GOP Lincoln Day event draws large crowd

On another rainy Southeast Missouri night, Republicans from various counties gathered in Kennett's American Legion Building to be a part of Dunklin County's first Lincoln Day Banquet.

Speaking to a crowd of approximately 80 people, Republican leaders such as Otto Bean, Robert Mayer, and JoAnn Emerson got to share a little about themselves and offer their greatest support to Republican candidates.

The night began at 6 p.m. with a social, meet-and-greet session as Republicans from Dunklin, Pemiscot, Stoddard, and Scott Counties got to talk one-on-one with their elected leaders and party candidates. After a meal catered by Simply Delicious Catering of Paragould, Ark., the political speeches began.

There were several speakers filling in for absent officials which included state Sen. Peter Kinder, U.S. Sens. Jim Talent, Kit Bond, and President. George Bush who discussed various election topics and did their best to campaign for their respective candidates. Perhaps the night's most honored candidate was the State Representative from the 163rd District, Otto "Ott" Bean of Holcomb, Mo.

Bean followed the suit of the other speakers and included the customary support for fellow party members, then in true Bean fashion, entertained the crowd while presenting his stand on several legislative issues.

Among those issues was House Bill 1566 which would restrict Medicaid privileges to those, Bean said, really needed it.

"What we are trying to do is make changes to our Medicaid laws so that everyone in this state would be treated fairly," said Bean, "We felt like there are some things in our Medicaid that are unfair."

Bean said that some of those things included a family of five that make $65,620 still being able to qualify for Medicaid.

"They can also have $260,000 in their savings account and still qualify," said Bean, "I don't know when these laws were enacted, but I think that these are just a few things we need to look at. We need only those who need Medicaid to receive it. That way, we can use the money left over from people that don't need it to better fund areas such as education."

Education, which is a hot topic in Bean's district, has taken hard hits lately, even with the release by Governor Bob Holden of school funds he had withheld. Bean talked about that issue.

"This year, we increased the health, mental health, and social services by $554 million, we only increased education by $115 million and the Senate wants to cut that to $100 million," said Bean, "Let's be fair with all of our citizens. I'm afraid that if we don't get it under control, it's going to hurt our education and our seniors. So we need to give it to those that are truly deserving, we want to be fair."

Bean also talked about two other bills that he introduced, House Bill 809 and 1605 that dealt with child mental health and student loans for nursing.

House Bill 809 would allow children that were severely mentally handicapped to stay at home.

"This law that was passed in the House and the Senate, allows those children to stay home with their parents if they want to," said Bean, "If the children stay at home it's much cheaper than them going to a rehab center or a hospital. Not only is it the right thing to do, it saves money."

House Bill 1605 allows nursing students to forego paying back their federal or state government loans if they choose to go into an area of need at a for-profit or not-for-profit hospital.

"This bill is extremely important to the Bootheel and its educational facilities," said Bean, "We really need more nurses and this will hopefully encourage more individuals to enter the field."

Another key topic that was discussed by several speakers was the issue of defining marriage. The first speaker to address this topic was state Representative and candidate for state Senate in the 25th District, Robert Mayer of Dexter, Mo.

Mayer, after entertaining the crowd much like Bean, discussed the issue giving it almost top priority.

"When I was elected four years ago, I would have never dreamed that we would be passing legislation to change the definition of marriage," said Mayer, "But here it is and we've got a battle on our hands. Forces on the other side are working hard to pass laws saying that same sex marriage should be legal.

"Myself and colleagues have signed on the list legislation to allow you, the voters of Missouri this fall, to vote to define marriage as being between a man and a woman," said Mayer.

Another top issue presented by Mayer was funding for education.

"You've probably heard a lot of stories, but facts are facts, last year, Republicans increased educational funding by $187 million," said Mayer, "Why we didn't see the fruits of that increase was that in July of 2003, Governor Holden elected to withhold the amount of money we appropriated."

"We have told him time and time again, 'Governor, please release that money,' finally, here just a couple of weeks ago, nearly 10 months later, he finally released that money to our local schools and thank goodness he did that," said Mayer, "We knew the revenue had went up by over five percent for this year and the good thing is that we've already appropriated $115 million more for our K-12 education. We know it needs more, but we've decided that is the appropriation it will get."

Mayer, who is chairman of the House Crime Prevention and Public Safety Committee, said that he was also proud of measures that had been taken in Jefferson City to curb methamphetamine production in Southeast Missouri.

"With the help of Otto Bean, we passed House Bill 407 last year which put restrictions on the sale of drugs containing pseudoephedrine, which is a known ingredient in the production of methamphetimenes," said Mayer, "I've had numerous law enforcement officials thank me for that and for helping them to curb the production of methamphetimenes in Southeast Missouri."

The final speaker of the night was keynote speaker, JoAnn Emerson, United States Representative from Missouri's 8th Congressional District, who too, discussed important issues, including the reinvestment of tax dollars into Missouri communities.

"Lengthening the runway of your airport to bring in more businesses and making Highway 412 four lanes should be called a reinvestment of your tax dollars in your community," said Emerson, "Your state's senators have worked hard to keep your tax money in Missouri."

Emerson also talked about an energy bill that she said was stuck because of people like John Kerry and Teddy Kennedy, that has increased gas prices across the United States.

"None of you in this room can tell me that you like how high gas prices are, diesel prices, heating and air prices," said Emerson, "We need an energy bill passed in the Senate and begin relying more on America for energy needs and not as reliant on oil from the Middle East, Venezuela, and Mexico."

Emerson blasted the presidential candidate, Kerry, who she said, wanted to raise gas prices 50-cents by not drilling in Alaska.

"We wanted to drill in 2,000 acres of an area of ten's of millions of acres of ice in Alaska," said Emerson, "We wanted to drill in 2,000 acres to tap into huge oil reserves in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. We passed it through the House overwhelmingly, but two senators held it up in the U.S. Senate, and guess who one of them was, John Kerry."