West County Democrats hosted Tony Messenger, the Pulitzer prize winning journalist and author. He discussed the criminalization of the poor through a punitive system of fines and fees for prison time. For those who can’t afford court imposed bonds and fines, even small infractions can blossom into extended jail terms, for which defendants are expected to pay a per Diem rate– or return to jail. It is a cycle that places the burden of funding municipalities, courts, law enforcement and private firms all on the backs of the least capable among us.
While legislation after the Ferguson protests limited municipality’s ability to fund their with police and court activities, there is still work to be done to eliminate this modern day ‘debtor’s prison’ system. For more information about this unjust system that exists in all of our states, read Profit and Punishment: How America Criminalizes the Poor in the Name of Justice.
During the general business session of the meeting, two new candidates running for school board positions in the April 5th election presented themselves to the WCD membership. We wish Jeffrey Spector (Parkway) and Amy Ryan (Rockwood) good luck with their campaigns. As a reminder, while West County Democrats does not endorse specific candidates, anyone running this year in this region are welcome to attend our meetings and will be given time to present their case to our members.
Glenn Koenen’s legislative Report
Federal Items:
A few words about Ukraine…
Vladimir Putin never accepted the break-up of the Soviet Union. The departure of Ukraine – followed by that country’s bold move towards western style democracy – really got under his skin. Putin acts as if Russia can’t have Ukraine, then Ukraine should not exist. The failure of “the West” to offer unified opposition to the taking of Crimea and eastern regions of Ukraine obviously encouraged Putin to do more. He is doing more now.
The United States – especially under Republican domination – gave military assistance to Ukraine yet always worried more about bothering Russia. Remember too that Donald Trump’s first impeachment concerned holding Congress-authorized aid hostage for dirt on Joe Biden’s son. Boycotts of caviar and oil won’t stop Putin. Like Hitler, he’s immune to the pain suffered by the people he governs.
The situation in Ukraine will be very costly to the entire world.
While the bulk of Republicans now support significant aid to Ukraine, they still refuse to work with the administration on moving this country forward. The Senate still refuses (in part due to Joe Manchin’s obstinance) to advance major legislation on a variety of fronts, including voting rights.
And, while judge Ketanji Brown Jackson boasts a terrific background for the Supreme Court, her appointment may come down to a couple of Republicans crossing the aisle. A GOP few senators have labeled Judge Jackson an “affirmative action” pick. (Remember, it was Republicans presidents who kept promises to appoint the first woman Justice, and, replace a black Justice with another black Justice.) Plus, the Jackson elevation will not change the number of solid ultra conservative votes on the Supreme Court.
Even before Ukraine and COVID inflationary pressures were building in the American economy. Wages, for example, have been kept artificially low even as corporate profits soared. Even today there is no Republican acquiescence towards increasing the federal minimum wage (last raised in July 2009). The pandemic kept most people home and thereby artificially lowered fuel prices. As fuel increases the cost of food and most everything else goes up too.
Alas, there is little a President or Congress over the short term can do to stop inflation. At best, long term strategies through federal reserve rates and government incentives can slowly mitigate inflation. That’s important to remember as the election cycle starts.
Some good news: Congress passed a bipartisan debt and budget plan to fund the government through the end of the Fiscal Year (9/30/22). Extra funding for Ukraine was included.
State Items:
Missouri tests the notion that any publicity is good publicity…
‣ Jefferson County Republican House member Mary Elizabeth Coleman made the Washington Post as she gushed about her bill to make it a crime for Missouri women to get an abortion in other states.
‣ Last year’s Second Amendment Preservation Act continues to garner press coverage.
‣ The state’s refusal to acknowledge wrongly convicted people ought to be able to challenge their fate has been the subject of several reports.
‣ A proposal by Rep. Brian Seitz (R – Branson) banning surgery to end often fatal ectopic pregnancies has drawn criticism in even national conservative media circles.
