Volume 24, Edition 3  •  February 15, 2008

Republicans Share Vision at Lincoln Days

A record number of Republicans converged in Springfield last weekend and there is a unity of purpose to ensure that Missourians continue to experience the progress of Republican leadership. The spirit and enthusiasm of grassroots Republicans was well documented by the media and our candidates and special guests clearly motivated Republicans to get out and work hard for all our candidates. More than 800 Republicans listened as former U.S. Attorney General and Missouri Governor John Ashcroft talk about the need to be vigilant in the war against terror while Haley Barbour laid out a path to victory including hard work and dedication. Sen. Kit Bond and Gov. Matt Blunt were also on hand to rouse the faithful while our candidates for governor, lieutenant governor and treasurer along with many other elected officials added to the air of confidence and determination. There also was the announcement by Sen. Brad Lager that he will be running for state treasurer which provides Republicans with a solid candidate to retain that office. We would like to thank all those who made the Missouri Republican Party dinner a success and we look forward to working with each of you as we plan for a historic election cycle for Missouri Republicans.

Missouri Communities Living the DREAM

Governor Blunt’s Downtown Revitalization and Economic Enhancement for Missouri initiative – better known as DREAM -- is leading to significant private investment for Missouri’s DREAM communities. State dollars invested in Missouri’s inaugural DREAM communities have been matched more than six times over by private funds. The governor’s DREAM initiative focuses on re-establishing properties in use in the downtown core, increasing property values and sales tax opportunities, re-establishing a sense of place and cultural heritage in the heart of the community, attracting private investment and most importantly creating good jobs for Missourians in downtowns all across our state. Missouri’s ten inaugural DREAM communities have received more than $200 million in total investment for housing, construction and renovation projects and infrastructure improvements. The public investment made to date is $32 million. This public investment has created an unprecedented $174 million in private investment in DREAM communities. Private investment is a key for Missouri’s DREAM communities to make the real economic changes as envisioned by the governor. "The DREAM initiative is successfully breaking down barriers to allow communities access to Missouri’s existing state programs to help spur new job growth and investment in the hearts of their communities," Governor Blunt said. "Every dollar we have spent in a DREAM community has multiplied six times over with private investment, demonstrating the success of the DREAM initiative and its power to draw new capital and opportunities into our state. Private investment in Missouri’s DREAM communities is vital to helping the communities accomplish their revitalization and redevelopment goals." Cape Girardeau, Excelsior Springs, Hannibal, Hermann, Kennett, Neosho, St. Joseph, Sedalia, Washington, and West Plains were the first to be named DREAM communities. Aurora, Caruthersville, Chillicothe, Clinton, Kirksville, Maryville, Mexico, Poplar Bluff, Sikeston and Trenton are the second DREAM community designees. To learn more about Governor Blunt’s DREAM initiative visit www.dream.gov.

Missouri’s Commitment to Work Force Lauded in Report

Governor Matt Blunt touted the U.S. Department of Labor’s annual performance review of workforce programs that provide employment and training services to Missouri workers, job seekers and Unemployment Insurance claimants. “As one of only ten states to receive a workforce program incentive grant for last year’s performance, Missouri has shown the nation that innovation and hard work result in a top-notch workforce system,” Governor Blunt said. “I applaud our workforce professionals throughout the state for continuing the level of excellence that Missourians and Missouri businesses deserve and expect.” The U.S. Department of Labor’s report analyzed results over Program Year 2006, which ran from July 1, 2006, to June 30, 2007, and included the following highlights:

  • Missouri met or exceeded all 17 of the negotiated performance goals for the Workforce Investment Act that provides career assistance services to eligible adults, dislocated workers and youth.
  • Missouri exceeded its goals for job seeker and business customer satisfaction levels.
  • Missouri met or exceeded both measures for the Wagner-Peyser Act employment services provided to all job seekers.
  • For the measures that assess reemployment services and payment systems for Unemployment Insurance claimants, Missouri met or exceeded standards. The report cited Missouri’s “AutoCoder” initiative for the potential to accelerate reemployment and complimented the state for “adherence to the Secretary [of Labor]’s agenda for the National system.”
  • Missouri received over $21.8 million in competitive workforce grants, including the Workforce Innovation and Regional Economic Development (WIRED) grants in Southeast Missouri and the greater Kansas City area that are designed to align a patchwork of education and training programs into one continuum of lifelong learning to meet the needs of emerging, family supporting jobs in those regions.

