'Titans' Nixon, Spence gird for gubernatorial race

By James R. Campbell

Nevada Daily Mail

You won't need to watch late night TV to see "Clash of the Titans" this fall. You can see the political version in the dustup between Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon and Republican Dave Spence, who are logging big contributions and spending as furiously as Perseus and Calibos settled their differences in the 1981 movie.

Of course, you get conflicting versions of which one is the hero, but that is up to you to decide in early voting starting Sept. 25 and in the Nov. 6 election.

In reports to the Missouri Ethics Commission July 16 and 30, Nixon said he had accepted $12,173,575 in contributions, spent $5,095,874 and started the race against Spence with $7,603,044 cash on hand.

Spence, a former St. Louis packaging company owner who beat three opponents in his Aug. 7 primary, had taken in $4,304,149, spent $3,992,331 and opened the fall contest with $1,171,538.

Having had no serious opposition in his primary, Nixon said his top contributions were $400,000 from the United Auto Workers' Region 5 Political Action Committee of Hazelwood; $228,483, St. Louis attorneys Carey, Danis & Lowe; $167,364, Kansas City lawyers Davis, Ketchmark & McCreight; $106,460, Missouri Democratic State Committee; $105,000, Express Scripts, St. Louis; and $100,000, United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing & Pipefitting Industry, Annapolis, Md.

The 56-year-old governor got $66,000 from Fred Palmer, senior vice president of government relations of Peabody Energy in St. Louis; $62,500, Missouri Hospital Association; $60,000 each, AT&T Missouri, St. Louis; and CHIPP (Carpenters Helping in the Political Process), St. Louis; $54,500, International Union of Painters & Allied Trades, Hanover, Md.; $50,000, Pyramid Home Health Services, Cape Girardeau; $47,500, Peabody Investments Corp., St. Louis; $33,500, Kansas City attorneys Holman, Schiavone; $32,500 each, Lisa Wendt, San Francisco, Calif; and Smithfield Foods, Smithfield, Va.; $29,500, Associated General Contractors of Missouri; $27,500, agricultural consultant Barry Aycock of Parma; $25,000, International Union of Operating Engineers, Washington, D.C.; and $24,250, Teamsters Local Union No. 41, Kansas City.

Other donations to the Nixon for Missouri campaign are $21,000 each from Jefferson City attorney Joseph Bednar Jr. and United Food & Commercial Workers Union Local 2 of Kansas City; $18,500, Kansas City Realtor Hugh Zimmer; $15,000 each, Archer Daniels Midland food processing company, Decatur, Ill.; UniGroup moving corporation, Fenton; and Hospital Corp. of America Good Government Fund, Jefferson City; $14,601, Springfield attorney Brad Bradshaw; $14,100, Communications Workers of America District 6, St. Louis; $14,000, Kansas City attorneys Boyd & Kenter; $12,500, Bruce Grench, president of Home Delivery Incontinent Supplies, St. Louis; $11,583, Maly Commercial Realty, Columbia; $11,000, Credit Union PAC; $10,750, Kansas City lawyer Albert Riederer; and $10,000 each, KCS Rail PAC; Western Missouri & Kansas Laborers' District Council; Triad Bank, Frontenac; Benson Law Firm, Kirksville; Missouri Energy Development Corp.; and Expedia travel, Bellevue, Wash.; $9,750, MedImmune Biologics, Gaithersburg, Md.

Nixon received $9,500 from the Redfearn Law Firm of Independence; $9,000, Bruce Levinson, CEO of Paramount Apparel, Bourbon; $7,000, Missouri State Council of Machinists, Bridgeton; $6,750, Springfield attorney Randy C. Alberhasky; $6,000, Springfield restaurant executive Mike Hamra; $5,950, Kansas City attorney Stephen Bough; $5,500, St. Louis lawyers Meyerkord & Meyerkord; and $5,000 each, Stephanie Regagnon, government affairs manager of Solutia Inc. waste management, St. Louis; Prewitt's Highway 54 Enterprises real estate development, Eldon; and Kenneth Bell, Bell City.

Most of the governor's money has been spent with Tightline Strategies of St. Louis, Bennett, Petts & Normington researchers of Washington, D.C., Reger Research of Richmond, Va., and The Campaign Group of Philadelphia, Pa. He is seeking a second four-year term.

Spence, 54, told the ethics commission his main contributions have been $102,500 from Steven Trulaske Sr., an executive of True Manufacturing refrigeration equipment company in St. Louis; $50,000 each, Big Sky Properties, St. Louis; Daniel Creston, COO of Alpha Packaging, the St. Louis company in which Spence remains a major shareholder; Carol McLerran, executive, Alpha Packaging; $35,000, Keith Strope, CEO of TricorBraun packaging company, Wildwood; $27,000, Roger Miller, owner of Gateway Packaging, St. Louis; $25,000, Lewis & Clark Regional Leadership Fund, St. Charles; and $20,000 each, James Vaughn, a West Newbury, Mass., solar project developer; Mark Mays, CEO of Clear Channel, San Antonio, Texas; and Drury Development capital corporation, St. Louis.

Spence has gotten $16,400 from DSS construction equipment company in St. Louis; $13,500, Kevin Maher, president of St. Charles Automotive; $10,000 each, Rudolph Farber, Neosho; Eric Schmitt for Senate, Kirkwood; James H. Cooper, Springfield; Jeff Fox, St. Louis; Brinkmann Constructors, Chesterfield; Schnucks Markets food and grocery company, St. Louis; and CNS Corp. securities and commodities exchange, Kansas City.

Other contributions have totaled $7,500 from Chemline Inc. of St. Louis; $6,116, John Gentry, president of Positronics connectors company, Springfield; and $5,000 each, Southeast Holdings, Dexter; H.E. Whitener, CEO of Trailiner, Fair Grove; William Buckner, Marshall; Forest Hills Properties, Washington, Mo.; Douglas Albrecht, chairman of the Bodley Group holding company, St. Louis; and Mark Bumgarner, St. Louis. Spence loaned himself $500,000 on June 30.

Most of his expenditures have been to Dickey Strategic Relations of Atlanta, Ga., Highland Consulting of Jefferson City, polling company Show Me Politics of St. Louis, Upgrade Films of Washington, D.C., strategists at the Barklage Co. in St. Louis, Lindo Notes media consultants, American Viewpoint pollsters of Alexandria, Va., Ozark Consulting pollsters of Columbia, EMK Services pollsters of St. Louis and Thompson Communications of Marshfield, Mo.