Note from Chairman David Cole
President Obama visited Missouri earlier this month to resurrect his takeover of our health care system, revive his sagging political fortunes, and fill the Democrat Party’s campaign war chest. Now, national Democrats are ready to ram their bill through Congress by as early as this weekend—without a vote and without the support of Missourians or the American people. The president’s visit and the new push for health care legislation highlights the need for the Missouri Republican Party to communicate quickly and directly with our supporters and Missourians from all corners of the state.
In 2009, we undertook a comprehensive review of our party’s operations. Using the information we gathered from hundreds of activists, elected officials, and party leaders, we developed a plan to increase the efficiency and efficacy of how we communicate and interact with Missourians.
Already, we have unveiled several aspects of a new media strategy that allows us to communicate with a new generation of Missourians. You can now find us on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Flickr .
In the coming weeks, we will be launching a new MOGOP.ORG. This brand new website will include exiting new features and social media integration to promote education and online activism. In addition, we will soon be launching MOGOP Mobile, a new text messaging program to allow our supporters to keep in touch in an entirely new way.
These changes, and more, will lead to a more competitive and focused GOP—better able to communicate our message, challenge liberal ideas, and win elections.
Spotlight on Health Care
See more at www.mogop.org/healthcare
RNC Video: The Numbers Don’t Lie
Click to Watch
FOX News: Democrat plan to pass health care legislation without a vote may not be constitutional
From Maine to Hawaii, Americans send people to Washington, D.C., to be their representatives -- to cast votes that represent the will of the people who elected them to do the job. But now, as the House of Representatives moves toward approving one of the most sweeping pieces of domestic legislation in U.S. history, critics are fuming that Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to usher through a health care bill . . . without a vote. Pelosi, they say, is thumbing her nose at a cherished, basic principle of democracy for the sake of a legislative win. House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence is calling the plan, which several Democratic leaders are defending, "a betrayal of the commitment of every member of this Congress to the American people." And some say the move may not withstand a legal challenge. Read More…
AP Fact Check: Premiums would rise under Obama plan
Buyers, beware: President Barack Obama says his health care overhaul will lower premiums by double digits, but check the fine print. Premiums are likely to keep going up even if the health care bill passes, experts say. If cost controls work as advertised, annual increases would level off with time. But don't look for a rollback. Instead, the main reason premiums would be more affordable is that new government tax credits would help cover the cost for millions of people… "Your employer, it's estimated, would see premiums fall by as much as 3,000 percent," said the president, "which means they could give you a raise." A White House press spokesman later said the president misspoke; he had meant to say annual premiums would drop by $3,000. It could be a long wait. "There's no question premiums are still going to keep going up," said Larry Levitt of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a research clearinghouse on the health care system. "There are pieces of reform that will hopefully keep them from going up as fast. But it would be miraculous if premiums actually went down relative to where they are today." Read More…
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ACTION CENTER
TELL THE DEMOCRATS TO OPPOSE THE HEALTH CARE BILL
Sen. Claire McCaskill: 202-224-6154 (email)
Rep. Russ Carnahan: 202-225-2671 (email)
Rep. Lacy Clay: 202-225-2406 (email)
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver: 202-225-4535 (email)
Rep. Ike Skelton: 202-225-2876 (email)
WRITE A LETTER TO THE EDITOR/TALK TO YOUR FRIENDS
Talking Points:
- The most recent data shows that an overwhelming majority of Missourians oppose the Democrats’ health care bill. (Rasmussen survey, March 2010: Support: 37%, Oppose: 60%)
- President Obama, Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi recognize that they cannot pass their bill under normal circumstances, so despite the overwhelming opposition from people across the state and around the nation, they now want to force it through Congress using reconciliation—also called the “nuclear option.”
- Using this approach to pass such a massive bill is unprecedented in American political history. In 2005, Obama said this tactic would lead to “majoritarian absolute power” and was “not what the Founders intended.”
- This federal bill still costs over $2.5 trillion, puts government in control of personal health decisions, cuts Medicare, and empowers the government to set prices in the private market – ideas the majority of Americans adamantly oppose.
- Missouri simply cannot afford the unfunded mandate of hundreds of millions of dollars per year that this bill would force upon us—especially in this economy. We are experiencing the worst unemployment in more than a quarter-century, and state revenue continues to plummet. There is no room in the budget for hundreds of millions of dollars to cover Washington’s experiment with our health care system.