Governor Discusses Renewable Fuels

by Governor Matt Blunt

I pledged that my administration would renew our state's commitment to agriculture so that Missouri's next generation of farm families will have the opportunities they need to prosper and continue providing our country with the safest and most affordable food supply in the world.

Our state has great potential in the emerging renewable fuels industry, and if the fields of Missouri's farm families are to become the oil fields of the 21st Century, we need to enact policies that allow us to position ourselves at the forefront of this thriving industry which is good for our farmers and our environment.

I want Missouri to be a leader in the country and in the world in producing and using renewable fuels and that is why I have proposed that all diesel fuel sold in the state contain no less than 5 percent biodiesel (B5) fuel.

A B5 Standard is good for Missouri's environment and will build on the ten percent ethanol standard we enacted further establishing Missouri as a national leader in the renewable fuels.

Biodiesel from soybeans has proven much more environmentally-friendly and better for our air quality than regular diesel. Research has shown that it cuts carbon dioxide and cancer-causing emissions by more than 75 percent. Adopting a B5 standard will reduce particulate matter emissions by 15.4 million pounds and carbon monoxide emissions by 168 million pounds. Just as important, research has shown that it performs just as well as traditional diesel fuel.

On New Years Day our plan went into effect requiring all gasoline offered for sale in Missouri to contain at least 10 percent ethanol (E-10), ensuring the state has access to ethanol's benefits to our farmers and our environment. With the support of elected representatives I signed legislation in 2006 enacting this E-10 standard. Our action made Missouri just the third state in the country to implement a broad ethanol requirement.

Ethanol is a cleaner burning alternative to petroleum based gasoline and is more efficient to produce. It contains more oxygen, which results in better combustion and fewer carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and carcinogenic emissions.

To help further enhance the use of alternative fuels in Missouri, I have called for new tax credits to help ensure that Missourians who own vehicles capable of running on alternative fuels have access to this cleaner burning, home grown renewable fuel. The proposed tax credits will help to offset the cost of installing or modifying pumps capable of dispensing fuel that contains 85 percent ethanol (E-85). I have also proposed income tax deductions for Missouri drivers who purchase a qualified hybrid vehicle and tax credits for the purchase of E-85 gasoline to increase consumption of alternative fuels in our state.

I have taken very significant steps since 2005 to recommend full funding for the Ethanol Producers Incentive Fund and Bio-Diesel Incentive Fund, and pay the back payments owed to Missouri farm families. This year there is, again, full funding for the Ethanol Incentive Fund and for the Bio-Diesel Incentive Fund in my budget.

With the support of your elected leaders in the General Assembly, Missouri can continue being a leader in ethanol, biodiesel and the renewable fuels industries while protecting the quality of our environment.

Nixon: In First 100 Days He’ll Raise Taxes

Jay Nixon went public with his disturbing vision for Missouri when he told a Hannibal-area television station that he would bypass the people’s elected representatives to achieve his goals, raise taxes and halt health care reforms. By his own admission, Jay Nixon’s frightening vision for Missouri includes a massive tax increase, an end to health care reform and a dictatorship in which the governor can approve economic initiatives without the approval of the Legislature. Nixon doesn’t speak very often, but when he does, it is clear what his misguided vision for Missouri really is and what it will do to the hard-working people of this state. In an interview with KHQA-7 in Hannibal last weekend, Nixon said his first 100 days in office would include seeking $1 billion in federal funding to restore the old broken Medicaid system that would require matching state funds raised through a massive tax increase. Nixon failed to mention Republican programs such as Insure Missouri and Mo HealthNet that have helped make health care more affordable to Missourians while ensuring that the state operates within its means. Nixon also told the television station that he would magically boost the state economy within the same 100 days even though the Legislature would be far from completing its work on a state budget, which means Nixon is quite willing to circumvent the constitutional authority of the people’s representatives. Or maybe he’ll use executive orders in the same way Bob Holden did when he authorized collective bargaining for state workers. Nixon seems to forget that under Republican leadership, the state budget has gone from being $1 billion in the red under Democrats to being hundreds of millions of dollars in the black under Republicans. Then there is the matter of the 90,000 new jobs created in the last three years under Gov. Matt Blunt and Republican lawmakers after years of job losses under Democrats. The Nixon interview is at http://www.khqa.com.

