KTVI, virtual channel 2, is the Fox-affiliated television station serving the St. Louis, Missouri, designated market area. The station is owned by Local TV LLC, the media arm of private equity firm Oak Hill Capital Partners, under a local marketing agreement with Tribune-owned CW affiliate KPLR (channel 11). The station broadcasts its digital signal on UHF channel 43, using its current former assignment of channel 2 as its virtual digital channel via PSIP. KTVI broadcasts in stereo and broadcasts a Secondary Audio Program (SAP) channel, used mainly for Descriptive Video Service (DVS).

Its transmitter is located in Sappington, Missouri; in a field behind Lindbergh High School. Its studios are located at 2250 Ball Drive in Maryland Heights, Missouri. The station's former studios were located off Interstate 64/U.S. 40 at the intersection of Berthold, Oakland, and Hampton Avenues in the neighborhood of western Clayton-Tamm/Dogtown neighborhood of western St. Louis; that property is now vacant.

KTVI runs about 59 hours a week of locally produced newscasts, as well as first-run prime time and sports programming from Fox. It also runs off-network sitcoms, talk shows, reality shows, sports, and court shows.

History[link]

As a CBS affiliate, then over to ABC[link]

KTVI began on August 10, 1953 as WTVI, channel 54 in Belleville, Illinois; across the Mississippi river from St. Louis, Missouri. It was the St. Louis area's second television station. It was the original CBS affiliate for St. Louis, with a secondary ABC affiliation. Studios were located in Alton.

When KWK-TV (later KMOX-TV and now KMOV, channel 4) signed on and took the CBS affiliation, WTVI dropped CBS and became an ABC affiliate. It moved its studios and license across the Mississippi River to St. Louis on April 9, 1955, keeping the base callsign "TVI" while flipping from "W" to "K", thus KTVI. It also moved to channel 36, carrying some DuMont network programming as well. DuMont went off the air in 1956, making KTVI an exclusive ABC affiliate. Because the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) did not require television sets to be compatible for UHF in those days, KTVI moved to VHF channel 2 on April 15, 1957, where it remains to this day. The station had actually tried to move to channel 2 soon after moving across the Mississippi. The channel 2 allocation had been moved from Springfield, Illinois under pressure from the Truman Administration, originally as not to interfere with CBS-owned WBBM-TV in Chicago. The WTVI calls currently reside on the PBS member station in Charlotte, North Carolina.

For many years, the station was owned by the Newhouse newspaper chain along with the St. Louis Globe-Democrat. In 1978, Newhouse began pulling out of broadcasting, and sold KTVI to Times Mirror, owner of the Los Angeles Times. In 1993, as part of a group deal, KTVI was sold to Argyle Broadcasting along with WVTM-TV in Birmingham, Alabama, KTBC-TV in Austin, Texas and KDFW-TV in Dallas.

As a Fox station[link]

In 1994, the Fox network took over the contract from CBS to carry the National Football Conference game package. This inspired a conglomerate called New World Communications to reach an affiliation agreement with the network by switching all of its stations to Fox in the winter of 1994. Then New World bought out Argyle, and cut another deal to switch KTVI, KDFW and KTBC to Fox affiliation. KTVI was the only ABC affiliate included in the deal.

The new owners moved Fox programming to KTVI on August 7, 1995, allowing the former Fox affiliate, KDNL (channel 30), to become St. Louis' ABC affiliate. New World merged with Fox Television Stations Group in 1996, and KTVI was the first major network O&O in St. Louis since KMOX-TV was sold by CBS to Viacom, and became KMOV in 1986. It stayed that way until 2003 when KPLR-TV (channel 11) was sold to Tribune, a former stakeholder in The WB network. When that network merged into The CW (which Tribune did not hold stake in) in 2006, KTVI went back to being the only network-owned station in town.