HELP THE MOGOP KILL THE BILL: CONTRIBUTE
With your help , we will continue taking our case to the people, even as the media attempts to ignore us. Every dollar will help us get out our message without depending on the national media.
Without your help, Barack Obama and the Democrats will continue trying to ram government-run health care down the throats of every American—and this time, they might succeed. We will not stand for it—and you shouldn’t either. That’s why your contribution is so important.
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Rep. Todd Akin hosts health care townhall forum in St Charles
 On the day of President Obama’s visit to Missouri, more than 2,200 Missourians, many of them opposed to the Democrats’ health care bill, attended Congressman Todd Akin’s townhall forum in St Charles. Speakers included House Budget Chairman Allen Icet, State Senators Jane Cunningham and Eric Schmitt, Lt. Governor Peter Kinder, and U.S. Representatives John Shimkus and Mike Pence. From the St. Louis Beacon : “Kinder asserted that the contest was now ‘Pelosi vs. the people,’ referring to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. The crowd stood and cheered when Kinder said his main question to the president is: ‘What part of 'no' don't you understand on this health-care bill?’ Kinder contended that the bill would be ‘shrinking our freedom and an assault on our sovereignty,’ as well as ‘wrecking Missouri's budget.’”
Read More:
Suburban Journals: Thousands gather to oppose president's health plan
KMOV: Huge crowd attends Republican town hall meeting in St. Charles on day of Obama's visit
Joplin Globe: Blunt, Bond criticize Obama’s health plan
Columbia Tribune: GOP heavyweights criticize status of health reform
KC Star: Graves urges Obama to rethink health reform
Springfield News-Leader: Sen. Talent: Health care bill will have negative impact on economy
Missouri Republicans use bipartisan tactics to fight back against Washington Democrats
Republicans in the General Assembly have given Missourians a voice in the national debate at a time when many people feel that Democrats in Washington simply don’t care what they think. Barack Obama, Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi have shown that they will stop at nothing to impose their agenda on the American people, and our Republican representatives are standing up and saying ‘enough is enough.’
While U.S. Senate candidate Robin Carnahan and Gov. Jay Nixon silently condone the underhanded tactics their party is using to ram an expensive, unpopular, and burdensome health care bill through Congress, the GOP-led General Assembly refuses to stand by and allow our Democrat elected officials to ignore the voices of Missourians. House Republicans, joined by 25 Democrats, endorsed a constitutional amendment that would block mandatory participation in a government-run health care program.
In addition, the Senate passed a resolution— SCR 34, sponsored by Sen. Jim Lembke —asserting Missouri’s sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment on the same day that more than one hundred Missourians rallied at the Capitol against federal encroachment into our state.
2010 Census
Being counted makes a difference
As is required by the U.S. Constitution, the 2010 census forms began appearing in mailboxes across the state this week. A full and accurate count is vital to the future of Missouri. In addition to ensuring that the state receives its fair share of federal funding, a complete count of Missourians may prevent our state from losing representation in Congress. The Missouri Republican Party joins elected officials, business leaders, and activists from around the state urging all Missourians to promptly fill out and return the census form.
For more information, please visit the U.S. Census homepage .
Democrat Watch
Robin Carnahan cannot hide from Barack Obama
 Robin Carnahan can run from Barack Obama, but she can’t hide her wholehearted support for his liberal agenda. She may not have stood on the platform next to President Obama in St. Louis, but Missourians will not soon forget that she has stood with him on every major plank of the Obama-Pelosi-Reid platform. As hard as she tries, Robin Carnahan cannot hide the fact that she would serve as another one of Barack Obama’s rubber stamps in the U.S. Senate.
She has stood with Barack Obama for the past 6 years—donating money to his 2004 campaign for U.S. Senate, campaigning for him in 2008, attending an event with him to mark his first 100 days in office, and benefiting from fundraisers headlined by Obama chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and Vice President Joe Biden. And she continues standing with him, announcing over the past year that she would rubber stamp the Democrats’ health care bill, the public option, the so-called stimulus bill, cap-and-tax, card-check, and closure of Guantanamo Bay.
