Sarah Steelman Campaign Operative Tied to Humane Society of the United States

Just over 24 hours ago, the Sarah Steelman campaign launched a whisper campaign led by her press secretary Patrick Tuohey. Tuohey personally called bloggers hoping they would smear John Brunner whose charitable fund was in question for making a donation to the Humane Farming Association five years ago. Brunner explained he didn't personally make the donation.

“As a young child, my father taught me the value of charitable giving and I passed those same, important, values on to my children," Brunner said in the statement. "In that spirit, I set up the Brunner Foundation to encourage my children to become active in charity. I made it clear that each of them could give to the charity of their choice and that it would remain, solely, each child’s individual decision. In 2007, one of my children chose as a beneficiary the Humane Farming Association. I am extremely proud of my children, but, as with most families, I do not always agree with their choices or decisions.”


This has led to an interesting development. It turns out the same campaign ready to fling dirt at John Brunner may be showing their hypocritical side once again. It turns out the Steelman press secretary has ties to the radical left wing group Humane Society of the United States, which targeted Nixa's Dollarhite family for raising rabbits, a news story BBCW broke last year.

It's Patrick Tuohey who raises questions here, the same campaign operative who called me multiple times yesterday and was even dumb enough to leave a message on my cell phone. It turns out this new addition to the Steelman campaign was involved in the Human Society of the United State's Your Vote Counts Campaign. This of course was the tyrannical attempt to label all dog breeders as evil in the state of Missouri. You may remember it as Proposition B.

We have multiple examples tonight where Steelman's press secretary sided with Humane Society of the United States including an article he wrote in support of Your Vote Counts Act after Proposition B in which he labels his own Citizens in Charge was in support of Your Vote Counts.

Now it could be Mr. Tuohey could just be a guy like me who loves dogs and wants the best for our four-legged friends. However, it appears Mr. Tuohey has a financial interest in HSUS as an employee and took money from Humane Society of the United States through their Your Vote Counts campaign.

According to a Missouri Ethics Commission campaign finance report, Patrick Tuohey had expenses reimbursed from Your Vote Counts. If Tuohey had expenses reports, he obviously was working for Humane Society of the United States.

To make this even more interesting, Steelman has always had close ties with Jeff Roe. Roe of course is closely tied to Tuohey on multiple issues in Missouri, was the political consulting hired by the Humane Society of the United States to run the campaign in Missouri.

So we have a case here where the Steelman Campaign plays a card slinging dirt against John Brunner with trumped up charges as her own campaign is heavily connected to the same people John Brunner works to defend his honor and innocence. Hypocrisy is nothing new for Sarah Steelman.

The Sarah Steelman Memo #2