With the switch, KTVI became the primary station for the then-recently relocated St. Louis Rams starting that September. Unless aired in primetime, KTVI broadcasts all road games of the Rams, and also all sold-out home games against NFC teams

KTVI didn't pick up Fox Kids at first, so it moved to KNLC (channel 24). However, in the fall of 1996, because Reverend Larry Rice refused to air commercials on Fox Kids and replaced them with ministry messages), Fox pulled Fox Kids from KNLC and moved it to KTVI. KTVI was the only New World station to take Fox Kids. Shortly thereafter, KTVI and the New World Fox affiliates were sold to Fox' parent, News Corporation, becoming Fox O&Os. Programming changed very slightly as Fox began buying more expensive syndicated shows for KTVI.

In the fall of 1998, KTVI reduced the weekday Fox Kids programs to just two hours (from three) and, in 2000, dropped weekday Fox Kids completely while Saturday mornings were continued. At the end of 2001, Fox Kids weekdays ended nationwide, and the weekends were revamped as 4Kids TV. KTVI now airs Fox's entire schedule including Weekend Marketplace; from fall 2006 to its shutdown on December 27, 2008, 4Kids TV aired two hours earlier than most affiliates to accommodate an expanded newscast lineup on Saturday mornings.

On November 1, 1999, KTVI launched its first website. The design was similar to other Fox owned-and-operated sites throughout the country. The site focused on promotional and programming content initially, but as broadband slowly penetrated the market, the online audience shifted from evening dial-up users to a 9-to-5 audience, and the need for news content continued to grow more each year.

KTVI's introduced its current logo on April 10, 2006. The station is the fourth to use this logo style (which is similar to that of the Fox News Channel), which is gradually being adopted by the other Fox O&Os. On September 14, 2006, KTVI switched its website domain name to the MyFox branded site and started what was the largest Fox television online community in the country . On October 15, 2007, KTVI launched a second web site for St. Louis moms called STLMoms.com. The concept for this site spun off from the extremely popular blogging section of the MyFox site.

On December 22, 2007, Fox announced that it had entered into an agreement to sell KTVI and seven other Fox O&O stations^[1] to Oak Hill Capital Partners' Local TV LLC, which currently owns nine stations formerly of The New York Times Company. On July 14, 2008, KTVI officially began operations under Local TV. On June 2, 2008, KTVI created a third website GarageSaleSTL.com, which is a site that posts viewer-submitted garage sales onto a Google map, along with tips on buying and selling. This site is a free service to the public.

On September 17, 2008, Local and Tribune announced that they would merge the operations of both KTVI and KPLR. Both stations will be co-located at KPLR under the management of KTVI GM Spencer Koch. The move was done to allow both stations to combine news operations and share certain programming. The LMA took place on October 1, 2008.^[2] On January 22, 2009, under an agreement with Local TV and Tribune interactive, KTVI debuted its new website in order to distance itself from the MyFox template since the network no longer owns the station.

Digital Television[link]

KTVI-DT began carrying Antenna TV, a digital broadcast network owned by Tribune Broadcasting, upon its launch on January 1, 2011 on digital subchannel 2.2.^[3]

Analog-to-digital conversion[link]

As part of the analog television shutdown and digital conversion, KTVI shut down its analog transmitter on June 12, 2009,^[4] and continued to broadcast on its pre-transition digital channel 43.^[5] However, through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display KTVI's virtual channel as 2.

News operation[link]

As an ABC affiliate, KTVI was usually third in the ratings behind KSDK and KMOV. However, for most of the 1980s and early 1990s, it fought a spirited battle with KMOV for the runner-up spot behind longtime leader KSDK.

After joining Fox, KTVI devoted more resources to its news department, as did many of the stations that switched to Fox during this time. KTVI presently broadcasts a total of 59 hours of local news a week (ten hours on weekdays, three hours on Saturdays and 3½ hours on Sundays), more than any other station in St. Louis and the entire state of Missouri; however as is standard with Fox stations that carry early evening weekend newscasts, KTVI's Sunday 5 p.m. newscast is subject to preemption due to NFL football or NASCAR coverage and the Saturday 6 p.m. newscast is subject to delay due to MLB baseball coverage.

