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.

Yesterday, at the Missouri Ethics Commission:

C001135 06/29/2013 A BETTER MISSOURI WITH GOVERNOR JAY NIXON Salem Village Nursing and Rehab Center LLC 1314 Rowell Avenue Joliet IL 60433 6/27/2013 $10,000.00

[emphasis added]

Previously:

Campaign Finance: very interesting (April 16, 2013)

Campaign Finance: still not running for anything (February 9, 2013)

Whatever.

Today Governor Jay Nixon (D) vetoed SB 29, an anti-labor bill passed by the General Assembly:

June 25, 2013 [pdf]

TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE OF THE STATE OF MISSOURI

Herewith I return to you Senate Substitute for Senate Committee Substitute for Senate Bill No. 29 entitled:

AN ACT

To amend chapter 105, RSMo, by adding thereto one new section relating to labor organizations.

I disapprove of Senate Substitute for Senate Committee Substitute for Senate Bill No. 29. My reasons for disapproval are as follows:

Senate Substitute for Senate Committee Substitute for Senate Bill No. 29 would prohibit public employers from deducting union dues or fees unless an employee provides – on an annual basis – a written authorization for the deduction of a specific amount on a form prescribed by the bill. The legislation also would require public employees to complete separate written authorization – again on an annual basis – if they want to allow the dues they pay to be used for political purposes. The bill targets a single group of employees and imposes on them unnecessary and cumbersome process.

There are a number of items that employees may elect to have withheld from their paychecks, including money for college savings accounts, deferred compensation, and 401(K) plans. And, under current law, state employees may elect to have their union dues withheld. section 33.103 RSMo. In each of these instances, the withholdings are based on on one-time authorizations that the employee clearly has the authority to revoke at any time. Employees are not required to take additional steps to cause such withholdings to continue in subsequent years. But under this bill, public employees who are members of unions would be required to complete two separate written authorizations each year. Singling out union dues for these extra processes serves no beneficial purpose. rather, the bill places unnecessary burdens on public employees for the purpose of weakening labor organizations. I therefore disapprove of Senate Substitute for Senate Committee Substitute for Senate Bill No. 29.

Senate Substitute for Senate Committee Substitute for Senate Bill No. 29 also exempts first responders from its requirements regarding authorization for deduction and use of union dues. It has been held that such an exemption provides disparate treatment to similarly situated people without a compelling government interest, in violation of the Equal protection Clause of the United States Constitution. (See Bailey v. Callaghan, 873 F.Supp.2d 879, 885-8869E.D. Mich.. 2012)).

In accordance with the above stated reasons for disapproval, I am returning Senate Substitute for Senate Committee Substitute for Senate Bill No. 29 without my approval.

Respectfully submitted,

s/

Jeremiah W. (Jay) Nixon

Governor

Previously:

KC-Area Faith Leaders on SB29, Paycheck Deception (May 15, 2013)

Late in May I wrote about how Jan Brewer, the GOP Tea Party governor of Arizona, saw the light and went to bat for the Obamacare Medicaid expansion in her state, fighting tooth-and-nail against her once simpatico Tea Party legislature. Today I learned that she managed to prevail in her fight. Shows what all-out commitment will do – and maybe suggests just why our cautious, low-key Democratic governor isn’t able to achieve similar goals.

Of course, it looks like the GOP-dominated legislature may be having second thoughts about expanding access to Medicaid – or perhaps they’re just worried that blowback from such a wanton rejection of measures that would improve the quality of life for thousands of Missourians might hurt them in the long run, particularly when it becomes clear to Missourians just how costly the GOP’s mindless opposition to anything Obamacare will be for the state. It seems that both houses have now appointed panels that will prepare Medicaid “reform” legislation for the 2014 session.

Sadly, I fear that the reforms these ALEC-fearing jokers might have in mind might be almost as bad as going without. Last year, some GOP lawmakers supported changes that would have moved Medicaid into private, managed care systems – which have proven problematic in many states where they have been tried (see here, here and here) – and it’s likely that they will continue on down the path toward what State Rep. Jay Barnes (R-114) speculated could be “the most market-based system in the entire country.”

