Volume 12, Edition 2   •  February 8 , 2007

Lincoln Days are Here!

Missouri Republicans are converging on the St. Louis Hilton Frontenac beginning tomorrow for the 108th annual Lincoln Days celebration, and we’re looking forward to seeing you there. The Missouri Republican Party banquet begins at 7 p.m. tomorrow night with an impressive list of speakers, including Gov. Matt Blunt, U.S. Sen. Kit Bond, Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, Senate President Pro Tem Michael Gibbons, House Speaker Rod Jetton and former U.S. Sen. Jim Talent. The Missouri Association of Republicans banquet at 7 p.m. on Saturday night features former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Other Saturday events include a Town Hall Forum featuring Bond, Kinder, Steelman, Gibbons and Jetton; Gov. Blunt’s Ice Cream Social; the Missouri Young Republicans State Meeting; and the state Pachyderm Meeting featuring noted Republican author Michael Zak, author of Back to Basics for the Republican Party. We look forward to seeing many of you this weekend.

Lewis and Clark Initiative Moves Forward

The Missouri Senate Education Committee took the lead this week in moving ahead with Gov. Matt Blunt’s bold Lewis and Clark Discovery Initiative by sending legislation authorizing the plan to the full Senate for consideration. The plan to sell $350 million in assets from the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority has been heralded by educators as a way to provide significantly improve higher education for families in our state and make college more affordable. Despite widespread support for the plan, Democrats have done their best to derail it. Democrat senators on the committee opposed the plan and Jay Nixon has used legal intimidation to try and derail the proposal by threatening members of the MOHELA board. But this sound legislation will be debated and modified in the Capitol over the next few weeks, and despite the Democrat maneuvering, Republicans remain confident that the full package will find its way to the Governor’s desk sometime this spring.

$19 Million Saved to Improve Child Care Program

Continuing his commitment to cracking down on fraud, waste and abuse, Gov. Blunt has announced that Missouri has saved $19 million in the state’s child care program after a year-long investigation. The savings will be used to improve the program by providing services to an additional 3,400 Missouri children. The investigation prompted by the Governor found instances of a felon living with a provider, billings for children no longer receiving care, and facilities being paid twice for a single child. "This is an example of what better management and oversight can mean for important programs like child care. Now we can take the money we saved and use it to help additional low-income children and families access child care," the Governor said. The increased enforcement and oversight of the program will result in at least a 10 percent savings. The Governor proposed changing current policy to improve the child care program and has recommended the same service levels be funded for 2008. The improvements this year can be funded entirely from the savings in the program.

Governor Signing Utilicare Bill

Gov. Matt Blunt is keeping his promise to low income Missourians by signing legislation that provides financial assistance to those people who can’t pay their winter heating bills. The Governor signed the $6.3 million Utilicare bill which helps people pay utility bills and weatherize their homes to improve energy efficiency. The bill was quickly passed by the Republican-led Legislature. The money will be added to $42.5 million from the federal government. Thanks to the Governor’s leadership last year, the Legislature approved a $6.1-Million emergency supplemental appropriation to fully fund Utilicare for more than 12,000 low-income households. "Missouri families have been hit hard by rising energy costs, and to make things worse, we've endured a number of storms and a very cold winter," the Governor said.

Governor Shows Success of Biofuels

During his 2004 campaign, Gov. Matt Blunt made a commitment to Missouri’s farmers and ranchers that renewable fuels would be an important part of his plans to boost the state’s economy. Last year, the Governor signed into law a bill requiring 10 percent ethanol in Missouri gasoline. Then, this week, the Governor released a report by the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center that shows the projected economic impact of the biofuels industry in Missouri includes the creation on average of 7,000 jobs for Missourians every year through 2013. By 2008, Missourians will see more than 600 jobs at an average wage of nearly $40,000. The industry will account for $542 million in new economic activity each year. The Governor is currently supporting full funding for the biodiesel and ethanol incentive funds.