For most of the time since joining Fox, KTVI has led the 9 p.m. news ratings race against KPLR-TV. KTVI is able to emphasize a broad array of stories from major national and local reports to small-town local stories/investigations because of the many extra hours of news (7.5 hours per day as opposed to 5 on KSDK and KMOV) that need to be filled. Also because of this, the station features more regular segments such as The Jaco Report, a segment where noted reporter Charles Jaco gives either an editorial or introduces an investigative piece, or You Paid For It, where Elliot Davis finds tax abuse in local governments and closes the segment by giving the phone number of the mayor's office in that municipality, signing off with the locally famous line "Call and speak your mind: after all, you paid for it."

KTVI devotes a larger segment of its sports coverage to local high-school sports (once joining with the Post-Dispatch to air the "Prep Sports Show" on Saturdays, now canceled) and is the home of Steve Spagnuolo's weekly St. Louis Rams review show on Mondays. The station's morning news program is six hours, 4:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. and another hour from 11:00 a.m.-noon. Since 1998, Fox 2 News In The Morning has been the fastest growing newscast in St. Louis morning television.^{[citation needed]}

Before Dick Ford retired in December 2005, all four of KTVI's main male anchors (Dick Ford, Tom O'Neal, Dan Gray and John Pertzborn) were once anchors at KSDK. In early 2010 KTVI, like other Fox stations, extended its morning newscast to six hours from 4-10 a.m. following the cancellation of The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet. Despite the addition, its 11 a.m. newscast remained intact.

News sets/graphics packages[link]

On March 31, 2006, KTVI used its set, originally constructed in 1998, for the last time; at 10:00 p.m. crews began tearing down the set and weather center. KTVI broadcast from the newsroom and a temporary set while a new set and weather center were under construction in the old studio. The old news desk was donated to Southern Illinois University Carbondale and the old weather center was donated to the University of Missouri–St. Louis. The new set, along with new graphics, music, and a new logo, debuted for Fox 2 News at 9 on Monday, April 10, 2006.

The theme music that KTVI uses is a news music package which was composed by OSI Music. This theme is being used by all of the FOX O&Os and nearly a quarter of Fox affiliated stations in the United States. With the new set, music, and graphics that first aired in April 2006, the weather graphics were altered in September 2006 with a new background, and other features to better fit the MyFox theme.

In December 2008, KPLR-TV began broadcasting from KTVI's studios as KPLR's facility began remodeling to accommodate both KPLR and KTVI's newscasts.^[6] KTVI began broadcasting its newscasts in a temporary set, in January 2009, so crews could dismantle its current set, and move it to KPLR's facility. KPLR's facility was chosen in favor over the KTVI studios because KPLR's studios are much bigger, also KTVI had been broadcasting from the Berthold studios for almost 50 years, whereas KPLR had recently moved into its new studio in 2003.

On February 15, 2009, KTVI began broadcasting local newscasts in HD from its new studios in Maryland Heights. KTVI also debuted new HD news graphics. The news set was updated with the addition of several elements to better fit the new graphics package and the change to HD. KTVI also removed the city skyline backdrop in favor of a blue backdrop.

News/station presentation[link]

Newscast titles[link]

• The Texaco News Report (1953–1955)
• City News (1955–1962, 6:15 p.m. newscast)
• Nightly News (1955–1962, 10 p.m. newscast)
• The Big News (1962–1971, 6 p.m. newscast)
• 24 Hours (1962–1971, 10 p.m. newscast)
• Action News (1971–1975)
• NewsCenter 2 (1975–1981)
• Channel 2 News (1981–1987)
• 2 News Team (1987–1995)^[7]
• Fox 2 News (1995–present)

Station slogans[link]

• Channel 2 and You (1980–1984?)
• The Home Team (1989–1994; news slogan)
• Here's 2 St. Louis (1994–1999; news slogan)
• Working For You (1999–2002)
• Coverage You Can Count On (2002–present)
• Live. Local. Latebreaking. (2002–2006)
• St. Louis' Newsroom (2006–present)
• The Most Powerful Name In Local News (2006–present)

News music packages[link]

• Jupiter, Saturn: Hoist The Planets (1978–1980)
• And You (1980–1984)
• Hello News (1984–1988)
• KTVI News (1988)
• Palmer News Package (1988–1990)
• First News (1990–1995)
• Eyewitness News (1995–1998)
• News Attitude (1998–2000)
• Outlaw News (2000–2006)
• FOX Affiliate News Package (2006–present)

This film, television or video-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it with reliably sourced additions.

