A MOHELA of a Deal

Governor Blunt has announced a proposal that would result in the sale of the state's Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority (MOHELA) using the proceeds to fund endowments and capitol improvements. In true Democrat fashion, the baseless attacks were launched in advance of the Governor's announcement. Their attacks have nothing to do with the fact that MOHELA has been a Democrat controlled organization I'm sure.

The Democrat's main attack is that Governor Blunt has been in "secret" negotiations with SallieMae, the country's largest student loan organization. Their proof? Apparently some contributions from SallieMae officials have shown up on campaign finance report. Evidence of secret negotiations? None. Good thing the Democrats don't let facts get in the way of an attack.

The Democrat's also claim that interest rates for student loans will go up. They use a letter from the Pennsylvania HELA as proof. This would be more of a concern if MOHELA originated loans but they don't. MOHELA buys loans at the interest rates they are issued. If MOHELA is not around, the interest rates on originating loans will not go up.

To hear the Democrats talk, without this pure as the driven snow organization, student loans in Missouri will go to hell in a handbasket. Hmmm.

Do you think the Democrats know that MOHELA uses the money collected from students to pay the 30 something CEO of MOHELA well over $300,000? Rumor has it he also had a driver that chauffeured him around and some other pretty hefty benefits. Oh yeah, the Holden majority appointed board fired the CEO last week for insubordination.

Student loan interest proceeds are also being used to pay Quentin Wilson, former Holden Cabinet member, former Holden Director of Revenue, former Holden sponsored Commissioner of Higher Education, who is the director of marketing (and now acting CEO) a minimum $150,000. Don't know if he got a raise to temporarily be the CEO.

Aside from just two examples of high paid staff, MOHELA used money collected from students to build one of the nicest buildings in the Chesterfield Valley area.

Apparently there is some controversy about how the proceeds are to be spent but the basic premise appears sound. The legislature should make sure that the sale will not negatively impact students, that the state receives the maximum from the sale, and that the proceeds are used wisely -- don't spend one time funds for on-going purposes.

Finally, it is refreshing to see that we now have a state government that is proactive and not afraid to challenge the status quo. This is exactly the kind of thinking our state needs to move into the 21st century.

Wayne Henke - Clueless in Troy

The would be Senator from Troy, Wayne Henke, is on record proving once again that he isn't up to the challenge of serving in the position he is seeking. Henke's record of service in the legislature clearly indicates his inability to think on his own. He hasn't been a part of any significant change and in fact was against most of the changes that are making a difference in the lives of Missourians as you read this.

Anyone who has met Henke probably comes away thinking he is a nice guy and that is probably true. However, being nice and being capable of representing 150,000 people are two different things. Henke fails to grasp that his party is sadly out of touch with reality even when the reality is readily available to him and them. It's true nationally and is certainly true in the state.

Case in point, the Governor's recent state of the state address. The Governor and legislative leaders reported that the state of the state was strong and provided proof to their statements. Monthly reports are prepared and reported to the press and the legislature. The democrat record in the past 5 years has been to deny reality and Henke has drank at least one full glass of kool-aid.

Henke serves on the Appropriations - Agriculture and Natural Resources. If he pays attention to what is going on in the appropriations committee he should have a grasp of what the budget numbers mean. If he doesn't agree, he should be able to present his own data and valid sources for that data to dispute the Governor's. Instead all he does is to parrot the "do nothing leadership" of the House democrats and even then he can't repeat their numbers.

Anyone interested in the revenue picture can simply go to www.oa.mo.gov/co/releases/ and look for the monthly reports such as the December 2005 report State Releases December 2005 General Revenue Report. Same thing with job growth numbers. Just go to www.ded.missouri.gov/cgi-bin/press2.pl and find the monthly report you want.

The following is an example of the most recent utterance from Senator Wannabe. It is devoid of any reasoning or facts. Caution, reading the following may cause emotional pain seeing someone make statements that they have no clue as to what they are saying and offering no alternatives. Unfortunately for Senator Wannabe, he does it in the papers and they report it.

St. Peters Journal 01/15/2006
"Rep. Wayne Henke, D-11th District, of Troy, said Blunt might be overly optimistic.

"I wonder where he is going to get the money," said Henke, who is a candidate for the 2nd Senatorial District seat in a special election April 4. The district includes western St. Charles County."

I know we are showing some revenue growth but I don't think our growth is anywhere near to what he must think it is," Henke said." (emphasis added in both places - check out the references above and remember Henke has access to more detailed information than these reports.)

WOW! The best S-O-S in years!

Let's face it, we have all heard them, those names "Boy Blunder", "Blunt Trauma", etc etc. Last night, those who have resorted to name calling were knocked on their keesters when Governor Blunt delivered his State of the State address. He showed that Republicans knew how to reform government and make a difference in the lives of everyday Missourians. Republicans for years had been saying what they would do if they were in charge. Now that they are, they have done what they said they would do and Missouri is much better for it.

