Stimulus Dollars Buy Greyhound Buses in Missouri

I’ve never had the kind of fun enjoyed by passengers in this 1980 Greyhound commercial, but I’m thinking about taking a ride on the commercial bus line soon. Why? Because, as a taxpayer, I’m paying for it.

I came across this news after reading a release on the White House web site that listed the Missouri Department of Transportation as the recipient of $4.9 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (a.k.a., “stimulus”) funds for use in “construction of two facilities and purchase of two intercity vehicles.” Curious as to the specifics of the spending, I placed a phone call to MoDOT and reached spokesperson Jorma Durant.

During the first conversation, he explained that his agency would be spending the money on construction of buildings for two nonprofit transportation agencies — one each in Poplar Bluffs and Macon, Mo. — as well as on the purchase of two Greyhound buses.

Somewhat surprised, I asked him to explain why the MoDOT was buying Greyhound buses. Durant’s reply was open and honest.

“You have a great question,” he said. “You have an amazing question. Why are we dealing with Greyhound bus? Actually, it kind of surprised me as well. And I’m probably not going to have the right answer for you.”

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Tags: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, federal mandate, greyhound, Missouri, stimulus
Posted Mar 11th 2010 at 7:47 am in Earmarks, federal spending | 8616281 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/bmccarty/2010/03/11/stimulus-dollars-buy-greyhound-buses-in-missouri/Stimulus+Dollars+Buy+Greyhound+Buses+in+Missouri2010-03-11+15%3A47%3A44Bob+McCarty

ACORN’s Attorneys Stole $450,000 From Missouri Taxpayers

In July 2005, the United States Justice Department began investigating Missouri for non-compliance under the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA).  Justice was not investigating for failure to register voters; rather the problem was too many voters.  About 1/3 of Missouri’s counties had registered voters that exceeded the number of eligible voters.  One county’s ratio was upwards of 150%.  Justice found that the Missouri Secretary of State (SoS) failed to conduct a general program that made reasonable efforts to clean the voter rolls, and filed a lawsuit.

We would presume that Project Vote conducted a study, found that a nefarious plan to dilute the vote of low-income voters was taking place, and filed an amicus brief in support of the government’s lawsuit.  We would be wrong.  Government suits do not generate attorney’s fees under NVRA, but more importantly, SoS Robin Carnahan (D) has close ties to the legions of progressive groups.  And the government did not stand a chance with Judge Nanette Laughrey (appointed during the governorship of Robin’s father, Mel Carnahan, and a former Carnahan aide-de-camp), who, despite her left-leaning tendencies, managed to deliver a summary judgment that would make any strict constructionist proud.  Judge Laughrey writes that Carnahan had no responsibility to actually do anything, other than “coordinate,” which is left up to Carnahan.

Despite the amusement of a liberal judge mimicking a Scalia or Thomas, the district court ruling went too far; even for a panel of judges on the 8th Circuit, composed entirely of W appointees.  There are definitely flaws in the NVRA.  Former Ohio SoS J. Kenneth Blackwell pointed them out rather deftly, and Project Vote has utilized these flaws to further a progressive agenda with ACORN.  The problem with district court ruling is that it clearly was meant to provide cover for Secretary Carnahan.  Even after the 8th Circuit found that SoS Carnahan was still responsible for conducting “reasonable efforts” to comply with the various NVRA provisions, Judge Laughrey white-washed the efforts of Carnahan, belittled the government’s minimal expectations regarding compliance under NVRA, and established a target for Project Vote and ACORN that would be easy prey in later suits.

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Tags: ACORN, michael slater, Missouri, nanette lauughrey, Project Vote
Posted Feb 23rd 2010 at 7:01 am in ACORN, Justice/Legal | 7822657 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/jwales/2010/02/23/acorns-attorneys-stole-450000-from-missouri-taxpayers/ACORN%27s+Attorneys+Stole+%24450%2C000+From+Missouri+Taxpayers2010-02-23+15%3A01%3A53Josie+Wales

Making Political Candidates of Tea Party Patriots

A previous post, Turning Tea Party Patriots into Political Petitioners, examined opportunities for new activists to affect change in their home states.  A natural next step is to discuss other options for getting involved.

It remains to be seen if the political activity that this summer generated hundreds of Tea Party protests and capacity crowd town hall meetings turns into a lasting political force.  Many will participate in one event and go back to the daily grind.  A few will remain active, and some may even use their outrage to invest their time and treasure into political campaigns.

For those who seek to become active, there are plenty of resources.  Citizens In Charge and Ballotpedia.org are both aimed at informing citizens of ballot initiatives and expanding the rights of citizens to petition government directly.

There are also organizations that will train candidates and campaign staff.  Since 1979, Morton Blackwell’s Leadership Institute has worked to train candidates and activists to run effective campaigns for office, mostly on the statewide and federal level.   But traveling across a state or a large congressional district for weeks and months at a time can be too great a sacrifice for most.

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Tags: American Majority, Ballotpedia.org, candidate training, Citizens in Charge, Drew Ryun
Posted Oct 13th 2009 at 11:00 am in Politics, State Politics, Tea Party | 1234672 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/ptuohe/2009/10/13/making-political-candidates-of-tea-party-patriots/Making+Political+Candidates+of+Tea+Party+Patriots2009-10-13+18%3A00%3A03Patrick++Tuohey

ACORN Hired People ‘Still In Prison’ Convicted of Identity Theft For Canvassing Voters

Nevada Secretary of State Ross Miller, a democrat, told Eric Shawn on FOX News that ACORN was hiring convicts still in prison -CONVICTED OF IDENTITY THEFT- for canvassing voters.

