Illinois' neighbor just to the west, Missouri, has a powerful political dynasty similar to Illinois' Madigans, Hynes, Daleys or Berrios', that also depends on community activists and service employees to keep them in power. Today, the Missouri Republican Party lifted the veil on a growing political family scandal involving ACORN that could affect Missouri's 2010 U.S. Senate race and the Democrats' balance of power.

The Show Me state's Democrat royalty consists of the younger Carnahans -- Robin Carnahan, who is Missouri's secretary of state, now vying for the U.S. Senate in 2010 and Robin's brother Russ, a Congressman representing southern St. Louis County -- and their parents. 

Robin and Russ' mother Jean Carnahan was appointed to fill her husband Mel Carnahan's U.S. Senate seat, when he was killed in an airplane crash just weeks before the 2000 election. The Carnahan's son Randy, who was piloting the plane, was also killed. At the time, Mel Carnahan was finishing his second term as Missouri's governor.

Any queries of the Carnahans have to be handled delicately, in light of their family tragedies. But despite public sympathies, they've won and lost close elections in the bellweather Missouri that leans conservative outside St. Louis County. 

Monday's revelation of Secretary of State Robin Carnahan's questionable ties to SEIU/ACORN  was carried by the state capitol's News-Leader, but not the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, was especially similar to Illinois' Madigan dynasty and daughter Attorney General Lisa Madigan's close ties to Illinois' SEIU/ACORN.

The Missouri Republican Party's Executive Director Lloyd Smith wrote of what they've uncovered in documents linking Secretary of State Carnahan to Missouri's ACORN chapter:

What we found was shocking: at least 2,300 pages of correspondence that clearly detailed a close working relationship between the highest levels of Carnahan's office and ACORN in Missouri.

These e-mails show the lengths Carnahan's office went to accommodate the group. Top ACORN officials lauded her office for "having the ability to share information." They asked "very quick research question(s)," which Carnahan's staff was happy to provide. They said "we'll do an event whenever Robin can make it to St. Louis, though book closing date is best."

And it gets better ... ACORN and Carnahan worked together to stop photo IDs being shown when voting. 

Perhaps most shocking was an e-mail sent after the defeat of a common sense proposal, opposed by Carnahan, that would have required a photo identification to vote. ACORN congratulated Carnahan's office and a host of liberal groups on "a great team effort."

Sound familiar, Illinoisans?  Remember how focused ACORN has been on congratulating Attorney General Lisa Madigan for her work shutting down predatory lenders and investigating Advocate Health Systems until they agreed to change their collection methods and allow their workers to unionize (with SEIU, of course)?

In Illinois, the daughter of House Speaker Mike Madigan (who's also the Chairman of the Illinois Democratic Party) was the recipient of $224,000 in Attorney General campaign contributions from Illinois' SEIU/ACORN partnership. 

And doers Illinois have photo identification required when voting?  Of course not.  Photo IDs are required to get on a plane, to drive, but not to vote.  And ask State Representative David Reis (R-Olney) how tough it's been to get that legislation out of Rules Committee. 

It won't happen as long as the Madigan dynasty is linked to SEIU/ACORN. 

Which makes us wonder when and if the Illinois Republican Party will file similar FOIAs as the Missouri Republican Party did?  And then what they will do with the info when and if they get it?  After all, the writings are pretty clear on the Illinois State Board of Elections' and on the Illinois General Assembly's websites, as well as the Attorney General's own online boastings of SEIU comraderies. 

And we have to wonder just how widespread and deep throughout the bi-state region SEIU/ACORN'S roots flourish.  And how determined the citizens will be to get to the bottom of it all.

Check out Missouri Republican Party's www.acorncarnahan.com for more information.