Showing posts with label Missouri House of Representitives. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Missouri House of Representitives. Show all posts

Matt Blunt - Pushes Special Session Agenda Through Missouri House Brings Sunshine to Missouri Supreme Court Judicial Selection Process

As predicted, Matt Blunt successfully pushed his economic development agenda and bridge repair plan through the Missouri House of Representatives.
Though Blunt has received much criticism for challenging the Missouri Plan for electing Supreme Court judges, editorial boards around the state are going to have trouble criticizing Blunt for putting the public where his mouth is on the Sunshine Law. Blunt released interview responses for the Missouri Supreme Court candidates today for the public to review.

Senate Bill 64 Inked to the Benefit of Branson Tourism Industry

Senator Goodman successfully lobbied the Missouri Legislature into passing a proposition that requires school district to hold a public meeting before starting school 10 days before labor day. We've covered this extensively but I'll rehash: the net result for Missouri tourism is millions of dollars every day schools are out of session.
School districts tend to be hardheaded about any detail requiring management of their multi-billion dollar coffers. Ironically, the Branson school district itself will have to hold a special meeting (I sincerely hope area citizens show up).
School districts tend to hold loyalty to the Jefferson City Bureaucrats before their local constituency. It's an administrative heavy industry with top down thinking. Parliament first, Teachers Second, Parents Third, Students .....
A good example of this is uber-blogger Randy Turner who is quick to post issues such as corruption and address candidate finance issues but seems to always avoid addressing the multi-billion dollar education lobbying industry. Education finance ethics is a hard issue to address but as susceptible to corruption as any other industry its size - but, less commonly reported.
Luckily, local residents are elected to school boards, slightly altering the balance of power.
The legislation made headway through the House with the help of educational proponent Maynard Wallace. A lot of work went into getting this bill passed, including funneling the initiative through the right committees. Big thumbs up to Jack Goodman and Maynard Wallace.

Maynard Wallace - District 143 Taney County Representitive to Missouri

Taney County's Representative to Jefferson City Maynard Wallace walks a political line unheard of. Endorsements from education interests aren't known for their support of strong Republican candidates. Mr. Wallace has the support of both. Many Branson area administrators choose Wallace over their elected Reps to represent their interests. In a half hour interview with the Branson Edge Maynard Wallace helped untangle some of the mystery behind the great divide between educational and tourism interests. Wallace asked that the interview be posted in full, so if you have time, download the interview and listen to what Wallace has to say. Local Media outlets have my consent to use the content of the audio for publication under a creative common license with attribution. Ye are hearby granted,Wallace revealed that he'll be submitting a School start bill to the Missouri House of Representatives.
Wallace intends to push through legislation that will eliminate State fuel taxes for School busing. Wallace notes the Federal Government doesn't tax school buses and questions the logic behind using tax dollars to pay taxes.
Wallace didn't answer some of the hard hitting questions such as:
"Should School Teacher's be drug tested?" Since drug abuse by teacher's in local school's have come to light and since administrators have decided that it's ok to take genetic material to test our children we confirm our stance in the post...."Does Your Kid's Teacher Smoke Crack?" If School Teacher's choose to do drugs, that's fine - though we want them to sober up before we are required to send our children to the state mandated learning facilities. Is elevating our children's minds to the status we give heavy machinery appropriate? (Something for you to chew on)...

Dennis Wood - Report from the Missouri House of Reps.

Dennis Wood, seen above at the Hollister Grape festival (far left) gives an update regarding his work in Jefferson City. Wood discusses success in the area of tourism funding, Senate Bill 64, the tax disagreement between Taney County and the State of Missouri in addition to campaign finance reform/perspecitve on lobbyists. The beeps you hear are to drown out backround sound as clips were collected for Branson local radio stations KHOZ and KZRK.
What do you think? Click Play to hear the podcast below.

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