Of course, many healthcare economists are unequivocal that the biggest problem contributing to raising health care costs is simply our private delivery system with its perverse incentives and cumbersome administrative costs. Nor do we always get good value for the money spent. Oh well – if it gets more people into the system, I guess we can afford a little degradation in the service – it’s just the usual cost of doing business with ideologues and corporatists.

Today Governor Nixon stepped up and met his responsibility to the state and we owe him bigtime:

Nixon vetoed the disastrous GOP tax cut bill HB253. Over a ten year period, the bill would have cut corporate income taxes from 6.25% to 3.5%, and personal income taxes from 6% to 5.5%. As Nixon explained, “with a price tag of $800 million, this legislation is an ill-conceived, fiscally irresponsible experiment that would hurt our economy and jeopardize funding for vital public services.”

The reaction was swift, with GOP legislators raging about how radical tax cuts are the only way that Missouri can compete with neighboring Kansas, which has gutted its tax system. The general theme seems to be that Kansas is thriving under its new tax regime; as the Missouri branch of the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity (AFP) put it when decrying Nixon’s move, “Many of our neighboring states have made bold reforms in the area of taxation, which have catapulted their states into being some of the most economically strong states in the union.”

Kansas is economically strong? Surprising news indeed – although it is not so surprising that it comes from the AFP since an AFP consultant on budgetary matters has been appointed Kansas’ budget director. The jury is still out (way, way out) on whether the tax cuts will spur growth – although we do know that the Bush tax cuts did not result in an economic boom – the Obama administration has already, in five years, bested the eight-year Bush administration record of job creation – in spite of having to beat back the massively deep Bush recession.

Right now, Kansas is not only promulgating a “red-state economic model”, it’s seeing reams of red, red ink that is. A predicted loss of $700 million dollars in revenue for the fiscal year beginning in July means serious budget cuts are ahead – and Kansas Governor Sam Brownback has already radically slashed spending. You name your program and it’s gonna be cut more and cut bad: education, transportation infrastructure, social services. And it’s likely to get worse if the tax-cutting experiment doesn’t work the way Kansas’ GOP is betting it will:

To make up for the revenue drop, the governor is pushing to preserve what was meant to be a temporary increase in the state sales tax, and to eliminate two popular deductions, including the state write-off for home-mortgage interest payments. Those moves would raise about $600 million next fiscal year. He also wants to transfer more than $100 million from a state highway fund to cover other expenses.

Estimates prepared by the state’s legislative research department predict that, even with the steps Mr. Brownback proposes, Kansas is on track to be short of money. The estimates suggest that the state will need to lean on its reserves in the coming years, and lawmakers by 2017 will be forced to make $780 million in spending cuts to prevent a deficit, which isn’t allowed under Kansas law. A Brownback aide said the forecasts don’t take into account the beneficial impact of the tax cuts.

Although, given the sales tax situation, one can argue that Kansas hasn’t really eliminated income taxes, it’s just asking poor folks to pay for all that magical economic growth that will surely reveal itself any day now. Huffington Post quotes one Kansas resident who states that if the home mortgage deduction is eliminated, she will move back to Missouri. Ironic, no?

But not surprising since Kansas is taking a big gamble on radical supply side economics with no real evidence that it will work – and lot’s of history that says it won’t. Why do Missouri’s legislators want us to jump off the same cliff? Shouldn’t they at least wait to see if Kansas survives the fall? Governor Nixon is right to insist that we proceed cautiously and make sure that we can take care of our citizens’ needs. HB253 was passed by a vote of 103 to 51, six votes less than the number required to override Nixon’s veto. We’ve got to keep it that way or we’ll go the way of Kansas.

 

Previously:

On the road to Iowa (June 1, 2013)

The Missouri General Assembly holds no monopoly on bad ideas or insanity. Travel to other battleground states and a reading of the local news about the legislature therein reveals the pervasiveness of the batshit crazy. Let’s see, defund public education, defund higher education (and limit access), attack labor and labor rights. Falling backward is a feature, not a bug.