FOX 2 on-air staff[link]

[edit] Current on-air staff (as of August 2011)^[8]

+ denotes personnel also seen on KPLR-TV
FOX 2 Current anchors

• Andy Banker - Saturday & Sunday mornings; also weeknight reporter
• Elliot Davis - Saturday & Sunday at 5 and 9 p.m.; also "You Paid For It" consumer reporter
• Margie Ellisor - weekday mornings Fox 2 News in the Morning (5-7 a.m.)
• Tim Ezell - weekday mornings Fox 2 News in the Morning (9-10 a.m.); also weekday morning feature reporter
• Sandy Miller - weekdays Fox 2 News Edgeat 6 p.m. & 10 p.m.
• Angie Mock - weekday mornings Fox 2 News in the Morning (4-5 a.m.); also 5-10 a.m. reporter
• Mandy Murphey - Monday-Fridays at 5 and 9 p.m.; also reporter
• Randi Naughton - weekday mornings Fox 2 News in the Morning (7-9 a.m.); also reporter
• Tom O'Neal - Mondays-Fridays at 5 and 9 p.m.; also health reporter
• John Pertzborn - weekday mornings Fox 2 News in the Morning (7-9 a.m.)
• + April Simpson - weekdays at 11 a.m.; News 11 at 4also morning reporter
• Kevin Steincross - weekday mornings Fox 2 News in the Morning (5-7 a.m.)
• +Shirley Washington - Saturdays & Sundays at 5 and 9 p.m., Saturdays & Sundays Fox 2 News Edge at 10 p.m, Saturdays News 11 at 7/The Pulse of St. Louis; also reporter
• Elliot Weiler - weekdays at 11 a.m.; "Contact 2" reporter

FOX 2 Weather team
In addition to providing forecasts on KTVI, the Fox 2 Weather Team also provides forecasts for KTRS-AM, KPNT-FM, and KIHT-FM radio.

• Dave Murray (AMS Seal of Approval) - chief meteorologist; weeknights at 5, 6, 9 and 10 p.m.; also home and garden reporter
• +Chris Higgins (AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist Seal of Approval) - meteorologist; Saturdays at 6, Sundays at 5 and 10, and weekends at 9 p.m.; Saturdays News 11 at 7
• Angela Hutti - meteorologist; weekend mornings; also weather producer
• Glenn Zimmerman (AMS Seal of Approval) - meteorologist; weekday mornings Fox 2 News in the Morning and 11 a.m.
• +Michelle Anselmo (member, AMS; member, NWA) - meteorologist; anchor, reporter.

FOX 2 Sports team

• Martin Kilcoyne - sports director; Sunday-Thursday at 6, 9 and 10 p.m.; also co-host of Rams Weekly with Steve Spagnuolo
• +Kurt Labelle - sports anchor; also general assignment reporter
• Maurice Drummond - sports anchor; weekend mornings; also weekday sports reporter
• Charlie Marlow - sports reporter; also sports producer

FOX 2 Reporters
In addition to providing reports on KTVI-TV, Fox 2 reporters also provide reports for KPLR-TV.

• Monica Adams - weekday morning traffic reporter
• +Jeff Bernthal- general assignment reporter; also anchor
• John Brubaker - "Sky Fox" pilot reporter
• Betsey Bruce - general assignment reporter
• Bonita Cornute - general assignment and "Contact 2" reporter
• Chris Hayes - investigative reporter
• + Kim Hudson - general assignment multi-media reporter
• Charles Jaco - war correspondent; also host of "The Jaco Report"
• Doug Luzader - Fox News Washington D.C. correspondent
• Roche Madden - general assignment reporter
• Chris Regnier - general assignment reporter
• Paul Schankmann - general assignment reporter
• George Sells - general assignment reporter; also web producer
• + Shawndrea Thomas - general assignment multi-media reporter

Notable former on-air staff[link]

• Dana King - anchor (currently at KPIX-TV in San Francisco)
• Russ Mitchell - reporter (currently at WKYC)
• Paul Moyer - anchor/reporter (later anchored at KNBC in Los Angeles, now retired)
• Lisa Sylvester - anchor (2000; currently at CNN)
• Teresa Woodard-anchor (currently at WFAA in Dallas, TX)