Ross said that by executing a search warrant at ACORN headquarters in Nevada the authorities were able to substantiate charges and have a very solid case against ACORN. They believe they can prove that it’s not just a few bad apples it went much higher up in the organization. Ross believes that ACORN and the regional director should be held accountable for the criminal activity that took place in the state.

Ross told FOX News that they found prisoners on the ACORN payroll: (more…)

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Tags: ACORN, ACORN Nevada, America Coming Together, Identity theft, Missouri
Posted Oct 4th 2009 at 11:23 am in ACORN, Culture, Politics, State Politics | 1222683 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/jhoft/2009/10/04/acorn-hired-people-still-in-prison-convicted-of-identity-theft-for-canvassing-voters-video/ACORN+Hired+People+%27Still+In+Prison%27+Convicted+of+Identity+Theft+For+Canvassing+Voters2009-10-04+18%3A23%3A02Jim+Hoft

Turning Tea Party Patriots into Political Petitioners

As Americans rise up all across the country to challenge a political elite that many believe does not listen to them, it is important to consider the tools that people in many states have employed to directly affect change: the petition.

In Missouri, our Constitution includes the following passage:

The people reserve power to propose and enact or reject laws and amendments to the constitution by the initiative, independent of the general assembly, and also reserve power to approve or reject by referendum any act of the general assembly, except as hereinafter provided.  (Article 3, Section 49)

The document  clearly states that the people possess the right to initiate laws and constitutional amendments, even though they grant those same powers to their representatives in the legislature.  This is an important since it permits the people to enact laws directly and without going through the standard legislative process.

Unfortunately, in Missouri and other states where the people enjoy this right, the initiative process is continually under assault from state legislatures—Republican and Democrat alike—even to the point of adopting unconstitutional limitations to them.  Such efforts have included the following:

• A 1969 law in Oklahoma required that petition circulators be state residents.  In December 2008, the Tenth Circuit Court unanimously struck down that law as unconstitutional.  The Court did the same to a similar law in Colorado in 2002.

• A 2005 law in Ohio that restricted petition gatherers from being paid per signature was struck down by the Sixth Circuit Court struck in March 2008.  Ohio appealed the decision but the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear it.  Similar pay-per-signature regulations have been overruled by federal district courts in Idaho, Maine, Mississippi and Washington.

• A Colorado law that required petitioners to wear badges with their name and whether they were a volunteer or paid circulator was struck down as unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1999.

A common argument for limiting the petition process is that it puts too much money into politics or that it invites fraud.  Yet courts have found this not to be the case.  In the 2005 ruling against Ohio, the Court concluded that prohibiting payment per signature would increase the costs and the time necessary to obtain the required signatures. The Court also rejected the evidence that this particular form of payment resulted in fraud.

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Tags: ballot initiative, Ballotpedia.org, Citizens in Charge, Colorado, constitutional amendments
Posted Oct 3rd 2009 at 7:00 am in Featured Story, News, State Politics, Tea Party | 1159045 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/ptuohe/2009/10/03/turning-tea-party-patriots-into-political-petitioners/Turning+Tea+Party+Patriots+into+Political+Petitioners+2009-10-03+14%3A00%3A49Patrick++Tuohey

The New Nixon: a Coverup, Tapes, and a Modified ‘Midnight Massacre’

George Santayana said that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.  This is certainly true in Missouri where the governor is embroiled in a burgeoning scandal dubbed ‘Ecoligate.’  His top staff apparently decided to keep secret a health report about a lake infected with higher-than-safe levels of E. coli.  As every political junkie knows, it’s rarely the infraction that brings down a politician, it’ the coverup that ensues.  Not only is Missouri’s governor a former 16-year attorney general, his name is Nixon.

These are the facts: On May 28, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) learned that regular tests of the Lake of the Ozarks found dangerous levels of E. coli.  In two areas, tests indicates levels 19 times greater than state standards, and half the swimming areas tested higher than federal standards.  In fact, some of the tests hit the ‘maximum sample limit.’ Department procedure dictates that this report should be released to the public.

But the results were not released.  Instead, the DNR deputy director and general counsel, Joe
Bindbeutel, claims he believed recent rainfall might have only temporarily elevated the levels and that an announcement could scare away tourists.  The results were kept secret.

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Tags: cover up, E. coli, Missouri, Nixon
Posted Sep 28th 2009 at 5:18 pm in Environment, Featured Story, Justice/Legal, State Politics | 927458 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/ptuohe/2009/09/28/the-new-nixon-a-coverup-tapes-and-a-modified-midnight-massacre/The+New+Nixon%3A+a+Coverup%2C+Tapes%2C+and+a+Modified+%27Midnight+Massacre%272009-09-29+00%3A18%3A25Patrick++Tuohey

NEA Conference Call: Who is Buffy Wicks?

My sources in the progressive movement say Buffy Wicks handled the Obama campaign in Missouri last year. Obama lost in Missouri and activists in that state and people within the Obama campaign placed the blame for the defeat squarely on her shoulders. 

After failing to win Missouri for Obama, Wicks had a very hard time finding a job but somehow she landed a job in the Obama White House. It’s unclear how she did that.

 Wicks has indirect ties to ACORN. She worked with ACORN but apparently not for ACORN. A HuffPo writer lavishes praise on her for her abilities as an organizer.

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Tags: ACORN, Buffy Wicks, Change Wal-Mart Association, Huffington Post, Missouri
Posted Sep 22nd 2009 at 10:37 am in ACORN, Big Labor, Obama, Politics | 660652 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/mvadum/2009/09/22/nea-conference-call-who-is-buffy-wicks/NEA+Conference+Call%3A+Who+is+Buffy+Wicks%3F2009-09-22+17%3A37%3A45Matthew+Vadum