Differing views (08/18/06)
U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson's picnic and political rally featured U.S. Sen. John Thume (who defeated Tom Daschle in South Dakota) and Missouri's U.S. Sen. Jim Talent. Good friends, the three also worked together in Congress when all three were representatives...

No need for distortion in Talent-McCaskill race (07/25/06)
Within the last seven days, U.S. News & World Report, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal and various Web pages have all featured articles on the U.S. Senate race in Missouri, generally describing it as a "political showdown" in the Show Me State. There is no question that current U.S. ...

To all the kids (07/05/06)
To All the Kids Who Survived the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s and 1970s: First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing and tuna from a can and didn't get tested for diabetes...

SEMO grad and St. Louis native nominated as next Marine (06/28/06)
Lt. Gen. James Conway has been nominated to be the next commandant of the Marine Corps. Conway is a St. Louis native who graduated from Roosevelt High School and Southeast Missouri State University. He now serves as the director of operations for the Pentagon's Joint Staff. Before taking the Pentagon post, Conway commanded the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force for two combat tours in Iraq...

Ignored savings: Department of Revenue director sets record straight (06/22/06)
When I served in the Missouri Legislature in the '70s, the St. Louis and Kansas City revenue offices were the least efficient and biggest political patronage offices in the state. Rather than contractually run fee offices, the state paid the bill, which included high rents of space often provided by political donors and too often a dumping ground for workers who supported political candidates in their district...

Fair tax: Book predicts grim prospects without overhaul (05/28/06)
I've just finished the best-selling book, "The Fair Tax Book: Saying Goodbye to the Income Tax and the IRS*," by Neal Boortz (radio talk-show host at 9 a.m. on 960 KZIM) and U.S. Rep. John Linder. The asterisk in the title, by the way, is explained: "*Not to mention the Social Security tax, the Medicare tax, corporate income taxes, the death tax, the self-employment tax, the alternative minimum tax, the gift tax, capital gains taxes, tax audits and some major headaches every April 15." The book is full of stats that predict the bankruptcy of Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security. ...

Future pensions will pinch states; Missouri state pay fringes are generous (04/13/06)
Kiplinger's Newsletter predicts that state revenues (generally up this year) will have a shortfall next year and for a decade or more because of "huge pension obligations that will come due as thousands of government workers, take early retirement from long held jobs." By decade's end, state and local governments will be paying retirees $170 billion a year, a 44 percent increase over what they paid in 2004...

Medicare Rx: Large number of Missourians are signing up (04/05/06)
I haven't taken a good look at the Medicare prescription plan, but having heard some of my friends of like age discuss the benefits, I probably should. A large number of Missouri seniors have joined the program. We've generally been bombarded with how hard the program is to understand, but 66 percent of eligible Missourians have signed up. I'm in the minority...

Time to move on (03/24/06)
Former Southeast Missouri State University lobbyist Marvin Proffer coached me in track my senior year in high school when he was a senior in college and a star athlete at Southeast. That would put his age in the mid-70s. I was briefly a partner with Proffer in the Jackson Cashbook-Journal newspaper and served six years with him from 1972 to 1978 in the Missouri Legislature. Marvin started earlier and served longer...

Time for action: Legislators should review commissions' ideas (02/09/06)
Time for action: Legislators should review commission's ideas The Missouri State Government Review Commission met in Jefferson City for a dinner with Gov. Matt Blunt and a discussion of implementation of the commission's recommendations. Blunt has executed a number of the recommendations by executive order, but to date there has been little legislative activity on the 84 proposals...

Taxpayer savings (10/20/05)
Gov. Matt Blunt and Office of Administration director Mike Keathley have saved state taxpayers $30.2 million through implementation of executive orders and replacing a major contract while (in most of the decisions) improving citizen services. As I understand it, last fall Keathley, who headed up Blunt's transition team, noted a one-bidder contract up for renewal to a St. Louis firm that charged the state $40.4 million the previous year for non-emergency medical transportation services...

The other hurricane news (10/13/05)
Item from a Hurricane Katrina-related Washington Post story last month: "John D. Podesta, former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton and head of a leading Democratic think tank, says Democrats must start by casting Bush's brand of conservatism -- emphasizing an 'ownership society' elevating individualism and private enterprise -- as fundamentally flawed and hostile to society's collective responsibility to help citizens." Really? The hole in Podesta's logic is of Category 5 size. ...

