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Articles
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| The Questions Remain |
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admin writes, "The Questions still remain for a number of issues and situations."
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The first question might be what happens now?
The answer to that question is played out over the next several months. The second question: Will there be any real change in Jefferson City. We now have a Democrat Governor and a Republican Legislature. The third question: Will civility return to the Legislature? The fourth question: will the people of the state be the first consideration of these elected representatives and senators or will they continue to serve the rich, and their friends and cronies? The fifth question: Will we see laws and regulations that really benefit all of Missouri or will those laws be narrow in scope, marginally constitutional or totally unconstitutional?
Initially there will be a transition by Bunt’s
Governorship to Governor-elect Nixon. Transition has already begun. I am sure it will be thorough and efficient. Having seen the Governor-elect at work in the Attorney General’s office and as a Senator, I have no doubt. During that transition there will be selections made for the Cabinet and assistant director positions in the Departments of State Government.
The answer to questions two, three, four and five above rests with the Republicans. They still have control of the Missouri Legislature in both bodies; that means there will be no change unless there is real effort on the part of the House and Senate Leaders. I would hope there is real change. Judging from the campaign in Bollinger and Madison, and Wayne Counties there does not appear to be much change. The Republican Party candidate ads seemed much more negative and personal this election. Apparently this is the wave of the present and future, unless we the people start saying no to those attacks and require candidates to stay on the issues.
The many things the people of Missouri need are very likely to be slow in coming due to the inflated, rosy picture of Missouri’s fiscal situation. The Legislature needs to trim the huge amount of state tax credits given to corporations by their predecessors and the previous governor. What are tax credits? They are grants to not for profit corporations and to certain development projects and other projects sanctioned and created by law. State taxes are reduced by certificates given by the Department of Economic Development. The projects approved reduce the state tax burden of the person or corporation getting them.
In the year 2000, I am told the tax burden was ($100) One Hundred Million dollars and now it’s up to ($800)Eight Hundred Million dollars.
This kind of spending will have to be brought under control if any real progress for programs benefiting the people is to be realized.
The Legislature has to realize that Health care in Missouri is in free fall. Emergency room care is too expensive. Many people who have been denied care are costing us huge amounts because they must go to the emergency rooms to get care. The number of uninsured and underinsured is climbing at an alarming rate.
The General Assembly must take a hard look at long term fixes and not just band-aid approaches.
Term Limits has been a pet peeve of mine for some time. I see things happening in Jefferson City purely because of lack of experience and ignorance. When we passed term limits in 1992, the people were determined to stop a runaway Congress. What they failed to realize because of a lack of education about government, was the federal government is not changed by a Missouri Petition Referendum effort; even if it does pass.
FORMER STATE SENATOR
JERRY T. HOWARD
Email reply to: jthoward@jerryhoward.com
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Posted on Nov 12, 2008 07:38am.
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Copyright 2008 - All Rights Reserved.
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