“Wisconsin” atop the capitol dome. Sometimes referred to as “Miss Forward” (there’s another statue with

that title on the grounds – “Forward” is the Wisconsin motto). Locals would also refer to the statue as

“Miss Rennebohm” because it ostensibly gazed toward the Rennebohm Drug Store on the square.

Not quite a Libertarian paradise:

A display of republican dogma proudly exhibited on a vehicle parked on the grounds of the Wisconsin capitol.

Because government shouldn’t do anything and if we prevent it from doing anything by starving it of revenue people won’t expect anything from government. Except maybe abortion restrictions.

No Exit.

Mislabeling inside the Wisconsin capitol?

What’s the similarity between Jay Nixon and Scott Walker? Their respective political bases consider them the best republican governor their state has ever had.

What are the odds of either becoming president?

In the People’s Republic of Madison:

Hagiography in the lion’s den.

In W.B. Yeats’ poem, “The Second Coming,” he famously writes:

The best lack all conviction, while the worst

Are full of passionate intensity.

Sadly, these often quoted lines seem to be all too true when it comes to current politics. Take, for example, Arizona’s Governor Jan Brewer and Missouri’s Governor Jay Nixon and their respective responses to the Obamacare Medicaid expansion.

Nixon’s no dummy; he wants the Medicaid expansion badly. He’s campaigned around the state and tried every reasonable, polite way to bring pressure to bear on the stable of GOP jackasses in Jefferson City to get them to do the right thing. Of course, it doesn’t take a genius to realize that there’s no way the Missouri GOP would forgo their obsessive hatred of Obamacare – along with everything Obama – long enough to think the Medicaid issues through,or to take them seriously if they did. These are the same fools, after all, who made the legislative session that just finished the butt of jokes across the nation.

Nevertheless, the Governor, in response to the GOP legislative rebuff, has politely refrained from casting stones, remarking that next session will provide another opportunity for Medicaid expansion. Of course, the statehouse will also be populated with the same blockheads next session, but such an observation would be beneath the dignity of famously GOP-cooperative, non-partisan (and lacking all conviction?) Jay Nixon.

In Arizona, however, Republican Jan Brewer, who has in the past been viewed as a number one, prima dona, tea partier – particularly when it comes to immigration issues – nevertheless managed to figure out that the federally-subsidized Medicaid expansion was a really good opportunity to improve life for thousands of Arizonans. Gifted with a legislature on a par with that of Missouri’s, she has shown herself to be filled with Yeats’ passionate intensity. No polite, rationally argued invitations to do better from Brewer  – she’s going to war with the Obamacare-averse Arizona legislature:

Arizona’s Republican Gov. Jan Brewer is stepping up her pressure on the GOP-led legislature to expand Medicaid by declaring a moratorium on legislating until they give in.

Brewer vetoed five unrelated bills on Thursday, according to the Arizona Republic, and threatened to keep blocking legislation until Republicans expand Medicaid to cover thousands of Arizonans, which Obamacare permits at minimal cost to the state.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m truly grateful for a Democratic governor like Nixon who can still veto some or, if we’re lucky, all of the bad bills sent to him by GOP lawmakers – as long as he actually does so, that is, since one can never be sure when he’s going to decide to make nice with the GOPers. I supported his election, and it’s possible he’s got some surefire strategy in mind in regard to Medicaid for next year. But I still wonder why liberals like Claire McCaskill or pseudo-liberals like Nixon don’t care enough to really go down to the wire fighting for just a few truly important issues. True, there are a handful of Democrats who show some spirit: Massachusett’s Elizabeth Warren, Vermont’s Bernie Sanders, and just-retired Rep. Barney Frank, to name a few. But still – why can’t we grow and support progressives like these in Missouri?

While it’s too early to say whether or not Brewer will win her war with the Arizona legislature, it still grates that backward-thinking Jan Brewer has what it takes to fight for the uninsured in her state. Meanwhile, good old Jay Nixon just takes the slings and arrows of the GOP legislature on the chin – and, as a result, thousands of low-income Missourians will have to keep on keeping on without the health insurance that could save their or their children’s lives.

