Volume 14, Edition 4   •  April 27 , 2007

State’s Partial Birth Abortion Ban Could be Upheld

The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last week upholding a ban on partial birth abortions is expected to end the long legal battle over Missouri’s 1999 ban that protects the rights of the unborn while punishing those who would perform the brutal procedure. The state law, vetoed by Democrat Mel Carnahan but reinstated by the Legislature, was later put on hold by a federal judge. But the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling means that the federal injunction against the ban must now be lifted. The law creates the crime of “infanticide”, defined as intentionally causing the death of a baby “when the infant is partially born or born”. Doctors violating the ban can be charged with a felony similar to murder. Once the injunction is lifted, the law would go into effect immediately. Republicans are hopeful that Democrat Attorney General Nixon will do his job and vigorously defend the law even though it conflicts with his pro-abortion stance.

Close to 100,000 Jobs Created Under GOP

There’s more good news for Missouri workers and their families. Thanks to the creation of more than 10,000 new jobs in March, Missourians have created 93,300 new jobs since Gov. Blunt took office in January 2005. “I am proud of Missouri’s hard-working employees and job creators for their success in fueling our strong state economy. As Governor, I will continue to promote and enact pro-job, pro-growth initiatives to assist their efforts in moving Missouri forward and creating quality, family supporting jobs.” Since taking office, the Governor has worked to improve the state's economic outlook by passing litigation reform, workers’ compensation reform and forward-looking economic development tools like the Missouri Quality Jobs Act, which has been effective in attracting new companies to Missouri.

Lewis and Clark Discovery Heads to House

Missouri students are one step closer to benefitting from the Governor’s bold plan to nearly triple funding for scholarships and boost funding for facilities at Missouri colleges and universities. The state Senate, with bi-partisan support, gave its final approval this week of the Lewis and Clark Discovery Initiative, which now heads to the House for consideration. The legislation would increase scholarships from $27 million to $72 million while using millions in Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority assets for new construction on college and university campuses. The Senate passage ends weeks of Democrat obstructionism that was based solely on politics rather than what is best for the students of our state. Support for the measure remains strong in the House, and if there are no changes to the vital legislation it would head straight to the Governor’s desk for approval. This legislation will benefit Missouri students for years to come, and Republicans are committed to making sure Democrats don’t get in the way of Missouri’s future.

Lawmakers Expose Nixon’s Budget Arrogance

Two state lawmakers this week stepped up and exposed Jay Nixon’s utter contempt and total disregard for Missouri taxpayers. Reps. Jim Lembke and Nathan Cooper say that Nixon covered up his bloated office budget request after repeated requests from the lawmakers who chair and co-chair the House Committee on Appropriations-General Administration. Lembke is committee chairman and Cooper is the vice chairman. The lawmakers said while every state agency responded to the committee’s information requests, Nixon arrogantly ignored his duty to Missourians by refusing to respond to requests from elected representatives who are committed to spending taxpayer dollars wisely. Nixon has defied Missourians and their elected representatives by arrogantly refusing to be held accountable for spending hard-earned taxpayer dollars used to pay his salary and the salaries of his bloated staff.

Anti-Abortion Legislation Clears House

Strong anti-abortion legislation was approved by the House this week and will soon be taken up by the Senate. The bill’s provisions include more scrutiny of abortion clinics and bars abortion provider Planned Parenthood from providing sex education to Missouri schoolchildren. The bill also would allow schools to teach abstinence-only courses. The Republican-sponsored legislation passed the House 101-48.

Nixon Ignores Duty on Ameren Case

Not only did Jay Nixon take campaign contributions from Ameren while he was investigating the utility, but he’s still taking laundered Ameren cash through Democrat committees. With that in mind, Department of Natural Resources Director Doyle Childers again called on Nixon to step down from the case given the inherent conflict of interest. Director Childers repeated his concerns that Nixon’s inaction in the case and that the conflict of interest problems require Nixon to step down. Remaining true to his arrogance, Nixon has refused to explain the donations and why they are being funneled back into his campaign. After months of not commenting, Nixon’s bloated communications staff is protecting the boss from having to answer the tough questions himself. In response to the DNR letter, a spokesman for Nixon replied when asked about Ameren: “This latest missive is not worthy of a response.” In other words, Missourians have been told to take a hike by Nixon, which is not something that someone who thinks they can be governor should be saying. Nixon’s political games also are hurting efforts to re-open Johnson’s Shut-Ins State Park, which provides a significant economic boost in Reynolds County. While DNR approved Ameren’s plans to begin rapid work a month ago, the utility won’t start work because of Nixon’s interference in a planned state settlement.

Montee’s Cover Up for Nixon

In a stunning act of political protectionism, trial attorney and state auditor Susan Montee used an audit to cover up for Jay Nixon and his trial attorney contributors for their role in the impending insolvency of the Second Injury Fund, which is overseen by Nixon. Nixon’s free pass audit issued by Montee cannot ignore the fact that as a candidate for attorney general in 1992, Nixon pledged to reform the Second Injury Fund. Instead of reform, state records show that expenditures for the fund have jumped from $20 million in 1994 to $68 million last year. Montee engaged in a political whitewash that completely and utterly ignores Jay Nixon’s mismanagement of the Second Injury Fund which he has used to keep his trial attorney contributors fat and happy while forcing the fund into imminent insolvency. As a trial attorney and a loyal Democrat, Susan Montee clearly has turned a blind eye to the real culprits behind the impending collapse of the Second Injury Fund – Jay Nixon and her fellow trial attorneys.

Media Watch

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch went out of its way to discuss low income tax credits given out by the Missouri Housing Development Commission but, as usual, left out important information about how Democrats abused the system and did nothing to improve it for more than a decade. Not only did Democrats like Bob Holden receive money from developers that cashed in on the tax credits at the expense of Missouri taxpayers, but Claire McCaskill never bothered to audit the commission until last year during the campaign. For months, Republicans sought to expose the conflict of interest between McCaskill’s audit and the millions of dollars her family made off those tax credits, thanks to some shady dealing by her husband Joseph Shepard. At the time, the media ignored the glaring conflicts of interest and abuse of low income tax credits as part of their effort to help McCaskill. And even after finally writing about problems with the system, McCaskill and Shepard are nowhere to be found. It remains extremely troubling that this “journalism by omission” is allowed to continue when it involves Democrat malfeasance of this magnitude.

The Cornerstone

It’s that time of year again, and we need your help! The Secretary of State’s office will begin their process of putting together the 2007-2008 Blue Book in May and if you are on a Republican committee (state, congressional, senate, judicial, legislative or county) please take a few moments to check your listing on our website http://www.mogop.org/committees to make sure we have your information correct. If you are a committee chairman, please also take the time to double check your committee roster. If you find anything that needs to be revised or updated, please email those changes to Mika Schrimpf at mika@mogop.org or call her at (573) 636-3146 by May 15.

Thoughts and Prayers

The Missouri Republican Party encourages Republicans across the state to keep these individuals in your thoughts and prayers:

Paul Busiek, husband of Mavis Busiek. Paul’s health concerns continue.

Mike Keathley, Commissioner of Administration, who is fighting cancer.

Tony Snow, White House spokesman, who is fighting a second bout with cancer.

Dawn Sprick, daughter of Gary Harris, who is fighting another battle with cancer.

 
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