Nixon Delays on Quadriplegic Lawsuit

A desperate Jay Nixon continues to drag his feet in federal court regarding a proposed settlement with a quadriplegic state attorney he fired because of her disability that already has cost Missouri taxpayers thousands of dollars. Even though nearly three months have passed since documents were filed in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri indicating that a settlement had been reached in attorney Marla Grothoff's action, there are indications that Nixon is seeking to have the settlement sealed to prevent Missourians from knowing how much they paid to defend Nixon’s despicable actions. And make no mistake; the three-year-old case has also been an expensive one for Missouri taxpayers since taxpayer-financed Nixon attorneys James McAdams, Carolyn Vasterling and Karen Mitchell have been defending their boss. McAdams pulls down a $96,622 state salary while Vasterling and Mitchell make a whopping $92,000 and $113,044 respectively. The case is clearly being paid for by taxpayers since Nixon’s campaign reports for legal fees show no expenditures for the Grothoff case even though he is also being sued as a private individual.The mere fact that the case was filed against Nixon is staggering in light of a Nixon news release on March 1, 2001 in which he said: “State government should be a leader, not a shirker, on issues of discrimination and should not be allowed to treat its employees as second-class citizens.” Nixon has been exposed as a hypocrite when it comes to his treatment of the disabled and now he is desperately trying to delay having to explain why taxpayer dollars have been used over the last three years to defend his despicable behavior. Nixon may in fact be fighting to require that the settlement to be sealed so he doesn’t have to explain a thing to Missourians which is no surprise. Nixon spent years abusing taxpayer dollars by using state vehicles to promote his political ambitions so one has to wonder if Nixon is really that concerned that he used taxpayer dollars to defend this lawsuit.To view the notice of a tentative settlement, go to: http://www.mogop.org/media/grothoff_complaint.pdf.

Clinton, Obama Would Take America in Wrong Direction

The Case Against Obama

Four years ago, Barack Obama was an Illinois state Senator. He was known as a reliable liberal, but also someone who had a habit of missing potentially controversial votes. Maybe even back then he was planning a run for the White House. It sure didn’t take him long to make the decision once he headed to Washington, D.C. He became a U.S. Senator in 2005 and was running full-time for President by 2007. That’s an awful lot of ambition. Of course, anyone who runs for President could be called ambitious. But rarely is such ambition balanced out by so little experience. Is he smart, undoubtedly; is he ambitious, certainly; is he ready to be Commander in Chief, not likely. That hasn’t stopped him from showing that he understands exactly what it takes to win a Democrat primary, however. Senator Obama is running as an agent of ‘change.’ That’s always a funny word in politics. What does being in favor of ‘change’ really mean? Winning the lottery is a change. But so is accidentally crashing your car. Senator Obama likes to talk about vague, generic change as much as possible, but when push comes to shove, he knows exactly what kind of change excites Democrat primary voters. For example, he wants to change how much we pay in taxes. “People didn’t need them [tax cuts], and they weren’t even asking for them, and that’s why they need to be less, so that we can pay for universal health care and other initiatives,” he said. And he backed his words up with action, voting for the largest tax hike in American history. His ‘universal health care’ of course, would mean new government bureaucracies playing a bigger and bigger role in our health care delivery system – paid for, of course, by hard-working American families. The most dangerous of Senator Obama’s changes, however, is to our foreign policy. Maybe he can justify his lack of understanding of the issue; after all, he’s only had to think about foreign policy for a couple years. But in that time, he’s made quite clear where he stands. Early last year, when his fellow Democrats were threatening to hold up troop funding if an arbitrary date for retreat wasn’t included in the bill, he said, “What we don’t want to do is to play chicken with the President” when it comes to funding for the troops. It sounded reasonable and responsible. But only a few months later, in the thick of the Democrat primary, he changed his tune. He joined only 13 other Senators to vote against a clean bill to fund our men and women in uniform in harm’s way. Why such a precipitous change? Maybe his opinion of our men and women in uniform had changed. It certainly seemed that way in New Hampshire, where he said that our men and women serving in Afghanistan are “just air-raiding villages and killing civilians.” Just air-raiding villages and killing civilians? That is what Senator Obama thinks of our brave men and women in uniform? That is the kind of change he wants to bring to Washington? We can do better. The Republican candidate will understand the grave responsibilities of serving as Commander in Chief. And they have a positive vision for our future, a vision of lower taxes, limited government, more choice and affordability in health care, and a strong national defense. The differences between our candidate and Senator Obama will be very stark – and the American people will stand with experience and leadership.