State board, movies, EPA (09/25/05)
State board, movies, EPA Troy Wilson, president of Montgomery Bank, was confirmed by the Missouri Senate last week as a member of the Missouri Development Finance Board. Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder was appointed the chairman. Kinder became an ex officio member upon taking office in January 2005, and Wilson was nominated by state Sen. Jason Crowell...

Missouri workforce, business climate prompts $30 million GM investment (09/15/05)
On Aug. 2, the vice president of General Motors North America told workers that despite plans to lay off 25,000 employees worldwide, the Wentzville, Mo., plant is receiving a $30 million equipment expansion due to workers' performance and Missouri's business climate...

Data deficit: Good information is crucial to making decisions (09/01/05)
The Missouri State Government Review Commission is entering the final stages of a 10-month process of hearings, subcommittee meetings and many hours of reading and analysis. Ninety percent of the subcommittee meetings have concluded. Members and assigned staff are putting their recommendations into written form for the full commission's review, discussion, acceptance, modification or rejection...

Reform ideas: Cape Girardeau hearing brings good comments (07/31/05)
Those who sat through the hearing, which lasted more than three hours, of the Missouri State Government Reform Commission in Cape Girardeau last Friday got an insight on the committee's deliberations. The Cape Girardeau full committee hearing was one of seven being held throughout the state in soliciting public insight into information gathering before we focus on our recommendations. ...

State payroll commission tries to pin down solid facts, figures (06/23/05)
Some in Missouri state government like to say that Missouri employees are underpaid, citing a 2003 census study which ranks Missouri 46th in state ranking of average pay per employee. However, the ranking is somewhat questionable. Fringe benefits are not included in the comparison, and Missouri's benefits (based on recent testimony to the Missouri State Government Review Commission, on which I serve) are about 46 percent of total compensation...

Making cuts - Missouri government is following business trends (03/31/05)
According to Missouri's Official Manual, there are approximately 63,000 employees in state government, not counting those in higher education. So Gov. Matt Blunt, in following suggested reductions by his department heads, has recommended an estimated 4 percent of state jobs be eliminated by attrition or termination with all qualified affected employees able to apply for other job openings...

No hero: Find out about Seale before forming an opinion (02/17/05)
Black Panther co-founder Bobby Seale spoke [recently] on the Southeast Missouri State University campus. He spoke the next day at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. Last year he spoke at Washington University in St. Louis and many colleges and universities in between...

New leadership: GOP strength, term limits bring new faces (01/13/05)
When Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder (as of Monday when he was officially sworn in by Missouri Supreme Court Judge Stephen Limbaugh) spoke to the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce's First Friday overflow crowd last week, he displayed one of his strengths: the ability to communicate information that is clear and understandable in a logical and timely manner...

Lieutenant governor's duties plenty for full-time service (09/23/04)
State Sen. Peter Kinder sees the lieutenant governor's job description as one requiring full-time attention, unlike most previous lieutenant governors who treated the office as a part-time job (most of them lawyers who continued to collect legal fees while serving). Kinder announced at the Missouri Press Association convention earlier this month that he would dedicate full time to the job...

An informed public (09/02/04)
It's quite an experience to listen to America Left on XM radio. This is the station that features Al Franken, who is improving by inviting guests who drive the program more to issues and discussion than his attempt at humor and over-the-edge comments...

Thoughts while reading the 9-11 commission report (08/27/04)
Few, if anyone, knowledgeable of this information provided by the counter-terrorism arm of the U.S. government -- including the FBI, CIA, Richard Clark, George Tenant, President Clinton and President Bush, Steve Berger, Condoleezza Rice, John Ashcroft, Janet Reno, Al Gore, Richard Cheney -- would have bet there wouldn't be another terrorism strike in the United States by this date after the Sept. 11, 2001, strike against the World Trade Center...

Economic conference pinpoints needs, concerns (07/15/04)
I attended the recent economic development forum organized by U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson. It was time well-spent for the 60 individuals who showed up. Most major area industries were represented. Emerson distributed a column by New York Times columnist Tom Friedman that included some of the following comments...

