And given the way they want to govern, the lunatic fringe right can’t call themselves “conservative”.
We’ve heard the joke in Democratic Party circles many times: “Jay Nixon is the best republican governor Missouri has ever had.”
Governor Jay Nixon (D) has restricted four hundred million dollars in the upcoming budget. From Governor Nixon’s office:
Announcer: Governor Nixon took action to keep Missouri’s fiscal year twenty fourteen budget on solid ground by exercising his constitutional authority to restrict four hundred million dollars from the upcoming budget and citing the significant cost with House Bill 253, which he vetoed earlier this month.
Governor Jay Nixon (D): With a price tag of at least eight hundred million dollars annually House Bill 253 would undermine our fiscal foundation now and for years to come. It’s the equivalent of cutting all support for higher education, all of it, closing all of our prisons, or shutting down the entire Department of mental Health. House Bill 253 is a dangerous experiment we simply cannot afford. These costs are real and immediate if my veto is not sustained.
Announcer: members of the General Assembly have stated their intent to attempt an override of the Governor’s veto later this fall after the budget has already gone into effect, creating a risk of budget shortfalls.
Governor Nixon: As lawmakers begin to understand the problems with this bill and their immediate and continuing consequences I’m confident they will come to the same conclusion I have. This bill should not become law. But no governor can responsibly manage a state budget on the assumption that a veto will be sustained. here in Missouri we don’t balance budgets by making risky bets or taking leaps of faith.
All these factors. The additional spending appropriated by the legislature, their failure to expand Medicaid and rein in tax credits, and the uncertainty created by House Bill 253 require that we take action now to insure our state remains fiscally solvent later.
[….]
From Speaker Tim Jones (r):
Tim W. Jones @SpeakerTimJones 28 Jun
#MO has a $700 MILLION surplus & Gov Nixon withholds $ from schools & kids. Lack of leadership, unconstitutional, cynical. #Fail 3:32 PM – 28 Jun 13
Tim W. Jones @SpeakerTimJones 28 Jun
#MO budget has large surplus so Gov Nixon wants to grow gov’t, implement failed ObamaCare & punish kids. #Fail 3:34 PM – 28 Jun 13
Today, from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Editorial: Jay Nixon gives Tim Jones a lesson in governing
….To prove his point about the seriousness of governing, on Friday, Mr. Nixon raised the stakes once more. In doing his constitutionally mandated job of reviewing bills passed by the Legislature, the governor withheld $400 million from the state budget, hitting education the hardest, because Mr. Jones has threatened to try to override the veto of House Bill 253, which would, in fact, cut about $400 million from the state budget by cutting taxes of the wealthy and corporations.
Game. Set. Match. Nixon….
….Mr. Jones is not a serious man. He has the largest House Republican majority in Missouri history, but he’d rather tell both the judicial and executive branches what to do than put that majority to good use.
He has become so weak that on Friday, by simply calling his bluff and treating the budget as though the dangerous “be-like-Kansas” tax cut bill were actually law, Mr. Nixon guaranteed that Mr. Jones’ veto-proof majority will be basically impotent in September.
There is a reason our Founding Fathers created three separate branches of government. It’s to protect us from people like Mr. Jones.
Okay, that left a mark.