Shane Schoeller's surprising voter comparison.

We always suspected that Schoeller's voter id law, the hinge pin of his Secretary of State campaign was lifted straight from the ALEC playbook.

Schoeller, who has been on the government payroll almost all his adult life (8 years as member of Missouri house, prior to that field representative for Senator John Ashcroft and Senator Kit Bond, Legislative Assistant for Congressman Roy Blunt and Chief Administrative Aide to Secretary of State Matt Blunt)has been a frequent shill for the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) in Missouri.

He was heavily involved in HCR53 which was filed last session in the Missouri House in response to a judge’s ruling that the ballot summary written by GOP leaders for their suppression measure was misleading to voters. The resolution is sponsored by Rep. Shane Schoeller. The GOP ballot language intended to “to suppress the votes of young people, minorities, poor people, elderly people and disabled people.

From the Huffington Post 07/27/2012:

A Republican candidate for Missouri secretary of state sent out a tweet Thursday that compared voter identification to ID cards used in schools so students can eat lunch.

State House Speaker Pro Tempore Shane Schoeller (R-Willard) tweeted that students could not receive lunch without an ID card and that he would similarly like Missouri voters to have to show an ID card to vote. His tweet was accompanied by a picture of a sign that said students needed an ID card for lunch.

The Huffington Post could not find out where the photo came from. Schoeller's campaign did not return a message left for comment.

Missouri's legislature adopted a voter ID law in 2006 that was later struck down by the state Supreme Court. Schoeller has been pushing for a statewide constitutional amendment requiring a voter ID. In April, Schoeller told HuffPost that his voter ID bill would not disenfranchise military voters, which had been claimed by opponents.

Schoeller is locked in a three-way battle for the GOP secretary of state nomination against Sen. Bill Stouffer (R-Napton) and Sen. Scott Rupp (R-Wentzville). The winner of the Aug. 7 primary will face Rep. Jason Kander (D-Kansas City) to replace retiring secretary of state Robin Carnahan (D).

Stouffer has also pushed for the voter ID constitutional amendment. Schoeller is seen as the GOP frontrunner in the race, while Stouffer was reported this week to have received more than $110,000 in free billboard advertisements around the state following his strong support for pro-billboard legislation in the Senate.

Schoeller's tweet has received 10 retweets along with one visible reply opposing his statement. Caleb-Michael Files of Portland, Ore., tweeted in response to Schoeller that the lunch cards also include lunch money on it -- like debit cards -- giving the cards a practical use.

Frequent Bus riders will recall Roy Blunt lamenting in a fundraising letter sent on Shane's behalf that Shane spent $10,121 more than he raised to retain his seat.. Of course, most of that went to donations to other Republican candidates.

And of course we all remember Shane's fiery fundraising letter where he told us how the hair stood up on the back of his head---"Does it seem wrong you that unproductive and wrong-headed policies are about all we see from Washington," This is called 'pandering to the base'.

It was about this time --2010 campaign season-- that Shane hired then fired former Missouri Speaker of the House Rod Jetton, he of the Green Balloons fame, to run his campaign. (Birther Jones, the presumptive speaker, almost makes Jetton look normal.)

And this, from 2008, is MOST Peculiar!

From April, 2012, is this report about Shane and Eric partying in New Orleans on ALEC's dime. Is it any wonder that Shane is carrying ALEC's water on the voter id issue? (We're saving Burlinson's comments on state worker's health care for a later time).

VOTER ID laws are designed to dis-enfranchise and discourage voters. Schoeller is wrong for pushing this issue. THE MISSOURI SUPREME COURT SAID THAT PHOTO ID IS “A HEAVY AND SUBSTANTIAL BURDEN ON MISSOURIAN’S FREE EXERCISE OF THE RIGHT OF SUFFRAGE.”