whether the Department of Economic Development took any additional steps to verify that Mamtek actually had a production facility in China. … [OUTGOING] Department Director David Kerr is scheduled to testify Wednesday before the committee.”

— Rudi Keller: ‘Moberly officials say state didn’t share key Mamtek findings,’ Columbia Tribune: “In early 2010, the state was having trouble verifying Mamtek’s claims about its China operations at the same time it was working with Moberly to finance the company’s Missouri project. The state never shared with Moberly emails from its representative in China that said he could not find the factory Mamtek claimed had been making artificial sweetener for it for years, Moberly Area Economic Development Corp. President Corey Mehaffy told a House committee today. … The project’s failure has sparked federal and state investigations into possible criminal and civil violations, as well as the House committee inquiry. A Senate committee also will hold hearings next month.”  

MOGOP’s Lloyd Smith weighs in: “It is clear that the people of Moberly were the victims of Jay Nixon’s incompetence and lack of due diligence, which directly led to the devastating and costly collapse of the Mamtek project.  It is unconscionable that the Nixon administration pushed the project to Moberly and then kept city officials in the dark about critically important information that could have averted this disaster.” 

WILL HE DO IT —  ‘Another Switcheroo for Martin?,’ National Journal’s Hotline: “Missouri Republican Ed Martin told KMOX radio in St. Louis on Tuesday that he is considering abandoning his House bid to run for governor. ‘I believe Jay Nixon is one of the worst governors of Missouri,’ Martin said, according to PoliticMO. ‘Serious people who care should consider [a run] when they’re asked.’  A clue that Martin might be considering yet another switch — he was a Senate candidate earlier this year before switching to the 2nd District House race — appeared on Monday. On Sunday night, an email was circulated from an group calling itself ‘Missourians for a Conservative Governor,’ which took aim at Dave Spence, the GOP businessman who is currently the only Republican running against Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon. PolitcMO made a great catch on Monday, finding that a top aide to Martin was the author in the Word file’s properties.” http://bit.ly/vAtuee

— Dave Catanese: “[W]ith Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder stepping aside, Republicans are left without a clear frontrunner to confront first-term Democrat Jay Nixon to fill out the top of the ticket. Businessman Dave Spence is in the contest with the support of Kinder and his team, but Auditor Tom Schweich is also considering the race and Martin made clear the option remains on the table. Especially if Wagner looks like she’s running away with the 2nd District.” http://bit.ly/rZ6zsi

— And this, in PoliticMo: “State Auditor Tom Schweich is also considering a run, Republican sources tell PoliticMo. Martin said he has urged Schweich to run, but would not say whether or not he would run if Schweich did.”   

GOOD WEDNESDAY MORNING, and welcome to PoliticMo Rundown. Send your tips, comments, and scoops to eli@politicmo.com. 

GOV. JAY NIXON will be in St. Louis to announce new state support for Teach For America. The announcement will take place at Soldan High School. Later in the day, Nixon will be in Lee’s Summit to announce 125 new jobs by “a global information technology company,” says his office.

SEN. ROY BLUNT holds his weekly press call today at 10:30 CT. 

SEN. CLAIRE MCCASKILL, SEN. PAT TOOMEY announce their bipartisan legislation to permanently ban earmarks at a news conference in Washington today at 9:30 CT. Per WaPo: “Members of the House and the Senate attempted to pack hundreds of special spending provisions into at least 10 bills in the summer and fall, less than a year after congressional leaders declared a moratorium on earmarks. … The moratorium, announced last November in the House and in February in the Senate, is a verbal commitment by the Republican leadership to prohibit lawmakers from directing federal funds to handpicked projects and groups in their districts. Two senators have publicly called out their colleagues and will introduce legislation Wednesday that would ban earmarking with the force of law. ‘I have heard too many appropriators say informally that they are very hopeful that we can get back to earmarking in the future with few restrictions,’ said Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), who is co-authoring the bill with Sen. Patrick J. Toomey (R-Pa.). ‘That has come out of the mouths of Democrats and Republicans.’” 

— John Brunner spox John Hancock pregames: “Claire McCaskill is a career politician who plays the Washington game of telling the voters she opposes something and then supports it anyway. Claire McCaskill wasted $1 trillion on ObamaClaire, $825 billion on the failed stimulus and billions more voting for thousands of earmarks for things like manure research and tattoo removal.  If Missourians want a career politician who says one thing in Missouri, and does another in Washington, that’s Claire McCaskill.” 

