Month: April 2010

Gov. Nixon invokes constitution on school appropriation bill

Posted by dwilson – April 13, 2010

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon approved a school appropriation bill on Tuesday but ordered state education officials to disregard part of the new law that he says is unconstitutional.

A total of $43 million in funding cuts for K-12 schools are covered by the law. However, legislators decided that 150 of those schools — mostly from tax-rich suburbs and urban areas — should be exempted from cuts. Nixon argues that state law requires funding of schools to be allocated under the “school funding formula.” It would be unconstitutional and unlawful to do otherwise, said Nixon, a Democrat.

Some Republicans are incensed. The GOP has majority status in the Missouri House and Senate, and a large block of Republicans voted for the exemptions of some school districts from the cuts.

The problem for these lawmakers is that they can hardly argue that violating the state’s constitution is OK.

Their solution was to have Lloyd Smith, executive director of the Missouri Republican Party, make the comments.

“Gov. Jay Nixon has assumed near-dictatorial control of state government, exercising the powers of all three branches of government: Judging what is constitutional, legislating by rewriting the bill to fit his worldview, and using his executive powers to enforce his versions of the law,” Smith wrote in a release.

The question for Smith, then, is whether he would also have opposed such an executive move if President Barack Obama had done something similar with health care reform — based on his oath to protect and defend the Constitution?

Veterans Home rate hike reversal a PR boo-boo

Posted by dwilson – April 10, 2010

A little more than two weeks after it was announced, a $400 rate hike on residents of Illinois veterans homes has been abandoned.

The surprising thing about this whole episode is that Gov. Pat Quinn allowed any consideration of a major rate hike in an election year.

Quinn has always been very pro-veteran. He honored American ex-prisoners of war on Friday. For years he has gone to the funerals of Illinois servicemen and women, first as lieutenant governor and now as governor.

Dan Grant, director of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs, was the one who first announced that maintenance fees at veterans homes would go from $929 a month to $1,329 a month starting in July. He noted that the fees paid by residents have not changed since 1979.

That’s the kind of talk one would expect in the middle of a budget crisis — which Illinois has taken to new levels with a $13 billion deficit. It was not the kind of announcement one expects when Grant’s boss is in the political fight of his life and trailing in statewide polls.

Grant has been the good soldier for the man who appointed him. Soon after the rate hike started getting publicity — mostly negative — Grant told reporters that he alone was responsible for the plan.

In a letter written by Grant on Friday, he also gave Quinn credit for vetoing the fee hike. “(T)he governor has directed that the fee increase be postponed until further notice,” Grant wrote.

Two annoying questions remain: Did Quinn know about the rate increase proposal before it became public and didn’t stop it? Or are state agency directors not expected to let him know about these kind of decisions?

If the first is true, voters may question Quinn’s grasp of today’s political and economic climates. If the second is true, they may question his ability to lead the state.

Neither of those things help Quinn’s cause.

Quad City Times blasts blogger, defends Hare

Posted by dwilson – April 7, 2010

The Quad City Times ran an editorial this week that weighs in on U.S. Rep. Phil Hare’s comments in last week’s viral video that came from his Quincy forum on health care reform.

The opinion piece takes on the “tea party blogger” from St. Louis who shot video as he repeatedly shouted questions about the constitutionality of making health insurance mandatory. As covered on this blog last week, Hare said “I don’t worry about the Constitution on this, to be honest.”

“But before Hare could continue, the blogger made clear he wasn’t interested in dialogue or even comprehension.

“Jackpot, brother,” he retorts, knowing he had a red-meat video clip to toss to the jackals. And those jackals ate it up.” — the editorial reads.

My question is whether the writer believes that everyone who is interested in, amused by, or angered by the video is a jackal?

As in any political debate, there are going to be people on the fringes — both right and left — who cannot agree on anything. And if the writer’s goal is to promote the importance of “dialogue” then the name calling tends to dilute the legitimacy of the point.

Hare has gotten support from his hometown newspaper.

My guess is that Adam Sharp, the blogger whose name is not used in the editorial, will get support from his constituency as well.

Video of Hare in Quincy goes viral; camps respond

Posted by dwilson – April 2, 2010

One of the people at U.S. Rep. Phil Hare’s town hall meeting on health care on Thursday shot constant video of the hour-long presentation.

The video was shot after I had returned to the office to work on the story. It shows Hare responding to an oft-repeated question about “where in the Constitution does it say” Congress can require people to buy health insurance coverage. Hare responds by saying, “I’m not worried about the Constitution on this,” at which point the videographer says, “Jackpot brother.”

The video went viral and had about 18,000 views by noon Friday.

Hare’s office responded with the following press release.

WASHINGTON, DC-Tim Schlittner, communications director for Congressman Phil Hare (D-IL), today released the following statement.

“Yesterday, Congressman Hare held what was supposed to be a meeting with seniors in Quincy to discuss important provisions in the health care bill. But Bobby Schilling, Congressman Hare’s opponent in the fall, politicized the event by sending his supporters to disrupt it. Congressman Hare was called a Nazi. He was called a liar. He was handed a piece of paper that said “The White House is No Longer White.” So much for a civil debate.

“Rep. Hare’s remark on YouTube was taken out of context. His full statement said “I’m not worried about the Constitution on this.” “On this” meant that he is not worried about this health care law being ruled unconstitutional. Dozens of legal scholars have said it will be held up in court. And Massachusetts has an individual mandate which remains intact to this day. Congressman Hare worries more about providing affordable insurance for families, small businesses, and seniors than whether this bill meets constitutional muster. He believes it does, or he would not have voted for it. He said several times during the meeting yesterday that he supports the Constitution, but that conveniently didn’t make the tape.

“Congressman Hare served 6 years in the Army Reserves. He needs no lectures on fighting for the Constitution. He will continue to work to make health care more affordable and accessible, while also upholding his Constitutional oath.”

Republican candidate Bobby Schilling’s campaign responded with their own release.

EAST MOLINE, IL–Terry Schilling, campaign manager for Bobby Schilling for Congress, issued the following statement in response to Rep. Hare’s defense of his statement on the Constitution:

“These ridiculous and absurd insinuations are getting away from the real story here. Rep. Hare showed his disdain and ignorance of the Constitution and is now blaming it on our campaign.

The story here is that Congressman Hare doesn’t know the difference between the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and doesn’t care about representing the people of the 17th District. I find it confusing that Phil Hare has the time to read the 2,700 page healthcare bill three times, but doesn’t have the time to read the document that has kept our nation stable for the past 240 years. How sad.”