The Case Against Clinton

Senator Hillary Clinton has been running for President pretty much since she was first elected to the Senate. But after all of that time, after all of the trips, press conferences, debates, and ads, what do we really know about Clinton’s plans? On issue after issue, she has avoided taking strong positions, has contradicted herself, or has simply refused to answer any questions. Despite the almost constant news coverage, the only thing we really know for sure about Senator Clinton’s plans is that she plans to live in the White House. That’s not good enough. It’s not enough to be ambitious. It’s not enough to want to be President. The American people deserve presidential candidates who want to be elected for a reason. We deserve candidates who take principled stands on important policy questions – yes, even the controversial ones. We deserve a President with a vision for our future. Senator Clinton may have many policy plans – but if she does, she hasn’t been eager to talk about them. So we’re left to guess: Did she or did she not have a plan to reform the Alternative Minimum Tax, which was set to hit 23 million Americans with unexpected tax increases next year? First she said she had a plan, then she said she’d defer to the Chairman of the House tax-writing committee, and then when he announced a plan that would raise taxes by a record-breaking 1.3 trillion dollars, she refused to give a straight answer on what she would do next. How about health care? Senator Clinton tried this once before in 1993, with a plan to have the government take over our health care system, with accountants and bureaucrats in Washington making decisions about care instead of patients and doctors. Her new plan isn’t quite identical, but the guiding philosophies behind it are the same: more government, higher taxes, and less choice. It will increase the power bureaucrats exercise over the health care system, instead of doctors and patients. And though Senator Clinton insists the plan would create “no new bureaucracy,” it manages to spend plenty of money: $110 billion per year just to start. That’s a lot of money, and Senator Clinton admits that she will raise taxes in order to pay for it, but even by her own calculations, that would only cover part of the cost. Where will the rest come from? She won’t say. On national security issues, Senator Clinton seems more interested in appealing to Democrat primary voters than in offering serious answers to issues that directly affect to our safety and security. It wasn’t long ago that she was telling audiences she opposed setting a deadline for troop withdrawal from Iraq. Now, she not only supports a deadline, but she says she always did. In spring of 2006, she said that she would ‘of course’ support funding for the troops. But less than three weeks later, she joined only 13 other Senators to vote against funding our troops. Three weeks was all it took to change her mind. Senator Clinton can’t give a straight answer on whether or not she has a plan to reform Social Security – or even whether she believes the impending bankruptcy of our national retirement system is a ‘crisis.’ She has gone back and forth on whether she does or doesn’t support giving driver’s licenses to illegal aliens. Clinton tells us she is the most experienced candidate, but refuses to release millions upon millions of pages of documents from her time in the White House to back up her claims. A presidential campaign is not just about whether the American people agree with candidates on specific issues. It’s about trust and leadership. If Senator Clinton doesn’t want to tell us what she would do in the White House, if she doesn’t want to take positions on the hard issues now, how can we trust her to lead our nation?