External links[link]

• Fox2Now.com (Official Website)
• Official St. Louis moms website
• Official mobile website
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KTVI
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KTVI-TV

References[link]

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2011)

Peter Kinder
Lt. Governor Kinder visiting the St. Louis Science Center, August 2007
46th Lieutenant Governor of Missouri
Incumbent
Assumed office January 10, 2005
Governor	Matt Blunt (2005–2009) Jay Nixon (2009–present)
Preceded by	Joe Maxwell
Personal details
Born	(1954-05-12) May 12, 1954 (age 58) Cape Girardeau, Missouri
Political party	Republican
Residence	Cape Girardeau
Profession	Attorney
Religion	United Methodist

Peter D. Kinder (born May 12, 1954 in Cape Girardeau, Missouri) is an American politician from the U.S. state of Missouri.^[1] Kinder is a member of the Republican Party.^[2] He was elected Lieutenant Governor of Missouri in 2004 as Matt Blunt was elected Governor.^[2] Kinder was reelected in 2008 at the same time Jay Nixon was elected Governor.^[2] Kinder was the only Republican in Missouri to win statewide office in 2008, as all other Republicans running for each of the other statewide offices suffered defeat.^[3] Despite the overwhelmingly poor election year for Republicans, Kinder carried 102 of Missouri's 114 counties.^[2] He was considered the front runner in the 2012 Republican gubernatorial primary,^[4] but instead decided to run for re-election as Lt. Governor after St. Louis businessman and multimillionaire Dave Spence unexpectedly declared to run for Governor and pledged to put much of his own money into the race.^[5]

Education and early career[link]

Kinder was born and raised in Cape Girardeau, the son of pediatrician James A. Kinder Jr. and Mary Frances Hunter Kinder. He attended Cape Girardeau Public Schools and then attended Southeast Missouri State University and the University of Missouri in Columbia.^[2] He graduated from St. Mary's University School of Law in San Antonio, Texas in 1979 and was admitted to the Missouri Bar in 1980.^[2]

In 1972, fresh out of high school, Kinder worked for former U.S. Sen. Jack Danforth's re-election bid for Missouri attorney general.^{[citation needed]} After graduating from law school at St. Mary's University in San Antonio, Texas, Kinder managed Bill Emerson's successful campaign for a Missouri seat in the U.S. Congress. It was the first time a Republican won in southeast Missouri for U.S. Congress since 1928.^{[citation needed]}

After law school Kinder served as a member of the late U.S. Representative Bill Emerson's staff in Washington, D.C. from 1980 to 1983.^[2] He returned to Missouri and worked as an attorney and real estate specialist for hotel developer Charles Drury of Drury Industries.^[2] In 1987 Kinder became associate publisher of the Southeast Missourian newspaper, where he wrote weekly columns and editorials.^[2]

− Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau dedicated its Department of Pediatrics in memory to his father James A. Kinder, M.D. who died on July 1, 2000.^{[citation needed]} His mother, who died on January 4, 2008, sang duets with the mother of Rush Limbaugh for 50 years; Rush Limbaugh even attended the funeral.^{[citation needed]}

Kinder is a member of the United Methodist Church, Beta Theta Pi social fraternity, Missouri Farm Bureau, Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce, and Lions Club.^[2] He also remains active in many civic causes, including extensive work with Southeast Missouri Port Authority, United Way, Nature Conservancy, American Cancer Society, and Boy Scouts of America.^[2]

Political career[link]

− In 1992 Kinder made his first bid for public office, winning election to a seat in the Missouri State Senate representing Cape Girardeau and surrounding counties by defeating former Missouri First Lady and gubernatorial candidate Betty C. Hearnes (D). Kinder was the first Republican to represent any counties in the bootheel (the name given to the most southeastern part of Missouri) in the Missouri Senate.[1] Kinder was reelected to the Senate in 1996 and 2000.^[2] When the Republicans gained a majority in the Missouri Senate for the first time in over 50 years, following a round of special elections in February 2001, Kinder was voted President Pro Tempore, the top official in the Missouri Senate.^[2] Kinder was thus the first Republican President Pro Tem in the Missouri Senate in 53 years.^[2] In 2004 he sought and won election as Missouri's Lieutenant Governor, defeating Bekki Cook (D-Cape Girardeau). He became the second sitting President Pro Tempore to be elected Lieutenant Governor of Missouri.^[2]

