I was listening to the Senate debate on confirming the new Director of the Department of Corrections when Sen. Bob Dixon mentioned something that shocked me as much as I’m sure it did you.
During an inquiry from Sen. Jason Holsman, he said that he was selected to be in charge of the committee that publishes the volumes of state statutes Missourians must live under and the next publishing would include 5,000 new pages of laws.
Now I know you’re thinking: But, Scott you’re just a hillbilly and you just got confused listening to a complicated Senate debate. Republicans have been in the majority for 15 years now and, obviously, Dixon said they were cutting 5,000 pages of laws this year.
Nope. And trust your ol’ pal Scott – there ain’t nothing on one of those pages meant to help anyone paying taxes or make you freer.
Lincoln Days is next weekend, coincidentally in Sen. Dixon’s district in Springfield, and I’ve been to a couple of them and you will hear Republicans peacock and preen about cutting government and being the party of freedom, local control, and small government.
Well, you can call bullcrap on them. There has been a flurry of activity since the new Republican supermajority was sworn in along with a Republican governor. However, almost every piece of news was Republicans passing or signing new laws (there might be 6,000 new pages by press time).
Where are the Republicans who favor local control, and repealing laws, and freedom?
I’m sure they will be at Springfield-hosted statewide Lincoln Days, but I have a keen sense that we will see their evil liberal doppelgangers in Jefferson City during the last two weeks of session.
Speaking of Republicans, I saw that Meryl Streep was taking a “brave” stand against the President. Well, I decided to not only boycott any Meryl Streep movies for the rest of my life, but I’m going to retroactively boycott any Meryl Streep movies back to my birth. Not because of her politics – I don’t make my entertainment choices based off of politics, but because while I’ve never seen one, they look like freaking awful movies. Seriously, who watches that stuff?
If Nordstrom is looking to replace one prominent political family’s fashion line with another, I would encourage them to look to Missouri’s favorite son, U. S. Senator Roy Blunt and his family. I, personally, would greatly enjoy an Andy Blunt fashion line. Business suits, ties, cuff links, etc. Would be a big seller.
Speaking of Trump, there is a lot made of the media’s continual war with the President’s Twitter account. I am convinced the President should knock off a lot of his tweeting. However, I do think that he has some legitimate beef with the national press corps.
It’s clear that they hate him. Their hatred pours through the screen, and I believe that their smirks when talking about his supporters are one of the reasons why the national media’s preferred candidate lost and lost bigly.
I happen to particularly enjoy the coverage of CNN’s Anderson Cooper and NBC’s Chuck Todd. Are they liberal? Of course. Can you tell it in their reporting? Of course. However, I do think that they do a good job of delivering facts and being professionals. I do think that if they could just take a step back, I believe they would see they are not doing their best work these days.
People can tell that they detest the president, and it doesn’t make for good journalism or for good television. They would do well to move their shows out of Washington and New York for a few weeks maybe broadcast from Indianapolis, or Boise, or West Butler County. Meet a few people who actually supported Trump. Maybe a few people who don’t have a favorite latte at Starbucks.
They might return to Manhattan knowing that no David Gergen doesn’t balance a panel as a Trump supporter. I wish David Lieb could spend a few weeks covering the White House. I would enjoy a balanced take on these very interesting times.
I believe the President cannot stop himself from this toxic back and forth, so the media is going to have to be the adult. If no one can step up and the media’s legitimacy is disqualified to half the country, it is going to be bad for our nation long after President Trump is gone from office.
Lastly, it seems like some people are becoming pessimistic about the fate of ethics reform bills as they move to the senate. If those fail, I have an idea for those interested in making Jefferson City “ethical.”
There was a large party attended by every politician in the state paid for by lobbyists and special interests with business before state government last month. While it was held in Jefferson City, the state Capitol no less, and while there were food and drink, entertainers, and fancy lighting, none of it was considered lobbyist gifts by the ethical class.
It wasn’t a lobbyist gift, it was the inauguration, and you have little idea who paid for it.
Maybe the most ethical move would be to ban calling all food, beverages, and entertainment lobbyist gifts. Maybe just ban calling them that.
Maybe the legislature could start a 501-c-something that lobbyists and interest groups can contribute to. Of course with the 501-whatever, all the contributions would be anonymous to get rid of that “insider” buzz word “transparency” that is only used by career politicians anyway.
Maybe you could call it something like The Second Committee for a New Missouri.
Maybe just give all 197 legislators a credit card to buy what they want. They can even choose to use it or not with all the contributions and expenditures anonymous.
Maybe that would be the surest way to please the Senate and at the new ethical class lighting up Jefferson City.
Scott Faughn is the Publisher of The Missouri Times and the host of This Week in Missouri Politics. You can find him on twitter at @scottfaughn.
Scott Faughn is the publisher of The Missouri Times, owner of the Clayton Times in Clayton; SEMO Times in Poplar Bluff; and host of the only statewide political television show, This Week in Missouri Politics.