Read More:
Washington Times: Some Democrats shun Obama event in St. Louis
New York Times: A Fund-Raiser, Minus the Candidate
Politico: Robin Carnahan's absence "highlighted her connection to [the] Washington establishment."
Would Robin Carnahan rubberstamp the nuclear option?
Late last year, Robin Carnahan put her stamp of approval on the Senate health care bill and the underhanded tactics Democrats used to pass it—including closed door meetings, middle-of-the-night votes, and political pay-offs like the Louisiana Purchase and Cornhusker Kickback. Now, President Obama and Senate Democrats are embarking on a new and unprecedented use of their majority power. Despite the overwhelming opposition from people across the state and around the nation, they are planning to circumvent the will of the people and ram their unpopular program through Congress using reconciliation—also called the “nuclear option.”
Missourians deserve to know: does Robin Carnahan support her party’s use of such a controversial tactic to finally pass a bill that she supports but Missourians’ overwhelmingly oppose?
These are exactly the types of decisions that Robin Carnahan will have to make if she returns to Washington, and Missourians deserve to know if she supports her party’s attempt to use procedural gimmicks to circumvent the will of the people and pass government-run health care at any cost. Robin Carnahan has tried to hide her rubberstamp support for Barack Obama’s agenda by hiding when he comes to Missouri and refusing to take a position on reconciliation. But Missourians understand that Carnahan stands with Obama on ever major issue, even if she’s too afraid to stand next to him.
One year later: Nixon fee office process still steeped in controversy
“It's all politics. Don't let anybody fool you.” –Ray Salva, Democrat State Rep
One year ago, the first license offices were awarded under Jay Nixon’s new bidding process. Nixon has bragged about changing the system for awarding license offices, but while the bidding process is different, the outcome is the same —wealthy donors and political insiders continue to be rewarded with the state’s most lucrative with fee offices. Despite Nixon’s assurances that politics would be removed from the system, his method of awarding fee offices has been marred by controversial decisions, irregularities in the bidding process, a lawsuit, and a rumored FBI investigation.
Last month, a Cole County judge recently issued a restraining order preventing a bid winner from taking control of a St Louis-area office after the current operator sued citing inconsistencies in the bidding process.
Now, State Senator Gary Nodler introduced legislation to address problems in the bidding process. According to the Springfield News Leader, “Nodler said the bill is in direct response to [Alternative Opportunities] winning license fee office contracts in communities outside of Springfield, including his hometown of Joplin. ‘Nobody envisioned a single, giant not-for-profit gobbling these things up across the state,’ Nodler said.”
Read More:
Springfield News Leader: Nodler bill aims to counteract Alternative Opportunities' license fee office wins
In Case You Missed It…
St Louis Post-Dispatch, March 17: Charlie Shields calls for special budget-cutting session of Missouri Senate
KMOX, March 17: Where is St Louis ACORN?
St Louis Post Dispatch, March 16: On House floor, Blunt rails against passing health care without a vote
Daily Dunklin Democrat, March 16: Chances 'excellent' for passage of Mayer abortion bill
St Louis Post Dispatch, March 15: Sen. John Thune campaigns for Ed Martin
Politico, March 15: Reps. Cleaver and Clay spend more than $1,000 per month on taxpayer-funded cars
Rasmussen Reports, March 10: U.S. Senate Race: Blunt 47%, Carnahan 41%
KMOX, March 4: Feds cast "wide net" in probe of StL County contracts
Thoughts and Prayers
Please keep these individuals in your thoughts and prayers:
Paul Busiek, husband of Mavis Busiek. Paul’s health concerns continue.
Harrison Colbert, son of Republican activist Michelle Colbert, who was recently diagnosed with lymphoma.
The family of Mildred Huffman, former state rep and Republican nominee for Secretary of State in 1976, who recently passed away.
Don Mathes, brother of 30th District Committeewoman Thelma Neff. Don is battling lung cancer.
Bonnie Rice, sister of Barbara Cooper. Bonnie has continuing health problems.
Dawn Sprick, daughter of 21st District Committeeman Gary Harris. Dawn is battling cancer.
   
Paid for by the Missouri Republican State Committee, {{user('senderaddress')}} (573) 636-3146, Richard C. Peerson, Treasurer. This communication is not authorized by any candidate or candidate committee.
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