It was a beautiful morning in Faust Park, for the West County Democrats summer meeting, the only one of the year hosted outside. Of special note among the announcements, our own Kevin Fitzgerald was given the microphone to discuss his work with a dependency center in St. Louis. It’s a small place, and most of the community it serves are homeless, so Kevin has been making peanut butter sandwiches and distributing them when he volunteers there. That effort has grown and now involves multiple partners who contribute time and resources to help feed the hungry. If you are interested in helping Kevin, please reach out to him directly.
Elad Gross, a candidate for Missouri Attorney General, along with his rescue dog “Miss Liberty” led a spirited discussion about the poor governance within the State of Missouri, within the legislative and executive branches, and, in particular, the State AG office. Three successive Republican AGs have failed to protect Missouri citizens and have, instead, led crusades against the will of the people (and the U.S. Constitution) to benefit their own political ambitions. Elad believes we can change that by focusing on real issues that matter and opening conversations with the dis-engaged. (In the 2020 election, more people didn’t vote at all than voted for Donald Trump in Missouri.) To that end, he is conducting a listening tour throughout the state, engaging all voters and laying the groundwork for revitalizing the Democratic party in rural areas.
The substantive issues faced by communities in the bootheel, and the inner-city areas are nearly the same, yet the Republican-proffered solutions over 20 years of political dominance in our state have done nothing to improve the health and prosperity of our citizens. Nothing at all. Moreover, in the poorest areas of our state, population decline has left many with few alternatives for who will represent them. Many of those districts are served by candidates who, while unqualified for the job, run un-opposed. Perhaps, if potential voters understood there are people willing to listen and work for them on issues that matter, they might just re-engage.
If you had any concern about the interest and energy of young people in politics, you should hear Elad speak. His optimism and common sense are invigorating.
As a reminder, the West County Democrats will NOT meet in August but will return in September of 2023 to the meeting room in the public library. That space will no longer be available to us after September in the time slot; and the UFCW location has been remodeled and will no longer accommodate a group of our size. The board is researching meeting space alternatives and is welcoming all suggestions for our group to meet.
Also, if you like what we do and you would like to help the West County Democrats continue our program, please consider joining our leadership team. The WCD board has a responsibility to seek and develop the next generation of leaders for our community. If you are alarmed by the decline in democracy and want to help bring positive change to our State and Country, we need your talents; please contact us either in person or through our web contact page.
In closing, Glenn Koenen typically offers his monthly legislative report before the end of our meetings but was unavoidably absent. He offered this written report instead.
Legislative Report – July 10, 2023, Glenn Koenen
Federal Items:
Trump Watch
It doesn’t pay to work for Donald Trump. The former President’s assistant went from being “Witness 5” to a felony-charged accomplice over the classified document stash. Most of Trump’s lawyers also face disciplinary action by various bar associations, state and/or federal prosecutors.
Despite that, Trump’s death grip on the GOP tightens. As the indicted former President’s legal woes mount his fundraising soars and the number of Americans supporting him grows. It looks very likely that he will be the party of Lincoln’s 2024 candidate.
The really bad news is that the majority of Republicans in the House and the Senate – and virtually every declared or wannabee GOP candidate – have jumped into the dumpster fire.
As a result, in the Senate hundreds of senior military promotions are on hold because Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R – AL) is courting Trump voters by refusing to allow promotions until the Biden administration changes the Defense Department’s policies on abortion and birth control.
Meanwhile, some House Republicans have introduced resolutions to impeach President Joe Biden and the head of homeland security. Under House rules, a small number of members could force the chamber to defer all business until the impeachment proposals are heard and referred to committee. A vote on that action would put Rep. Ann Wagner and other suburban members in the position of either voting with Trump’s acolytes for impeachment or run the risk of alienating Trump’s base.
As part of the debt ceiling deal, spending cuts are required in the next (October 1 start date) budget. The House Freedom Caucus and its friends are demanding that the cuts be much deeper than agreed in the budget deal. Since Social Security, Medicare and the military are spared the chopping block, cuts to services to disabled Americans, food stamps and such would be severe. For example, the committee proposal for the Department of Agriculture would drop nutrition program funding to about what it was in 2006.
Of course, the Republicans are their own worst enemy. Note that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene – a strong Trumpette and now an ally of Speaker [today] Kevin McCarthy – didn’t realize she was on double secret probation with the House Freedom Caucus. They don’t publish a list of their members but they’ve expelled Greene from the group.
With such disarray in the House and Senate rules locking-up that chamber, it is almost impossible to conceive of legislative action to temper the recent Supreme Court rulings on student loans, affirmative action and other matters.
State Items:
First some good news: Governor Mike Parson signed legislation extending post-partum care, as well as bills allowing families a transitional benefit period (instead of an instant cliff) for food stamps and such. The start of I-70 improvements is in sight, and, some workers in critical jobs will be getting additional (though modest) pay raises.
Unfortunately, the governor used his red pen to eliminate hundreds of millions of dollars of targeted spending about the state. The governor also vetoed the major ‘crime bill’ because of two provisions he didn’t like. 1) A limited way for some who had served their sentences to get off the sex offender registry is already law in many states. The governor said ‘not in Missouri.’ 2) The legislature also authorized an increase in compensation to those wrongly convicted. The governor felt that burden ought to be placed on the circuit or county which wrongly prosecuted the aggrieved.
The governor also signed legislation eliminating everyone’s Social Security payments from the state tax rolls, and allowing counties to freeze the tax amounts paid by seniors on their property. While that sounds like a good idea to many of us old folks, if a county enacts the freeze it would likely result in a steep increase in taxes on property owned by businesses and non-seniors.
Back to the budget…Fiscal Year 2023 ended on June 30, 2023. At the end of business that day General Revenue was up 2.74% — almost $354 million – from the prior year, despite tax cuts.
FT 2024 began on July 1st. The legislature passed a record budget in excess of $50 billion. Yet, Missouri has in excess of $8 billion sitting in tis accounts, plus many months of revenue trending upward.
In other words, Missouri easily had the money to:
- Increase funding to school districts to cover major raises in teacher pay.
- Increase allocations to higher education institutions to mitigate tuition and fee increases.
- Hire more workers for the beleaguered Department of Social Services.
- Raise payment rates to childcare and health care providers.
And the state could still afford the scores of specially funded items erased by the governor’s veto.
Missouri government services rank near the bottom of every list. Not because the state is impoverished but because the state’s Republican leaders do not want to spend the money available.
Legislation to impair initiative petitions did not pass. Supporters of a petition drive to make abortion officially legal in Missouri have met a bizarre roadblock. Appointed Attorney General Andrew Bailey – despite being rebuffed by a very conservative Cole County judge – insists that the fiscal note on the petition must include a broad, high estimate of all the tax revenue the ‘never born’ might eventually pay to the state.
This is very similar to the position he took in the student loan case at the Supreme Court, claiming the mostly autonomous MOHELA would be harmed by borrowers paying less in fees because their loan balances were reduced. In both cases the AG holds that it is not the duty of the state to serve the people but the duty of the people to pay as much as possible to the state.