Some of our previous coverage of the recount for the Johnson County Auditor and Johnson County Prosecuting Attorney races from the 2006 General Election:

The Johnson County recount case is finally over

Coughing up a giant hairball: the Western Court of Appeals rules on the Johnson County recount case

It appears that the law firm of Lathrop & Gage filed a lawsuit on December 15, 2008 in circuit court against Teresa Collins (a republican who was Johnson County Auditor for a few months in 2007 until the recount reinstated Democrat Kay Dolan Reynolds) and Lynn Stoppy (r), the current Johnson County Prosecuting Attorney. The case was dismissed without prejudice by 17th Judicial Circuit Judge Jaqueline Cook on January 16, 2009:

08JO-CV02002 – LATHROP & GAGE LC V TERESA COLLINS ET AL

Date Filed: 12/15/2008

Location: Johnson Case Type: CC Suit on Account

Disposition: Dismiss by Ct w/o Prejudice Date of Disposition: 01/16/2009

Judge At Disposition: COOK, JACQUELINE A

08JO-CV02002 – LATHROP & GAGE LC V TERESA COLLINS ET AL

12/15/2008 Docket Entry: Pet Filed in Circuit Ct

Docket Entry: Motion Special Process Server

12/18/2008 Docket Entry: Judge Assigned

12/29/2008 Docket Entry: Order – Special Process Server

Docket Entry: Summons Issued-Circuit

Text: Document ID: 08-SMCC-1657, for COLLINS, TERESA; Document ID: 08-SMCC-1658, for STOPPY-BRACKIN, LYNN; ISSUED AND DIRECTED TO EMPIRE PROCESS SERVICE & INVESTIGATION.

12/31/2008 Docket Entry: Answer Filed

Text: ANSWER OF DEFENDANT LYNN STOPPY-BRACKIN, filed.

Filing Party: RAHM , J KIRK

01/02/2009   Docket Entry:   Notice to Take Deposition

Text: (5) NOTICES TO TAKE VIDEO DEPOSITION FILED. DEPOSITIONS OF STEVEN MCCARTEN, THOR HEARNE, AMY BLUNT, GENE PAUL BRADSHAW, DAVE ZEILER, filed.

Filing Party: RAHM , J KIRK

Docket Entry: Answer Filed

Text: ANSWER OF DEFENDANT TERESA COLLINS, filed.

Filing Party: RAHM , J KIRK

01/14/2009 Docket Entry: Motion to Dismiss

Filing Party: JONES , ANDREW TODD

01/16/2009 Docket Entry: Judge/Clerk – Note

Text: COURT TAKES UP AND GRANTS MOTION TO DISMISS WITHOUT PREJUDICE. COSTS TAXED TO PLAINTIFF. SJAC

Docket Entry: Dismiss by Ct w/o Prejudice

[emphasis added]

Blunt? Blunt? That name sounds familiar…

Under Ronald Reagan the war budget (also known as the defense budget) increased by a staggering 43 percent. It’s done nothing but go up since then. That’s why I felt like applauding in the privacy of my living room when I read Barney Frank’s article in The Nation.

I am a great believer in freedom of expression and am proud of those times when I have been one of a few members of Congress to oppose censorship. I still hold close to an absolutist position, but I have been tempted recently to make an exception, not by banning speech but by requiring it. I would be very happy if there was some way to make it a misdemeanor for people to talk about reducing the budget deficit without including a recommendation that we substantially cut military spending.

Frank points out that it isn’t just conservatives who are unwilling to consider cutting this bloated creature. But he feels it is critical that we do so.

Current plans call for us not only to spend hundreds of billions more in Iraq but to continue to spend even more over the next few years producing new weapons that might have been useful against the Soviet Union. Many of these weapons are technological marvels, but they have a central flaw: no conceivable enemy. It ought to be a requirement in spending all this money for a weapon that there be some need for it. In some cases we are developing weapons–in part because of nothing more than momentum–that lack not only a current military need but even a plausible use in any foreseeable future.

It is possible to debate how strong America should be militarily in relation to the rest of the world. But that is not a debate that needs to be entered into to reduce the military budget by a large amount. If, beginning one year from now, we were to cut military spending by 25 percent from its projected levels, we would still be immeasurably stronger than any combination of nations with whom we might be engaged.