Following Governor Matt Blunt's withdrawal from the 2008 gubernatorial race, Kinder announced that he would seek the Republican nomination for Governor.[2] However, two other prominent Republicans, Congressman Kenny Hulshof and State Treasurer Sarah Steelman, soon declared for Governor and a contentious primary was eminent.[3] On February 8, 2008, Kinder announced that he would withdraw from the Governor's race in order to preserve party unity.[4] He was reelected as Lieutenant Governor in November 2008.^[3]

As lieutenant governor, Kinder is Missouri's official senior advocate.^[6] He also is leading a lawsuit by Missouri citizens against the nation's healthcare law.^[2] Kinder's lawsuit seeks to have the individual mandate declared unconstitutional.^[2] On August 4, 2010, Missouri voters passed Proposition C, rejecting the federal law's mandate to purchase health insurance, by 71%.^[7]

Kinder has been honored by various groups including: Missouri Right to Life Defender of Life; National Rifle Association; University of Missouri, Presidential Citation Award; National Scouting Association Distinguished Eagle Scout Award; St. Louis Children's Hospital, SSM Cardinal Glennon Hospital, and Children's Mercy of K.C.; March of Dimes; Creve Coeur Olivette Chamber of Commerce, Legislator of the Year; Southeast Missouri State University Alumni Association Distinguished Service Award; St. Louis Business Journal Legislative Award; Support Your Troops Committee Award; Missouri Farm Bureau Outstanding Service to Agriculture; St. Louis Regional Commerce and Growth Association Lewis and Clark Statesman Award for Outstanding Leadership; Missouri Restaurant Association Distinguished Service; Associated Industries of Missouri Voice of Missouri Business; Southeast Missouri Alliance for Disability Independence; SSM Cardinal Glennon Hospital Child Advocate Award; National Federation of Independent Businesses Guardian of Small Business; Missouri State Medical Association; and Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry Spirit of Enterprise.^[2]

Controversy[link]

In August 2011, the St. Louis Riverfront Times published an article where Tammy Chapman, a former exotic dancer and 1992 Penthouse Pet, claimed she met Peter Kinder at a strip club sometime around 1994.^[8] The two did not speak again until a chance encounter during the summer of 2011 where Chapman approached Kinder and asked to take a photo with him.^[9] The photo was then published when The Riverfront Times ran Chapman's story. Chapman claimed Kinder visited her club in the early to mid 90s when he was a state senator.^[10]

Kinder responded and said he had visited the club around 1994 and met Chapman, and that he had not seen her again until the chance encounter in 2011.^[11] Chapman confirmed that the two had not spoken since the mid 90s until she saw him in 2011 and approached him to take a picture. ^[12] Kinder said that, sometime around 1994, after going to the strip club he decided not to go back because it was inconsistent with how he had been raised.^[13] Kinder stated that Chapman's story was part of a "partisan smear" to derail his campaign for Governor.^[14] Kinder further said that Democrats tried to use similar tactics against him in his 2008 campaign for Lt. Governor.^[15]

Hotel Stays in St. Louis[link]

In April 2011, the St. Louis Post Dispatch published a story stating that Kinder (who has a home in Cape Girardeau and an office in Jefferson City) charged the taxpayers over $35,000 for at least 329 nights at hotels in St. Louis and St. Louis County since 2006.^[16]

The article stated that, "Kinder's taxpayer-funded hotel stays dwarf his predecessor's, and they are far above those of other statewide elected officials." Kinder also came under fire from critics for not listing an official reason on his expense reports for billing taxpayers for nights at the Chase or Four Seasons.^[16]