I could go on but you get the idea.
Despite controlling the governorship, House and Senate the Republican majority cannot get much done in Jefferson City. A small number of legislators – seven self-proclaimed Conservative Caucus members in the Senate and a dozen or so fellow travelers in the House – have bottled-up this legislative session.
For example, the CC has repeatedly stopped Senate action on consideration of new Congressional Districts (passed by the House in January) because the proposal would probably result in two Democrats (out of eight members) in Congress. The CC demands a seven and one map. Plus, that map must place all of St. Charles County in one district.
Since they lack the numbers to advance legislation, the CC puts poison pill amendments on bills with bipartisan support. Last week they added language to legislation on protections for sexual assault victims to outlaw “pornography” in school libraries – mentioning Wentzville and Rockwood districts by name. The caucus saw no irony in the fact that most all the books they cited as pornographic were by acclaimed black authors.
It is possible that the CC will prevent the state from passing a budget. The state constitution prohibits using the budget to enact policy regulation. That, of course, hasn’t stopped Republicans in the past — such as using the budget to try to keep Planned Parenthood from getting federal money. This year it is probable that the CC will place scores of amendments on the budget bills when they reach the Senate.
In other news, the Missouri House of Representatives has declared war on public education in the state. Advancing are measures to…
1. Pay charter schools the same rate in state funds as public schools.
2. Allow “open enrollment” including making property ownership (not place of residence) a factor on where students can attend.
3. Allow districts to hire as teachers people without a teaching certificate or completion of college education courses. (After four years the hires would be issued state teaching certificates.)
4. Providing a “heckler veto” (Rep. Ian Mackey’s term) where parents could attend classes and object to the teacher’s teaching during class.
5. Allow school board candidates to have an “R” or “D” placed after their name on the ballot.
As always, the legislature maintains the current foundation formula adequately meets the state’s constitutional requirements to fund schools.
Also advancing is legislation to allow 18 year olds to carry concealed weapons, and, to allow those guns on public transportation, in Busch Stadium, churches and many other places.
Despite voter approval of Medicaid Expansion Republicans are working hard to kill it.
The primary approach is through legislation. The House has approved a measure for voters to sanction making Medicaid an appropriated item in the state budget instead of an entitlement. That way the legislature could simply cut money to Medicaid to throw people off the rolls.
During the hearing on the proposal House members were told that such a mandate could cause Missouri to lose all federal funding for its Medicaid program. Supporters of the measure claim that won’t happen.
The state is also keeping people from getting Medicaid the old fashioned way, via Department of Social Service incompetence. To apply most everyone must call the state’s Call Centers. It was not uncommon for wait times to exceed eight hours. The state solved that problem by automatically kicking-off every caller just after four hours on the line.
Despite a lawsuit by legal services and Empower Missouri on similar issues with food stamp application calls, it is unlikely that food stamp or Medicaid calls will be better handled at any time over the next two years. The state’s infrastructure is so weak (1970’s computer programs, staff at half of authorized level in many departments, non-leadership, etc.) that improvement requires completely new systems.
Many good ideas, including Medicaid Expansion, came about due to initiative petition efforts. The House has passed a measure – for the ballot, ironically – to make it harder to get items on the ballot. Groups would be required to get signatures from 10% of voters in all eight Congressional districts instead of 8% from six as now is law. That roughly means an increase from 180,000 signatures to better than 310,000, plus a lot more leg work in the state’s extremely rural districts.
On top of that, the legislature is back with a new version of the thrice discredited Voted I. D. language. Voters would be required to have a state issued photo identification. While they say there would be no cost to potential voters, no court has yet believed that claim.
The Missouri House of Representatives has 163 members. Better than one-third ‘earn’ their seats by filing to be placed on the ballot. They have no primary nor general election opponent. Yes, a few Democrats run unopposed. The majority of these automatically elected representatives are Republicans. Often they include the most extreme members of the legislature.