ROE’S RISE — ‘Jeff Roe evolves into a mainstream player in politics,’ Steve Kraske: “These days, Roe and his firm, Axiom Strategies, are operating far beyond their Kansas-Missouri base. In the 2011-2012 election cycle, Roe will work on 29 congressional races from Florida to Washington state. He has moved from a Grand Boulevard office to 3,300-square-foot headquarters in a tony Briarcliff complex complete with big-screen TVs and a commanding view of downtown Kansas City. His staff has at least doubled, from the eight or so who were with him in 2008 to 17 today. Not only has Roe gone national, he’s gone presidential. … 

“Just a few years ago, stories about some of Roe’s punch-in-the-gut political tactics were a regular topic of gossip among campaign insiders. There were instances of Dumpster diving when Roe’s minions would sift through an opposing candidate’s household garbage to find something embarrassing. There were stories about Roe employees dashing out of the nighttime shadows to snap photos for use in unflattering campaign fliers. The thing was, Roe admitted it all. … Those nasty-boy stories have begun to fade, chalked up to a young professional trying to gain a foothold. And onetime critics have softened their views. … 

“He insists he drives himself, and his staff, as hard as ever before, although he doesn’t take the races and their outcomes as personally. … A life-threatening illness last year involving a staph infection in one of his legs proved to be a change agent. ‘I don’t hate as many people as I used to,’ he said. Roe has won respect from many of the candidates he tried to elect, whether they won or lost. … 

“Running Graves’ campaigns and handling much of his congressional business, such as preparing franked mail pieces, have provided a financial foundation for Roe and ultimately a set of connections that allowed him to begin handling campaigns in far-flung corners of America. There’s Joe Walsh’s campaign in Illinois, Chuck Fleischmann’s in Tennessee and Allen West’s in Florida. These days, Roe also does work for national conservative groups, such as Americans for Prosperity. Meantime, Roe’s wife, Melissa, earns about $90,000 a year as Graves’ deputy chief of staff. She was also Mrs. Missouri 2010. Roe is one of the few consultants anywhere who juggles multiple races in multiple states. He does the same thing at the state legislative level, where he handled direct mail for 25 candidates in Arkansas in 2010 and 30 in Missouri. Roe’s style is heavy on big, bold graphics and big, bold pictures. … 

“In addition to all his out-of-state races, Roe next year will work multiple statewide campaigns in Missouri, issue races and the re-election bids of Graves and Yoder. Weekend work and 12-hour days are routine. In the office, he chews Red Man Golden Blend tobacco and paces. His ultimate goal remains unchanged: to oversee a presidential bid. ‘I want to run campaigns that really matter,’ he said.” http://bit.ly/rDQx7r

REPORTERS ‘ARE PEOPLE, TOO, MY FRIEND’ — Bob Priddy explains, ‘Oops’: “Reporters love it when something just falls into their laps. A little while ago we got an email from Christy Bertelson, the former Information Minister for Governor Nixon who has been promoted to the position of Senior Policy Adviser and Chief Speech Writer for the governor. We can’t comment about her ability as a policy adviser because we don’t know what she’s advising the governor to do and whether he adheres to her advice. But, based on some of the speeches we’ve heard the governor read, she’s pretty good as a speech writer. … 

“Ms. Bertelson sent out this message this afternoon: ‘All — One of the perennial themes in the state of the state address is smarter, more efficient and effective state government. Are there any new efficiency initiatives, or updates, that jump to mind for 2011 that would be important to include in this speech?’ … We alertly figured out that she had not intended to send this begging for bragging points message to us. Being cunning and sly in addition to being alert we decided not to respond and to wait instead for those she intended to receive the message to hit the “reply all” button. But, alas, there also was an alert person somewhere in the administration who discovered what had happened. So a few minutes later an email arrived from her labeled ERROR. … 

“DRAT! There went all the fun not to mention the hoped-for chance that we might write a story about the State of the State speech almost two months before it is given. We didn’t want her to feel too badly about her faux pas, so we replied to the second message: ‘Oh no, that’s not a problem for us, Christy. No apology is necessary. It wasn’t inconvenient at all. In fact, we’d welcome the opportunity to participate. – bp’ … Keep in touch, Christy. It’s always good to accidentally hear from you.” 

TAX CHANGES —  ‘Group drops two more versions of plan to replace income tax with sales tax,’ by Jo Mannies, who has REALLY been on top of the Sinquefield tax proposals, and the debate surrounding them for the Beacon: “Let Voters Decide, the chief campaign group for the effort to replace Missouri’s income tax with a sales tax, dropped its suit today challenging the state’s cost estimates for two versions of the group’s proposed initiative-petition wordings. The suit was withdrawn because the group on Monday withdrew those two versions, leaving two remaining approved versions that can be circulated to get on the 2012 ballot.  The group already has begun collecting signatures on one of them. … The latest withdrawals leave Let Voters Decide with two versions approved by the secretary of state’s office for circulation. … Let Voters Decide has until May 6 to submit petitions that have been signed by minimums of 147,000 to almost 160,000 registered voters. The signatures have to be collected from at least six of the state’s nine congressional districts. The number of signatures depends on which six districts are selected.” 