GOP Leadership Leads to State Revenue Increase

After years of neglect by Democrats, Missouri’s economy continues to grow, thanks to the policies of Gov. Blunt and the Republican majorities in the Legislature. In the last two years, more than 50,000 new jobs have been created, and Missouri’s unemployment rate has significantly fallen. Now, the state Office of Administration is reporting that Missouri's net general revenues rose 7.5 percent in January, as both individual income and sales taxes showed strong economic standing for Missouri families. Last month’s revenues totaled $677.5 million, up from $630.5 million in January 2006. The latest revenue report is part of a long-term trend that proves Republican economic initiatives have been successful in improving the lives of hard-working Missourians. Net general revenues for the fiscal year that began last July and ends in June are up an impressive 4.8 percent to a total of almost $4.3 billion. The quality of life for Missourians has obviously improved since the days when Democrats oversaw a $1 billion budget deficit and high unemployment.

President’s Budget to Benefit Missouri

There’s some good news for Missourians in President Bush’s proposed federal budget. Missouri would receive $217 million in Title I Education grants, helping the state devote new funds to reform high schools and improve students’ college readiness while also increasing funding to elementary schools. This funding is an 8.2 percent increase over 2007. Meanwhile, the School Breakfast Program in Missouri would receive $48 million to help local non-profit programs provide affordable and healthy breakfasts to K-12 students for increased childhood wellness and fitness. This funding is a 6.64 percent increase over 2007. Also included in the proposal is $72 million in State Children’s Health Insurance Program funds to help Missouri provide health coverage to low-income, uninsured children.

Democrat Disarray Exposed

While Missouri Republicans are strong and united as we head into another election year, Democrats are in total disarray. Roger Wilson quit as chairman of the Missouri Democrat Party, their executive director left to take a job with the struggling Claire McCaskill and now Jay Nixon is under attack by African Americans. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the legislative Black Caucus distributed copies of a letter it sent to McCaskill just over a week ago, voicing disenchantment with the Missouri Democratic Party and Wilson. Nixon, meanwhile, is left to try to clean up his party’s mess, even though African-Americans still blame Nixon for his role in phasing out the state's substantial financial role in the region's school desegregation programs. How bad is it for Nixon? Says House Minority Whip Connie Johnson of St. Louis: "He's not a consensus-builder; he's not. Jay Nixon wants a 'Jesse Jackson' to come in and get all the African-Americans in line so he doesn't have a headache." After years of making promises to Missouri’s African American community and failing to deliver, Democrats like Johnson are disenchanted with the direction of her party. "Until we look like the party of inclusion that we boast to be, what we stand for is questionable. We're either a party of inclusion, or illusion," Johnson said. The meltdown within the Democrat Party goes even further. House Minority Leader Jeff Harris failed to deliver solid election results in November and is facing problems within his own caucus over new House rules he opposed but other Democrats supported. McCaskill, meanwhile, is facing a series of ethical problems in Washington, including serious conflicts of interest between her official duties and her family’s vast business interests. This type of division and in-fighting is quite troubling for leading Democrats who head into the next election with a serious image problem with the voters of this state. To read the entire Post-Dispatch article on the Democrat troubles, click here.

Media Ignore Partisan Slant of Missouri Budget Project

The Missouri media have been reporting a lot about the Missouri Budget Project lately without giving their readers the whole story. The Associated Press, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and the Columbia Daily Tribune have all reported breathlessly every time this Democrat cover group opposes tax cuts and Republicans’ responsible management of the state budget. Tom Kruckemeyer, an activist who speaks regularly for the group, served as a senior budget analyst during Democrat administrations that poorly planned tax cuts in the late 1990s, leading to the budget disaster in the early part of this decade under Bob Holden. Not a single member of the media notes this. The media also ignores the fact that Kruckemeyer ran as a Democrat candidate for the Missouri House. The media further ignores that fact that the makeup up the Missouri Budget Project is filled with former Democrat state officials and major contributors. By failing to identify this group as a Democrat-leaning entity, the media is doing a disservice to and misleading its readers.

 
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