Blunt's chief of staff politicized his office

As chief of staff to Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt, Ed Martin turned the office into a political operation, using his position to galvanize special-interest groups on issues such as abortion and the judiciary, hundreds of e-mails released this week show.

Martin orchestrated campaigns last year to "blow up" the nonpartisan court plan and discredit Attorney General Jay Nixon's defense of an abortion law, according to the e-mails.

However, Martin's attack on the judicial selection system backfired when Blunt chose Patricia Breckenridge to fill a Missouri Supreme Court vacancy. For months, Martin had teamed with conservatives to pressure the governor to reject all three nominees.

When Blunt picked Breckenridge, an angry Leonard Leo of the Federalist Society in Washington told Martin: "Your boss is a coward and conservatives have neither time nor patience for the likes of him."

Martin, appointed in August 2006, was Blunt's pugnacious gatekeeper. The St. Louis lawyer and devout Catholic had built a reputation as volatile and fiercely partisan in his work for anti-abortion groups and as head of the St. Louis Election Board.

In August 2007, Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit to overturn an anti-abortion law that imposed more requirements on facilities that perform more than five first-trimester abortions a month.

Martin immediately attacked Nixon, a Democrat who was already running for governor. At the time, Blunt, a Republican, was expected to seek re-election, though he later dropped out of the race.

Martin told Catholic leaders and other conservatives that Nixon, an abortion rights supporter, could not be trusted to defend the abortion law.

"We need to beat the living heck out of him," Martin wrote on Aug. 20.

Martin wrote Kerry Messer of Missouri Family Network: "Please help gin up outrage."

Asked for comment about the released e-mails, Martin sent an email to reporters saying: "My only comment is simply this: I have not yet reviewed the emails that were released."

Last year, Martin defended his political advocacy in the governor's office where he used a state computer on taxpayer time as "appropriate."

"This strikes me as the same when I talk to the press, to community leaders…and even legislators," Martin wrote a reporter.

Martin was also passionate in the fight over the nonpartisan court plan. Under the system, a screening panel nominates three people for appellate judgeships. The governor must choose from that group.

Last year, the commission nominated three Court of Appeals judges: Breckenridge and Ron Holliger of Kansas City and Nannette Baker of St. Louis. Breckenridge had the inside track because she had been appointed to the bench by a Republican governor.

But conservatives were unhappy with her. On July 25, Martin told Republican operatives: "We need to frame her as 'out of the mainstream.'"

Former St. Louis County Circuit Judge Sam Hais, who had applied for the Supreme Court vacancy, weighed in, calling Breckenridge a Democrat: "They really pissed on the governor's shoes with this one," Hais wrote.

Martin tried to hide his role as the architect of the campaign to revamp the nonpartisan plan. For example, he told Leo to "send me an unsolicited email in which you say 'go get 'em governor and we've got your back' that I can forward to the governor?"

On Aug. 6, Martin told Rep. Jim Lembke, R-Lemay, to have a press conference in front of the Supreme Court Building. When Lembke asked for talking points, Martin drafted a speech for Lembke, blasting the plan's secrecy and calling for accountability.

Blunt's chief press aide, Rich Chrismer, said the governor's office also needed to walk Lembke through the "tough questions" such as whether "the governor's office put you up to this? No." Lembke delivered the talking points, as instructed, on the courthouse steps Aug. 7.

Meanwhile, Martin instructed Republican operatives to stay on message and avoid leaks. He asked the Catholic Conference and anti-abortion groups for questions for the judicial candidates.Despite the blitz, the Federalist Society's Leo got wind that Blunt was going to name Breckenridge "unless she flubs the interview or they find a skeleton," Leo wrote. Leo promised that if that happened, "there will be fury from the conservative base the likes of which you and the governor have never seen."

Not all Martin's e-mails chronicle political battles. Other missives are purely personal. For example, he chats with the state's eminent domain ombudsman about what to wear to a football game; suggests the conservation director give him a hunting permit; and asks a health-care lobbyist for ideas to help in a job search for Martin's wife, Carol, a physician.

Even so, by August 2007 — about three months before his abrupt resignation — his personal relations within the governor's office already appeared to be fraying. When selecting a photo of Blunt at a football game, Chrismer told Jessica Robinson, another press aide: "Not the one with Ed." Robinson replied: "I'll just crop him out."

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