Vincent Sets Post-Dispatch Straight on Accomplishments

Following is a column written to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch by Trish Vincent, chief of staff for Governor Blunt and former director for the Missouri Department of Revenue:

The editorial board of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch often writes about the importance of openness, accountability and integrity in state government. Too often, they ignore the work of a Republican — Gov. Matt Blunt — who has done much in the last three years to ensure that Missourians have a government they can trust.

In 2006, the governor became the first governor in Missouri's history to ban gifts from lobbyists to any employee of the governor's office. His office is the only executive branch office to ban these gifts voluntarily. That is one reason that Gov. Blunt, in his State of the State address, encouraged the Legislature to apply the lobbyist ban to the entire executive branch.

Last year, Gov. Blunt created the Missouri Accountability Portal, a first-of-its-kind Internet site to shine the light on state spending and make government more open and transparent. The site — mapyourtaxes.mo.gov — gives Missourians easier access to information about how their tax dollars are spent and how tax credits are administered, and it includes salaries and expenses of all state employees. To date, the site has had more than 3.5 million hits. To guarantee future transparency, Gov. Blunt has urged the Legislature to make this Internet portal permanent.

Gov. Blunt also has gone further than any other governor or Missouri public official in saving and retaining e-mail records. His office has released more e-mails and other public records than any other elected state official. In this area, the governor invested part of the administration's operating budget in a state-of-the-art e-mail retrieval system, setting a higher standard for openness in state government and going well beyond present legal requirements. Under Gov. Blunt's order, all e-mails in the governor's office are retained forever, and there is funding in the budget to ensure that the routine destruction of e-mails in any other statewide office no longer occurs.
Contrary to assertions by the Post-Dispatch, the Blunt administration made the contract offices where Missourians go to get motor vehicle tags, titles and licenses more efficient and more accountable to taxpayers, while improving customer service. In the past, contract offices were run inefficiently like many old-way government bureaucracies, so we did something unheard of: We required a business plan. Now these offices are more efficient and more accountable than ever. Customers experience shorter waiting times, in part through better training for the contract employees who serve them.

Under previous administrations, contract offices with a large number of customers maintained hours that were convenient for bureaucrats. We expanded weekday hours and added weekend hours for Missourians. And the Blunt administration was the first to implement a pilot program to determine the feasibility of competitive bidding for contract offices. Thus far, three contract offices have been awarded as part of a competitive bidding process.

Gov. Blunt has rooted out waste and fraud in the old Medicaid program and other welfare spending; terminated a state contract with an employer who hired illegal immigrants; expanded child care to nearly 3,400 children by identifying $19.5 million in savings within the state-funded child care program; used technology to improve government efficiency, protected taxpayers and our environment with innovative energy savings initiatives and much more.

I could make additional points, but it is past time for liberal newspaper editorial boards to give credit where it is due without regard to partisanship. The governor has delivered on his campaign promise to make state government more open and accountable and has done so with integrity and the high ethical standards that Missourians deserve and expect.

MissouriPulse.com Post of the Week

Nixon’s Echo Chamber

Last week, Jay Nixon, who has been in hiding as of late, momentarily left his foxhole to misrepresent his office’s tagalong role in settlements recently ironed out between pharmaceutical company Merck and 49 states, the District of Columbia and the federal government. According to a release from Nixon’s office, a reader is led to believe Nixon played a central role in taking on Merck until he came clean with the following disclosure included at the end of the release—a disclosure that other Attorneys General included much earlier in their respective releases on the settlements:

“The settlements involve 49 states, the District of Columbia and the federal government. The settlements also resolve claims filed by whistleblowers in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, in the United States District Court of Nevada, and in the Eastern District of Louisiana.”

Furthermore, national media coverage of the settlement makes no mention of Nixon’s tagalong role in the suit, but instead references the role of the Nevada Attorney General’s office, which took the lead in the case.

Case history outline from The Washington Post, 2/8/2008:

Merck's settlement of more than $650 million ends a seven-year legal marathon.

