"IT'S GOOD TO BE THE KING"

August 18, 2006

The new policy would not appear to exclude tax breaks from going to a proposed ethanol plant in which the governor's brother is an investor - though it is not clear if the plant is seeking any discretionary tax breaks.

Show Me Ethanol LLC wants to build an $80 million ethanol plant in Carroll County. It is being structured to be owned by a majority of farmers, though one of the investors is a non-farming company called Central Missouri Biofuels LLC, which the governor's brother Andy Blunt helped found.

http://www.dra.gov/media/article_detail.aspx?articleID=212

Yes, it's "Good to be the King." Or, the brother of the King, Andy Blunt. Didn't our "esteemed" guv state that "he had no direct connections to anyone in the ethanol business?" Except some cousin that was once or twice removed.

Yet, the Guv's brother, Andy, helped found Central Missouri Biofuels, that is the backer in an ethanol plant in Carroll County, MO.

And the Guv's sister, Amy Blunt, was recently hired by one of Missouri's top heavy hitter law firms that has, as one of their specialties, helping in the formation of Limited Liability Corporations(LLC). LLCs are popular because, similar to a corporation, owners have limited personal liability for the debts and actions of the LLC. Other features of LLCs are more like a partnership, providing management flexibility and the benefit of pass-through taxation.

In other words, long after that Webster County ethanol plant is gone and the owners have walked away with millions of dollars in their pockets, some of it tax money, the people of Webster County and the Ozarks will be left with the cleanup bill from the now toxic waste site.

The owners will walk away, laughing all the way to the bank, thanks to their LLC.

And the Blunt's? Off to bigger and better fish to fry.

http://pview.findlaw.com/view/3428042_1?noconfirm=0#AOPs