Job growth has big impact (06/29/04)
Federal Jobs and Growth Act: May 28 marked the one-year anniversary of the Jobs and Growth Act of 2003. One year ago President Bush signed into law the tax-cut bill which substantially reduced taxes for workers, families and small business people and created an environment for continued job creation and economic growth long term...

Danforth hearing sets stage for important posting (06/27/04)
Former Missouri U.S. senator Jack Danforth had his confirmation hearing last week. Appointed by President George Bush to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, this is a most prestigious and important appointment, especially in the international scenario of a split United Nations over support of our country's actions in Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan...

Politics and revenue (06/03/04)
The Missouri State Building and Construction Trades Council AFL-CIO endorsed Gov. Bob Holden for re-election (over Democratic State Auditor Claire McCaskill) and endorsed 22-year veteran state Sen. Ken Jacob (over Bekki Cook from Cape Girardeau). "Jacob has carried a 100 percent COPE voting record throughout his legislative career," the trades council said...

Bush perspective (05/25/04)
Bush: Worst president in history? The following letter to the editor appeared in the Durham, N.C., newspaper and was forwarded to me by a reader. I reprint it here for your reflection. "Liberals claim President Bush shouldn't have started this war. They complain about his prosecution of it. One liberal recently claimed Bush was the worst president in U.S. history. Let's clear up one point: We didn't start the war on terror. Try to remember, it was started by terrorists before 9-11...

Capitol update (05/04/04)
I flew to Jefferson City Wednesday morning amidst 38-knot gusty winds and visited the state Capitol. I spent brief periods sitting or standing in the galleries and watching the Missouri House and Senate debate (generally not discuss) legislation, along with interviewing numerous people...

A few items worth sharing (04/22/04)
We will win: The ghastly murders of American civilians in Iraq aren't a sign of terrorist strength, but of weakness. Islamic extremists know they are losing the war. Civil society is beginning to emerge in Iraq. Roads are being built, utilities are functioning better and better. ...

Bush's critics and Rush Limbaugh's medical records (04/13/04)
A president's job: Give President Bush's critics credit for versatility. Having spent months assailing him for doing too much after 9-11 -- Iraq, the Patriot Act, the pre-emption doctrine -- they have now turned on a dime to allege that he did too little before it. This contradiction is Mr. Bush's opportunity to rise above the ankle biting and explain to the American public what a President is elected to do...

Revenue, politics (03/11/04)
According to the Associated Press, the Missouri Department of Revenue reported Friday that net general revenue was up 5.4 percent for the first eight months of this fiscal year (which started July 1). Gov. Bob Holden says it is still too early to release withholdings from education, pointing to the growth in state income-tax refunds...

Gov. Holden sets the tone (02/01/04)
[Gov. Bob] Holden's address had three parts, which is not unusual, but the third part was dramatically different in tone. The first part addressed those in attendance at the joint legislative session: "I come before you today to discuss the state of our state--and to reflect on the state of state government and the state of bipartisanship in Missouri...

Bipartisan consensus is good start for session, Hooray (01/15/04)
Gov. Bob Holden and Republican legislative leaders have agreed on a consensus revenue estimate for fiscal year 2005 which begins July 1. Congratulations to all involved on this bipartisan step. This will give state officials an initial base number upon which to work through the budget process, which includes an agreement by all parties to re-evaluate the situation in April after the revenue collection from March, traditionally a big collection month...

An offer we shouldn't refuse (01/08/04)
In a recent interview in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Walter Metcalf, chairman of the Bryan Cave law firm in St. Louis and future chairman of the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank, made an offer to Missouri's legislative leaders -- state Sen. Peter Kinder, president pro tem of the Senate, and state Rep. Catherine Hanaway, speaker of the House -- as well as Gov. Bob Holden...

Loss of a republic (10/10/03)
Fall of a republic: A warning from Scottish historian Alexander Tyler circa 1787, regarding the fall of the Athenian republic: A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse (generous gifts) from the public treasury. ...

Three Limbaughs are in recent news (09/26/03)
What a great tribute Steve Forbes gives to Rush Limbaugh in his recent column in Forbes Magazine. In all the years I've read Forbes, this is the most generous praise I've ever read from Steve Forbes. Truly the Cape boy who's made a difference! Mount Rush-more...