FLOOD RECOVERY — ‘Graves to Participate in Hearing to Assess Missouri River Flooding,’ Nexstar’s St. Joseph channel: “ Congressman Sam Graves will participate in a hearing held on Wednesday to review the response and management of this summer’s Missouri River flooding as part of the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment. The Army Corps of Engineers is in the process of writing their 2012 operating plan for the basin, and the flood of 2011 will serve as a source of many lessons learned as they work to determine a plan to operate the system in the coming year. … The hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. Wed. Nov. 30, in Washington D.C.” 

REDISTRICTING — ‘Redistricting challenge to get day in court,’ Missouri News Horizon: “A pair of legal challenges to Missouri’s new Congressional map is headed to court next week. A Dec. 8 trial date has been set in Cole County District Court for two combined lawsuits that allege constitutional inequities in the Congressional map drawn-up by state lawmakers last spring. … Regardless of the outcome of the next week’s trial, it’s anticipated that the case will eventually be appealed to the State Supreme Court.” http://bit.ly/vaNR2h

SUPREME COURT INTRIGUE — ‘Supreme Court Judge Draper uses home for office,’ Virginia Young: “Missouri’s newest Supreme Court judge, George Draper, won’t be moving to Jefferson City. Draper last week designated his home in Chesterfield as his ‘official station,’ or main office. By making that choice, Draper is entitled to state reimbursement for his mileage when he travels to and from the capital. The court holds oral arguments most weeks from September to May. The judges also meet for conferences on cases. … The law says an appellate judge’s ‘official station’ can be the courthouse where the appeals court meets, the local courthouse in the judge’s home county, or ‘any other office’ in the judge’s home county. In addition to Draper, at least three other current Supreme Court judges — Zel Fischer, Laura Denvir Stith and Richard Teitelman — have chosen to locate their main offices in their home counties. … Most of those offices, by the way, include a Murphy bed to accommodate a judge’s overnight stays. That dates back to the days when there were few hotels available in the capital and judges stayed in the courthouse for a month at a time.”

EDITORIAL — ‘Missouri should take politics out of legislative redistricting,’ Post-Dispatch: “For years, some Missouri Republicans have been at war with judges. They have decried the nonpartisan plan that tries to keep politics out of judicial selection. They have lamented rulings they disagreed with, abusing the phrase ‘activist judges.’ But now, in a twist of irony, six of those judges hold the fate of those very Republicans (and Democrats, too) in their hands. We’ll see how nonpartisan they really are. … In many cases, lawmakers do a terrible job. Democrats and Republicans cut deals to draw safe districts for each other’s party, often creating districts with absurd boundaries. It’s one reason, at the congressional district level, why incumbents are so hard to beat. In Missouri, though individual state legislators are term-limited, skewed districts mean the same party tends to maintain control of the same districts year after year. Fixing the legislative redistricting process would go a long way to making the Missouri Legislature less partisan, more accountable to voters and less likely to be tainted by corruption. … 

“Our hope is that the judges, state and federal, do what lawmakers all over the nation should have done from the beginning: Look to Iowa. Iowa is the only state in the nation that leaves politics almost entirely out of the redistricting process. The nonpartisan Iowa Legislative Services Agency redraws the political boundaries following strict guidelines meant to keep communities together. Cities and counties rarely are split. The only part of the process that is political is that the General Assembly must approve the final map, which it nearly always does.” http://bit.ly/u9JRVG

VIDEO — Sarah Steelman on ‘Your World with Neil Cavuto’ on Fox News yesterday. http://fxn.ws/rXJQEM

ON THE ONION — ‘U.S. Adds 4 Million Jobs But In St. Louis,’ The Onion: “The Labor Department reported Monday that the U.S. economy created a staggering 4 million jobs in October, though government officials hastened to add that the new positions are all located in the St. Louis metropolitan area. “New employment opportunities are emerging in the fields of engineering, medicine, and manufacturing, but, to be clear, one would have to move to and live in St. Louis to fill these openings,’ said government spokesperson Stephanie Bergsen, noting that the city has a high crime rate and not much in the way of culture, so be sure to take that into consideration. 

“’Though this much- needed job growth would bring our unemployment rate down to a far more manageable six and a half percent, at the end of the day, it’s St. Louis, so…’ Republicans strategists are reportedly already planning to use President Obama’s record of creating 4 million jobs in St. Louis as the basis for numerous attack ads.”

SPORTZZZ — ‘$5 Northwestern State Men’s Hoops Tickets on Sale,’ MU Athletics: “The Mizzou Department of Athletics has announced that upper level tickets for the Men’s Basketball game against Northwestern State are now on sale for $5. Friday’s game (Dec. 2) will be held at 7 p.m. in Mizzou Arena. Tickets can be purchased by calling 1-800-CAT PAWS (884-PAWS in mid-Missouri) or by stopping in at the Mizzou Arena Ticket Office. … The Mizzou Men’s Basketball team is on fire this season as the team has a record of 6-0 and sits in the No. 13 spot in both the AP Top 25 and ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll.  This is the first time since 2006-07 that the Tigers have been 6-0 during the regular season.”