P.S. I don’t really think Jay Nixon is the best of us – but he’s not that bad, especially when compared with the Jan Brewer of the recent past.

*Edited slightly to restore omitted text.  

From mistermix at Balloon Juice:

….Democrats are so terrible at political branding that if they were giving away gold they’d call it “shit”….

You know who you are.

Yesterday the April quarterly campaign finance reports were due at the Missouri Ethics Commission.

For Attorney General Chris Koster (D):

C031159: Missourians For Koster

[….]

Information Reported On: 2013 – April Quarterly Report

Beginning Money on Hand $142,933.06

Monetary Receipts + $374,100.11

Monetary Expenditures – $90,578.52

Contributions Made – $5,000.00

Other Disbursements – $2,106.36

Subtotal     $276,415.23

Ending Money On Hand   $419,348.29

[emphasis added]

Another eight to ten million to go for 2016.

For State Auditor Tom Schweich (r):

C111150: Friends Of Tom Schweich

[….]

Beginning Money on Hand $77,254.83

Monetary Receipts + $520.00

Monetary Expenditures – $4,843.58

Contributions Made – $1,000.00

Other Disbursements – $0.00

Subtotal     ($5,323.58)

Ending Money On Hand   $71,931.25

[emphasis added]

State Auditor Tom Schweich (r) may be running for reelection in 2014. And maybe something else in 2016.

And, Governor Jay Nixon (D) who may be running for something in 2016:

C001135: A Better Missouri With Governor Jay Nixon

[….]

Beginning Money on Hand $413,395.73

Monetary Receipts + $448,237.96

Monetary Expenditures – $407,102.68

Contributions Made – $27,000.00

Other Disbursements – $0.00

Subtotal     $14,135.28

Ending Money On Hand   $427,531.01

[emphasis added]

The man with the golden touch…

Same difference.

An ad from the usual teabagger suspects showing up on our television sets every five minutes today:

Published on Apr 1, 2013

Timing is everything, even without a sense of irony.

Voice: When I make a state tax payment I expect for it to go to the amount that I owe and to provide essential state services. [speaker revealed to be really bad actor number one] Now I see that a subpoena has been issued against the Department of Revenue because they’re collecting personal information on gun owners and sending it to the Obama Administration.

Really bad actor number two: Sounds like Governor Nixon isn’t doing his job to protect us from Obama’s reach.

Really bad actor number one: When state agencies don’t do their jobs it’s [speaker revealed to be Carl Bearden (r), right wingnut lobbyist and former state legislator] all of our state taxpayer dollars that’s wasted.

Really bad actor number two: That’s outrageous. But what can I do?

Really bad actor number one/Carl Bearden (r): You can go to….and tell Governor Nixon to stop taking aim at Missouri taxpayers.

[Paid for by United For Missouri]

Carl Bearden (r)? Isn’t he a lobbyist?:

LOBID:L002591 Received Date:7/17/2007

Lobbyist’s Name Carl Bearden

[….]

Principal(s) listed by Lobbyist

Principal Name/Address/Phone Status Date Added Date Deleted

CARL BEARDEN

PO BOX 561

ST. CHARLES MO 63302

(314) 560-4597 A 7/19/2007

UNITED FOR MISSOURI

PO BOX 11466

SPRINGFIELD MO 65808

888-332-3811 A 7/30/2010

UNITED FOR MISSOURI’S FUTURE

PO BOX 11466

SPRINGFIELD MO 65808

888-332-3811 A 7/30/2010

[….]

Why, yes, he is.

“…When I make a state tax payment I expect for it to go to the amount that I owe…”

No, everyone else expects it to be for any random amount, Captain Obvious. Was this commercial written by a twelve year old? Just asking.

“…Sounds like Governor Nixon isn’t doing his job to protect us from Obama’s reach…”

Who knew that Barack Obama was the supreme leader of North Korea? I didn’t know that. Did you know that?

Taxes. Check.

Gun paranoia. Check.

Evil Obama. Check.

Incoherence. Check.