Dec. 2000: A federal complaint is filed under seal accusing Merck of improper sales practices for its arthritis drug Vioxx and cholesterol drug Zocor after Merck employee H. Dean Steinke sounds the alarm.

Jan. 2003: Steinke's lawyers approach state attorneys general to gauge their interest in the case.

July 2004: A new lead prosecutor is assigned to the case and pronounces the allegations too complicated and the case too difficult to prove.

April 2005: Nevada files its case against Merck after Deputy Attorney General Tim Terry takes an interest.

May 2006: Merck's motion to dismiss the case is denied, and a Nevada federal judge rules that Merck should have reported marketing discounts to the government.

Yesterday: Merck agrees to pay a settlement of more than $650 million. Steinke will receive about $68 million as the whistleblower.

While Nixon was quick to play up his tagalong role in the suit, he failed to note that Merck admitted no wrongdoing under the terms of the settlements, and the company has donated $150,000 over the past couple years to one of his biggest supporters, the Democratic Governor’s Association, which has already begun the process of pouring millions into Missouri to boost Nixon’s gubernatorial campaign.

From CQ.com:

MERCK & CO INC
Democratic Governors Association
$50,000, 04/25/2007
Contribution to 527

MERCK & CO INC
Democratic Governors Association
$50,000, 02/28/2006
Contribution to 527

MERCK & CO INC
Democratic Governors Association
$50,000, 03/18/2005
Contribution to 527

The Cornerstone - Getting Ready for Delegate Selection

With the Missouri Presidential Primary over, it’s now time for our local caucuses and the delegate selection process to begin. On March 15th at 10 a.m., every county, the City of St. Louis and each township in St. Louis County will meet to caucus for the Republican Party of Missouri. Here they will elect delegates to the Congressional District Conventions (April 19th) and the Missouri Republican State Convention (May 30th-June 1st). If you are a registered voter and a faithful Republican, we encourage and invite you to attend your local caucus. It is the chance for you – the Republican Party – to have your voice heard and show your support for our Republican candidates. As the locations of the local caucuses are reported to the MRP, we will post them for you on our 2008 Caucus and Convention website at www.mogop.org/convention. Check back frequently to see if your area’s caucus is announced yet! REMINDER: All Republican County Chairs must notify the MRSC Chairman, Doug Russell, of your local caucus location no later than Feb. 24th. You can do this by emailing him c/o Mika Schrimpf at mika@mogop.org, faxing the notification to our offices at 573-636-3273, calling us at 573-636-3146, or mailing it to us at: Attn. Mika Schrimpf, MRP, 204 E. Dunklin St., Jefferson City, 65101.

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.

Harold Hamann, father of 15th District State Committeewoman Peggy Adams, who was recently hospitalized.

Dean Hobbs, father of Rep. Steve Hobbs, who recently passed away.

Mike Keathley, Commissioner of Administration, who has cancer.

Rosemary Kochner, former 13th District State Committeewoman, who has continued health concerns.

State Rep. Scott Lipke and family, 157th House District, whose infant daughter is recovering from surgery to correct a faulty heart.

Mary Mallien, 14th District State Committeewoman, who has continued health concerns.

Bob Schwartz, 3rd District State Committeeman, who has cancer.

Dawn Sprick, daughter of 21st District State Committeeman Gary Harris, who has cancer.

Key Dates in 2008

February 26
First day of candidate filing for 2008 state primaries.

March 15
Local county/city caucuses.

March 25
Candidate filing for state primaries ends.

April 19
Congressional district caucuses.

May 30-June 1
Missouri Republican State Convention, Branson.

July 9
Last day to register to vote for August 5 Missouri State Primary.

August 5
Missouri State Primary.

August 19
County Central Committee Reorganization

August 20
Legislative Committee Reorganization

August 23
Senatorial Committee Reorganization

August 26
Congressional Committee Reorganization

September 1-4
Republican National Convention, St. Paul, Minnesota

September 2
Judicial Committee Reorganization

October 8
Last day to register to vote in the November 4 General Election.

November 4
General Election

November 22
State Committee ‘Member’ elections
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