In his hot pursuit of Roy Blunt’s 7th district seat in the U.S. House of Reporesentatives, State Senator Gary Nodler (R-32) is running true to form for Missouri Republicans, who almost universally seem to feel the need to placate the crazies inhabiting the fantasy land to the right of the right. Nodler’s pandering, however, is a bit more amusing than most simply because, while as devoid of real benefit, it is bolder and more inventive in its rhetoric.
You may remember Nodler for his recent effort to garner the good will of Tea Party tenthers by sponsoring a “sovereignty bill” (Senate Bill 587) that would establish a “state-level Tenth Amendment Commission that would determine if the federal government is overreaching its bounds in powers reserved for the states under the Tenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.”
Most recently he has garnered attention by claiming that repealing Don’t Ask, Dont Tell (DADT), would create a “hostile workplace” for soldiers. Perhaps he would like to segregate male and female office workers here in Missouri? Plenty of potential there for a hostile workplace, eh?
But that’s not all – Nodler’s also worried that openly gay soldiers “could represent a ‘cultural affront'” to terrorists intent on killing American troops.”
There is, fortunately for those of us who like political slap-stick, a second act to Nodler’s performance. After his assertions abut DTDA were ridiculed by Igor Volsky at the Wonk Room, the ever-oblivious Mr. Nodler responded with this little exercise in self-righteousness:
I never said that this would be a cultural affront to terrorists. I don’t care what they think. I said it would be a cultuaral [sic] affront to the Muslims in who’s [sic] country we are operating. We can not win the hearts and minds of the people by insulting them and ignoring the standards of their culture. This is about the people who live there and the armies we are serving with. Your comment makes the common mistake that all Muslims are terrorists.
Well, to quote Steve Martin, Excuuuuuuse me! Who would have thought that Nodler was so culturally sensitive? Is he really proposing that we shouldn’t stand up for what is right in our national institutions because folks elsewhere might be offended? He’ll be demanding that our female soldiers in Afghanistan don a burka next so as not to offend the Taliban. Of course, he’s also ignoring the fact that occupying Muslim countries on the basis of trumped-up accusations may have done more to offend hitherto non-militant Muslims than any of our social practices.
Oops! Update: I wrote too soon – via Fired Up! Missouri, Nodler doesn’t think military women in Afghanistan should don burkas, he thinks they shouldn’t be in the military at all. The more this guy digs in … the deeper the hole – promises lots of fun.
Phil Wright of Madsen & Wright, a lobbyist registered with the Missouri Ethics Commission, spoke on Thursday night to the Johnson County Democratic Club on the recently concluded legislative session. His presentation covered a wide range of subjects including the impact of economic stabilization and stimulus funds, term limits, controversial bills, and the budget. His talk (and questions from the audience) was well over forty minutes long. What follows is a transcript of a portion of his presentation dealing with the budget process this session:
Phil Wright, Madsen & Wright, speaking to the Johnson County Democratic Club on Thursday night.
Phil Wright, Madsen & Wright: [23:01]…Let me talk a little bit about the budget process. And I do follow the budget…And it was…I don’t think you’ve ever seen it like this year in where the subcommittees go through their hearing process. And they had a parade of people come and give their testimony and they talked to them about the issues and things like priorities and that are needs for their area. And the subcommittees make their recommendations; they hear reports and then make their recommendations and they, to the, to the budget committee. Well the budget bills have already been written. Behind closed doors. They haven’t been introduced, so anybody can see them. And so, all that work was just sort of wasted. It wasn’t, it wasn’t taken to account. Nobody really did anything with it, but because the chairman, Allen Icet [r], wrote, wrote the bill and dictated on what that was going to be. He had his plan on how he was going to do it. And then the chairman in the Senate Appropriations, Gary Nodler [r], had his plan and how he was going to do it. And then you had the Governor’s office who had to administer all this, so they had, they were trying to figure out a plan as well…
…Now I do believe that the Senate and The Governor’s office were talking much more than anybody was ever talking to the House. It became very obvious when, in years past there’s been, okay, the House is gonna put this money in ’cause they don’t want to touch this one issue, but the Senate will touch that one issue, they’ll put some money in. And then when, and then whenever they get to conference, they’ll trade it out. Well, in this year the House did their thing, the Senate did their thing. And, and they’re like this. I mean, there was never, there was never a, there never seemed to be a connection until conference, and even then it was just kind of, it, it was just a very bizarre process. About the time you start to have things figured out, that they were changing on you. And, and move money out, and, you know, we saw House Bill 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21 and 22 introduced. Completely, and a lot of that time, because they were moving money around, they were saying, “Well, I don’t like, I don’t like what’s in that bill, so I’m gonna put, I’m gonna do my thing over here in this bill.” There wasn’t really any rhyme or reason to it. It was more about, it, they, they weren’t going to pay any attention to the process. It was ugly to watch. It was ugly to try and participate in. And it was damn hard to participate in it…
…But it was also hard for legislators to represent their constituents. I, I don’t see how, I mean I talked with, with Representative Hoskins and Senator Pearce on a regular basis to try to help them figure things out and so they could help me figure things out, too. And it was difficult because the information was not being shared. At all. They were asking, they were looking, and the information was not being shared. And, so I don’t know how, hopefully the process will be better next year. Yeah.