The article stated that, "Kinder's taxpayer-funded hotel stays dwarf his predecessor's, and they are far above those of other statewide elected officials." Kinder fired back that he had been audited twice, both times by democrat state auditors, and no concerns were raised about any of the hotel stays.^[17] Kinder stated that he always paid the government rate, typically $105/night, during his stays at the Chase Park Plaza, the Four Seasons, the Ritz-Carlton and elsewhere.^[17] He further stated, “There were many times I’d attempt to stay at other [lesser known] hotels, The Sheraton, The Westin, The Renaissance Grand, some Hampton Inns and they would have a rate higher than the $105 that I was staying with."^[17] Kinder defended the stays as coinciding with meetings, events, and state business that he routinely scheduled during his weekly drive home to Cape Girardeau from Jefferson City.^[17] Kinder maintained that all of the overnight stays were proper, and tied to official events, while acknowledging that on occasion campaign or personal events also took place on those same days.^[18]

To try and move the story behind him, Kinder announced that he would use campaign funds to repay the state $35,050 for hotel costs incurred while traveling in the St. Louis area, so that there would be no doubt regarding his record as a fiscal conservative.^[19] However, due to a change in campaign finance laws, Kinder was not allowed to use campaign funds and instead had to repay the money personally.^[18]

As criticism mounted that he should not ignore any of his other statewide travel, Kinder paid $52,320, the entire amount that he had been reimbursed by the state for in-state travel since 2005.^[18] A spokesman for Kinder stated, "He didn't want any questions about the value he places on the use of taxpayer dollars."^[18]

Electoral history[link]

See also[link]

Missouri gubernatorial election, 2012

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Peter Kinder

• Peter Kinder, the Lieutenant Governor of Missouri official state site
• Team Kinder official campaign site
• Biography, interest group ratings, public statements, vetoes and campaign finances at Project Vote Smart
• Campaign contributions at FollowTheMoney.org
• Appearances on C-SPAN programs

v t e Governors and Lieutenant Governors of Missouri Governors McNair Bates Williams Miller Dunklin Boggs Reynolds M. Marmaduke Edwards King Price Polk H. Jackson Stewart C. Jackson Gamble Hall Fletcher McClurg Brown Woodson Hardin Phelps Crittenden J. Marmaduke Morehouse Francis Stone Stephens Dockery Folk Hadley Major Gardner Hyde Baker Caulfield Park Stark Donnell Donnelly Smith Donnelly Blair Dalton Hearnes Bond Teasdale Bond Ashcroft Carnahan Wilson Holden Blunt Nixon Lieutenant Governors Ashley Reeves Dunklin Boggs Cannon Marmaduke Young Price Brown Jackson Reynolds Hall Smith Stanard Gravely Johnson Coleman Brockmeyer Campbell Morehouse Claycomb O'Meara Bolte Lee Rubey McKinley Gmelich Painter Crossley Lloyd Bennett Winter Harris Davis Blair Long Bush Eagleton Morris Phelps Rothman Woods Carnahan Wilson Maxwell Kinder

v t e Members of the Missouri State Senate 96th General Assembly (2011–2012) President of the Senate: Peter Kinder (R) President pro Tempore: Rob Mayer (R) Majority Leader: Tom Dempsey (R) Minority Leader: Victor Callahan (D)        Jim Lembke (R)    Scott Rupp (R)    Kevin Engler (R)    Joseph Keaveny (D)    Robin Wright-Jones (D)    Mike Kehoe (R)    Jane Cunningham (R)    Will Kraus (R)    Kiki Curls (D)    Jolie Justus (D)    Victor Callahan (D)    Brad Lager (R)    Timothy Green (D)    Maria Chappelle-Nadal (D)    Eric Schmitt (R)    Dan W. Brown (R)    Luann Ridgeway (R)    Brian Munzlinger (R)    Kurt Schaefer (R)    Jay Wasson (R)    Bill Stouffer (R)    Ryan McKenna (D)    Tom Dempsey (R)    John Lamping (R)    Robert Mayer (R)    Brian Nieves (R)    Jason Glennon Crowell (R)    Mike Parson (R)    Jack Goodman (R)    Bob Dixon (R)    David Pearce (R)    Ron Richard (R)    Chuck Purgason (R)    Robert Schaaf (R)    Republican (26)    Democratic (8) Missouri General Assembly Missouri House of Representatives Missouri State Senate