(……)

The math is compelling: if we do not make reductions approximating 25 percent of the military budget starting fairly soon, it will be impossible to continue to fund an adequate level of domestic activity even with a repeal of Bush’s tax cuts for the very wealthy.

Hear, hear! And read, read … the rest of the (short) article.

Photo: Office of the Missouri State Treasurer

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Wednesday, February 11, 2009…

…Zweifel Launches INVEST IN MISSOURI

Initiative to reinvest $1 billion in Missouri

JEFFERSON CITY – State Treasurer Clint Zweifel introduced INVEST IN MISSOURI today, his statewide initiative to create and retain jobs and to reinvest nearly $1 billion in Missouri communities.

INVEST IN MISSOURI, which requires legislative action, would increase eligibility in the Missouri Linked Deposit Program, as well as increase the amount of State funds invested in community banks throughout Missouri. The legislative action would result in an estimated $1 billion being reinvested statewide….

“I am looking forward to talking about INVEST IN MISSOURI with all legislative leaders, so that we can start putting investments back into Missouri as soon as possible,” Treasurer Zweifel said. “This is an opportunity to come together to do what is best for the citizens, and to move job creation and community investment forward in Missouri,” Treasurer Zweifel said.

The first part of INVEST IN MISSOURI calls for increasing use of the Missouri Linked Deposit Program, which is administered by the State Treasurer’s Office. The Linked Deposit Program is designed to place State funds with community banks at below-market rates so the community bank can issue loans to borrowers at a reduced rate. Loan savings is usually 2 to 3 percent to the borrower. The program, which has a statutory $720 million cap on it, is about 30-percent utilized currently. To overcome the hurdles inhibiting the Linked Deposit Program’s effectiveness, Treasurer Zweifel called for streamlining the application process, reducing bureaucratic obstacles for businesses and increasing program eligibility to expand job growth in agriculture, small business, public works and alternative energy.

“INVEST IN MISSOURI allows us to make the Linked Deposit Program dynamic so that we are moving Missouri’s economy forward by investing in the new economy,” Treasurer Zweifel said.

The second part of the INVEST IN MISSOURI initiative focuses on the placement of State funds in community banks, which is a separate statutory investment from the Missouri Linked Deposit Program. Treasurer Zweifel said INVEST IN MISSOURI requires legislative action because current State law includes a disincentive actually discouraging the State from placing deposits in Missouri community banks.

“Missouri is one of two states in the nation, and the State Government is the only government entity in Missouri, which caps the interest rate taxpayers receive when their funds are invested in community banks,” Treasurer Zweifel said. “By removing the cap, and combining with the Missouri Linked Deposit Program, our office can reinvest $1 billion in Missouri communities.”

The legislative change to the interest-rate cap would also result in an additional $10 million coming back to Missouri taxpayers because of the increased interest rate returns.

“Through INVEST IN MISSOURI, we can ensure that taxpayers are investing in Missouri’s future success and are receiving a great return on their money,” Treasurer Zweifel said.

[emphasis added]

This is the type of pragmatic solution we should expect from all of our public servants. Practical money management from the Missouri State Treasurer is a good thing. What’s not to like? In the time lag between income and outgo state funds can be invested in very safe places.

Given the relatively large amount of state money available this can have a very positive economic impact on the state in two ways. It places a significant amount of money safely into a place in the economy that can utilize the resource to help alleviate the current downturn in available money for reinvestment in the economy and it can generate increased interest return to the state, adding a not insignificant amount of funds to state income.

With prudent money management and the exercise of due diligence on the part of the State Treasurer’s office this is a smart thing to do. As I said before, what’s not to like?

The trick will be in getting the Missouri General Assembly to act in a timely manner.

Photo: Office of the Missouri State Treasurer

Let me associate myself with Randy Turner’s thoughts on the 2008 GOP primary. Steelman hurt Hulshof more in the general by her awkward endorsement than by anything she said or did in the primary. Hulshof was a bad candidate barely able to beat someone in the primary even with the support of the entire GOP establishment, and he didn’t stand much of a chance in the general with or without a primary challenger.

And let me say that primary challenges are on the whole good for a party, not bad. The long battle between Obama and Clinton made Obama better able to take on McCain, a spirited fight in the VA Senate primary in 2006 gave Jim Webb the boost the Democrats needed to win the Senate in 2006, and so on. As long as two sides can come together to work for the greater good after the primary is over, a hard-fought primary is not a bad thing.