Show Me Progress: I find it interesting because, you know, Denny Hoskins is on the budget committee, am I correct? And he ran as a CPA.
Phil Wright: Yes.
SMP: And he’s, it’s now he’s got trouble with the, the process of the budget? Or was he cut out of it?
Phil Wright: Every single legislator on the committee knew nothing, except for the chair. And if, and if, but if others did know, and they weren’t, and they weren’t sharing it, they were very good at hiding it…[26:54]
Moves are being made in several quarters in our state government to ensure that the use of the funds provided our state by the federal recovery package will be transparent and accountable.
First of all, to make the injection of federal dollars more transparent to the public, State Auditor Susan Montee has set up a handy-dandy stimulus tracker on her website. Once the federal dollars start flowing into state coffers, the tracker will update daily to reflect every dollar allocated by our state government. Campaign finance junkies who like to play “Follow the Money” might find a fix during the long months in between campaign finance reports.
Also, in a move that could aid Montee, the unlikely team of Senators Gary Nodler (R-Joplin) and Joan Bray (D-University City) have guided a bill through the Senate, SB 313, that would create two separate funds for federal stimulus dollars. The first is a “Federal Budget Stabilization Fund” for money intended to bolster the General Revenue, like unemployment benefits and Medicaid reimbursements. The other, the “Federal Stimulus Fund” is for any additional funds. The idea here is to make sure the legislature doesn’t reroute federal stimulus dollars for other purposes by putting it all in general revenue.
Interesting to see that both Nodler and Bray are termed in 2010. In any case, it’s nice to see state officials making an effort on behalf of transparency.
Mitt Romney, the son of Michigan governor George W. Romney, is beloved among Republican elites here in Missouri. Matt Blunt and Jim Talent both endorsed him fairly early. Jack Jackson, Jason Crowell, Gary Nodler, Bryan Pratt, Shannon Cooper, David Day, Doug Funderbunk, Dwight Scharnhorst, Neal St. Onge, and Bryan Stevenson have all endorsed him, too. And in a recent e-mail, Rod Jetton (h/t Arch City Chronicle) details how he was won over at a meeting with Mitt, just like “when you go to those time-share presentations.” (That’s a direct quote – I kid you not.) Ed Martin was won over with the answer to the first question of the meeting – his own – which was about the Iraq warabortionuniversal health careglobal warming Romney’s Mormon faith, of course.
Romney has a record of moderate governance, working to balance budgets, preserve a woman’s right to choose, extend health care to every citizen. Of course, that gives him no chance in the Republican presidential primary, so now he’s running as the most conservative candidate in the race. Double Guantanamo! Slash taxes! No universal health care! Stay the course in Iraq!
In honor of his whiplash-inducing position changes, the Democratic National Committee is auctioning off a ‘Mitt Romney Flip Flop Kit” on eBay. Details below the flip.
The Democratic National Committee is auctioning off a special edition Mitt Romney Flip-Flop Kit.
Having apparently run out of policy positions to auction off this campaign season, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is now calling on his supporters to join him in selling off parts of their pasts too. Sure, smooth talking Mitt Romney is reportedly planning to spend as much as $60 million of his own money to win the GOP nomination. But his campaign is still looking to reverse its declining fundraising numbers by convincing supporters to auction off old belongings and give the proceeds to the campaign.
Since Romney has tried to smooth talk his way to the GOP nomination by shedding his previous positions on just about every issue in this campaign, his friends at the Democratic National Committee decided to join the fun by auctioning off Romney’s past. This one of a kind, special edition Mitt Romney Flip Flop Kit includes:
Mitt Romney’s Flip Flops on issues ranging from abortion, immigration, tax cuts, the Reagan administration, gay rights, campaign finance reform, climate change, conservatism, gambling, gun control, etc.;
A limited edition DVD of some of Romney’s more infamous flip-flops;
Flip-Flop flash cards in the shape of flip-flops so you can study on all of Mitt Romney’s various positions, courtesy of the Massachusetts Democratic Party.
A new pair of flip-flops;
A collectors edition foam flip-flop distributed at campaign events by a rival candidate;
A replica of the snowman that Mitt Romney is afraid to take questions from at the YouTube debate; and
A collection of Democratic signs, posters, pins and collectibles.
In order to avoid profiting from Romney’s flip-flopping, the DNC will donate an amount equal to the winning bid to a local pet shelter in honor of embattled Romney family dog Seamus. [http://www.democrats…]
Special note-our lawyers are making us say this-the winning bid is a contribution to the Democratic National Committee and is subject to the restrictions and limitations of federal campaign finance laws. The DNC will make a contribution equal to the amount of the winning bid to a local animal shelter. Contributions are not deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes.
Paid for and authorized by the Democratic National Committee. This communication is not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.
Mitt Romney, the son of Michigan governor George W. Romney, is beloved among Republican elites here in Missouri. Matt Blunt and Jim Talent both endorsed him fairly early. Jack Jackson, Jason Crowell, Gary Nodler, Bryan Pratt, Shannon Cooper, David Day, Doug Funderbunk, Dwight Scharnhorst, Neal St. Onge, and Bryan Stevenson have all endorsed him, too. And in a recent e-mail, Rod Jetton (h/t