Republican's are making a difference in repairing the damage caused by 12 years of democrat governors and 50 years of democrat controlled legislatures. Missouri's economy in on the move. It is recovering from the malaise it suffered by its mishandling during the Holden administration that exacerbated the national recession's impact on our state. Unemployment is down, job creation is up and Missouri has national attention.

Republicans have saved healthcare for the neediest Missourians and are on the way to reforming it to insure its long term viability. Here is what the Governor had to say about the issue: "If left unchecked the old program would literally bankrupt state government within a matter of years. Missourians know that simply throwing money at the problem without any other changes would not have solved the problem. Had we not taken action last year, today it would cost taxpayers an additional $935,000,000 to fund the old program. For those who continue to clamor for a return to the old way I ask that you be candid. Be honest with the people of Missouri and tell them what programs you would cut or what taxes you would raise. Do not pretend that we can spend money in a vacuum with no resulting harm to schools or Missouri taxpayers. " It's about time somebody said it!

Republicans have kept their promise to improve education. Governor Blunt will be fully funding the first installment to the new school funding formula. He is increasing aid to colleges and universities. And he is providing more money to Parents As Teachers, the Missouri program that has gone nationwide.

I not going to spend a lot of time on the democrat response - mainly because it doesn't appear they spent much time on coming up with it. Suffice it to say it was "little ado about nothing".

The Governor summed it up best, "It may not be normal in politics, but what we have promised is what we have delivered."

Thank you Governor Blunt and thank you Republican legislators!

Wayne Henke - Just a common, farmer from Lincoln County?

The Ethics filings for the last quarter of 2005 are being filed as we speak. Rep. Wayne Henke has already filed his and it is interesting to note the source of his money or non-sources.

According to his filing, he has received $100,473.00 for his Senate bid. That is quite impressive especially given the late nature of the nomination. Impressive at least until you discover that of the $100,473.00, $80,000.00 is a loan from a poor, retired coach and farmer. Where does someone who is supposed to be just one of the common Lincoln County people come up with $80,000 to lend to a political campaign where the likelihood that you will ever get that money back is slim and none (ask Claire McCaskill and her husband)?

Perhaps he has used some of his retirement savings to fund the loan. Is that a wise choice given the uphill nature of this battle? If not (hint - it isn't) we would want to trust someone to be our senator who made such an unwise decision? Did he receive assurances from dem officials that he would be "made whole" no matter the outcome which would be both unlikely and illegal?

Roy Temple is (in)famous for printing his version of the "facts" on his website, firedupmissouri.com (if Roy ever had to tell the whole truth about anything concerning Republicans I am convinced he would kill over and die on the spot). That's why I find it highly entertaining to close with this posting from his (in)famous website. I think it is safe to say that this posting is not from one of Roy's kool-aid drinkers or at least not from a long term sipper anyway.

Mr Henke Is Clueless
Submitted by Anti-Demmcl on Mon, 01/02/2006 - 8:43pm.
Time for a reality check, as they say. Wayne Henke has done absolutely NOTHING for the residents of Lincoln County! He has not helped to create one job or recruited one big box business to our community.
Then there is the fact he tries to present himself as the "Good Ole Boy" farmer.WRONG! He actually lives in a $300,000 plus house across from Troy Buchanan High School. So much for his "Common Man" image.
Some famous quotes from Mr. Henke.....
July of 2005 during the Moscow Mills Chamber of Commerce meeting, "I don't know why we can't get any more money." He was answering a questions regarding roads in Lincoln County.
October of 2004 during a DNR hearing about the proposed Majestic Lakes subdivision. "I don't know if this development is good for Lincoln County or bad for Lincoln County." Given his lack of knowledge, couldn't the Democratic Party have come up with someone better?

St. Charles County Legislative Delegation

The Journal has recently begun to post vignettes on members of our local delegation. By all accounts, St. Charles County has one of the most powerful delegations in Jefferson City. If only we had more to send! Unless others have information to the contrary, St. Charles County currently has members of its legislative delegation in the highest positions we have ever had in the past.

It began with former Senator Steve Ehlmann who served as minority leader in the Senate. Then the Republicans took control of the Senate and the House in 2002 (the Senate actually took control earlier due to special elections). Carl Bearden became the Chairman of the House Budget Committee.

In 2004, the Republicans maintained and even grew their majorities in the House and Senate and St. Charles County legislators leaped to the front in leadership positions. Bearden became the Speaker Pro Tem and Tom Dempsey became the Majority Floor Leader, the number 2 and 3 positions in the House. Chuck Gross became the Senate Appropriations Chair making him the 3rd most powerful person in the Senate.

All of this has not gone unnoticed. I was at a gathering recently when I overheard a conversation by some members of the delegation regarding a ranking by Pro-Vote of our delegation. Apparently Pro-Vote, an organization that is so far left they can feel the extreme right wing of the Republican party breathing down their necks, rated our delegation as the worst in the Legislature. Here is a list of the "Member Groups". After reviewing this list you will see just how mainstream Pro-Vote is NOT.

Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN)
American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees Council 72 (AFSCME)
American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Local 420
Americans for Democratic Action (ADA)
Ccommunication Workers of America (CWA) St. Louis and Kansas City Councils
Communication Workers of America (CWA) Local 6355
Freedom Inc.
Kansas City Federation of Teachers Local 691
Laborers Local 663
Loretto Women’s Network
Missourians for Choice
NARAL Pro-Choice Missouri
Missouri National Education Association (MNEA)
Missouri Women’s Leadership Coalition
Missouri Votes Conservation (MVC)
National Organization of Women (NOW)
Planned Parenthood Advocates of the St. Louis Region
PROMO
Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Missouri/State Council
Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 2000
Teamsters Joint Council 13 DRIVE
United Auto Workers (UAW) Region 5
United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) District
UNITE-HERE!
United Steelworkers District 11
Women’s Political Caucus—St. Louis & Kansas City

Members of our delegation failed to vote Pro-Vote's way and was awarded the "Worst Delegation". From what I heard, our delegation is really torn up about this :-). I went to the Pro-Vote website and found that Parker had a 56% rating; Schneider had a 36% rating; Faith had an 18% rating; Smith and Rupp had a 9% rating; and Bearden, Davis, and Dempsey had a 0% rating. With a couple of exceptions, we should also be proud that our delegation represents the mainstream of St. Charles County voters.

Here we go...

Happy new year to all!

My intent and purpose this year will be to periodically post about various issues affecting us locally or statewide. I won't as a rule attempt to tackle Federal issues as I don't have time to delve into them.

From time to time as has unfortunately been the case since this blog started, I must address issues within our own party. I truly believe the Republican party is a big tent party. We don't have to agree with every jot and tittle of the platform or with every word spoken by other Republicans. We should be able to disagree without being disagreeable giving everyone their "quarter".

It is also unfortunate that there are those in our party who appear to have the attitude "Believe exactly as I believe or you are not a good Republican. In fact, fail to agree, and you may not be a Republican at all." This attitude is giving aid and assistance to our political enemies at a time when they are looking to reduce the Republican influence in St. Charles County.

Our political enemies know that they cannot win St. Charles County, at least not right now. They do believe that they can reduce the Republican vote margins in St. Charles and do so by enough to make a difference in statewide races. Their test race will be Talent/McCaskill. If they can reduce the vote margin in St. Charles through discouraging Republican voters that are not "hard core" and independents who lean Republican from bothering to go to the polls, they will stand a very good chance of succeeding in their goal and setting up an even more intense campaign for 2008. How are they going about this? I wouldn't pretend to know all the ways but let me speculate about some.

I would submit that many of the activities taking place on the St. Charles City Council are related to the democrat plans. I wouldn't necessarily go so far as to suggest that all the players on the City Council are knowing pawns but some surely know. Riddler has been a democrat player for a long time. Koester, although not the sharpest knife in the box, was the former Chair of the Democrat Central Committee. I don't think he would be able to carry out the complex plays necessary to execute the game plan but he makes a good pawn. Of course, Brown's North County involvement and clear democrat ties (assisted Tom Green and others) could very well be part of the game plan. Personally, I don't think Greer is capable of being part of any such action and they are just using Gieseke's ego to make him a part of the game.

Moving westward, it is my opinion that the dems are using Adolphus Busch's opposition to the Lakeside 370 project as a wedge with the afore mentioned voters. Make enough voters become apathetic, thinking all politicians are the same, take away their motivation to go to the polls.

Ditto in O'Fallon.

What does this have to do with Republican big tent politics? I believe that otherwise good meaning Republicans are also acting as unwitting pawns in this plan. By taking advantage of their "I'm a real Republican and you are not because you don't agree with me" tendency, the opposition positions themselves to take full advantage of the situation. The result is aiding and abetting our political enemies by violating Ronald Reagan's 11th commandment.

The outcome of the upcoming County Council race will be the second test of the foregoing assessment. The first was the County Council race in which the Republican candidate was harmed by the presence of another Republican running an independent campaign. In the next race, we have not one but two candidates who claim to be Republicans running as independents with support from the My Way or the Highway Republicans mentioned earlier. The likely result? Another dem win on the County Council. Not since the first County Council elections has there been more than 1 democrat Councilman. Activities such as those we see being conducted on other "Republican" blogs and at Board of Alderman meetings are only playing into the hands of our political enemies. To a lesser degree the State Senate race will also be an indicator as Republicans in Lincoln County appear to be prepared to help the dems do better than they should be expected to do otherwise.

We should be able to disagree, hold differing viewpoints, respecting those differences and still pull together for a resounding Republican victory that St. Charles is known for producing. We have done that in the past and seen great success. Unfortunately it appears that we are headed for learning the hard way, again.