Category Archives: Fiscal Responsibility

An alternate choice?

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The primary battle between two GOP candidates for Governor has commenced. Catherine Hanaway has been broadcasting some particularly vile radio ads against Tom Schweich. Yes, those ads are supposedly from a third party but they have the consent and approval of the Hanaway campaign. In some campaigns in past years, my candidate of choice, often took a turn on who used smear tactics. Those were the ones I voted against.

I’ve met both candidates in their previous campaigns for office. Neither, in my view, are choice candidates.

Yes, Schweich has had some questionable campaign donations and has given some questionable donations to other candidates. Am I convinced of the validity of those charges? No, I’m not.

Catherine Hanaway has issues as well. Her voting record in the state legislature has a number of questionable votes. One in particular was her vote against Missouri’s Concealed Carry law. She said, in an interview last year in Joplin that she voted according to the wishes of her district. Hanaway isn’t the White Knight of Missouri politics. Her consistency record is poor.

So who do we support? There may be an alternate choice. The GOP’s state Lincoln Day celebration occurred in Kansas City this last weekend. The state Lincoln Day gathering shifts each year between the St. Louis area, the Kansas City area, and Springfield. This year, it met in the downtown KC Marriott.

Eric Greitens

Eric Greitens

Eric Greitens, from the St. Louis area, had a hospitality suite in the Marriott and met with a number of state GOP activists and politicos. If you look at his bio, he has an impressive record. A friend who spoke with Greitens told me he believes Greitens will run for Governor.

Eli Yokley’s PoliticMO newsletter had this to say about Greitens.

FOR YOUR RADAR — ‘Who is Eric Greitens?,’ asks Missouri Scout: “Bill McMorris writes a piece about Eric Greitens’ impressive resume in the Washington Free Beacon. You’ll get a sense of the dude, but I won’t bury the lede… it’s in the final paragraph: Greitens will begin travelling the state on book tour in two weeks, evangelizing his doctrine of renewal and self-reliance and meeting the constituents he hopes will put him in the governor’s mansion. The primary is August 2016.”

— Greitens, a former U.S. Navy Seal, had a suite tucked away on the 19th floor of the Marriott Downtown in Kansas City over the weekend, where Republicans had gathered for their annual Lincoln Days gathering. Greitens met with activists and Republican consultants in his suite. The word is he is in, but he is staying quiet, letting Tom Schweich and Catherine Hanaway “shoot cruise missiles” while he flies under the radar. — PoliticMO Newsletter, February 24, 2015.

Greitens said he will travel around the state, “evangelizing his doctrine of renewal and self-reliance.” That would certainly be different from the current doctrine of crony-capitalism and voter dependency.

Catherine Hanaway won the straw poll for Governor over Tom Schweich this last weekend. There was a big controversy over the poll when the ballot box disappeared for a time and suddenly reappeared…stuffed with votes for Hanaway. Hmmm.

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National Public Radio took a look at union membership across the country and its decline. They created a map that shows the transition in membership. Missouri union members were 23% of the workforce at one time, now their membership has declined to 8%. That’s a good thing.

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This from today’s FOX Newsletter…

DEM REVOLT BEGINS ON OBAMA AMNESTY
After maintaining a weeks-long filibuster of a Republican bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security but roll back president Obama’s executive actions granting amnesty and work permits for millions of illegal immigrants, Senate Democrats are starting to splinter. Unable to break the Democratic logjam, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced that he would instead offer a standalone bill to block Obama’s amnesty gambit before resuming the funding fight. Appearing on “Fox & Friends,” Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said he would vote to “prevent the president from his executive action” and suggested that there might be the five other Democrats necessary to advance the legislation.

“Well, this bill removes those excuses. It sets up a simple political equation: Either stand in defense of extreme overreach, or stand with constituents in support of shared democratic values.” –Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell in a floor speech today. — FOX Newsletter, February 24, 2015.

The danger here is the McConnell is about to sell us out again. He has already asked the House to revise the DHS funding bill to include funding for Obama’s amnesty program. Initially, Speaker John Boehner has refused, saying the House has done their job, it’s now up to the Senate. I don’t trust Boehner to continue to stand on his statement.

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Boehner betrays us again.

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Rant mode: ON

Once again, John Boehner has sold us out by orchestrating the passage of another Continuing Resolution to continue increased federal spending. His excuse? It confirms the “cuts” required by Sequestration. I also note my local Representative, Vicky Hartzler, vote to pass this abomination.

Bull!

It’s the ‘Pub establishment continuing to push us down to financial ruin because they haven’t the guts to face the real issues of government—SPENDING!

House OKs funding to run federal government; vote will keep workers on job till Oct. 1

With deadline fatigue setting in, a bipartisan House voted Wednesday to fund the federal government through the end of the fiscal year, which would head off the potential for a government shutdown later this month.

The 267-151 vote also reaffirms sequestration — the $85 billion in cuts all sides agreed to as part of the 2011 debt deal, but that only took effect last week and are now beginning to disrupt government services.

“They are going to occur. And they’re the first and appropriate step for getting our fiscal house back in order,” said Rep. Tom Cole, Oklahoma Republican.

Fifty-three Democrats joined with 214 Republicans in supporting the bill, signaling a strong bipartisan interest in avoiding a government shutdown.

So, federal workers can continue getting paychecks!? Why should they be protected when millions in the private sector are not? Let them go without like those unemployed across the country—as someone said, let them “share the pain.”

I note the government “was shut down” a week or so ago when a blizzard hit. All those deemed “unessential” and told to stay home are the ones we don’t need, obviously. Let’s cut them from the budget. The government will operate just fine.

We will only see real spending cuts when we stop this so-called Continuing Resolutions. Until then, nothing will be done and the federal debt will continue to grow.

Addendum:  They also funded that Great Abomination, Obamacare.

Rant mode: OFF

Federal unions vow payback

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Today is March 1st and the monstrous ‘sequester’ is supposed to be in effect. But…it’s not yet. Why? As of this time, 9:30am CST, Obama hasn’t signed the paperwork. He’s still waiting for the ‘Pubs to cave and agree to more taxes. He’s called McConnell and other Senate leaders to the White House to make a deal. McConnell, before the meeting swore, “No new taxes!”

Where have I heard that before?

SEIU and the National Federation of Federal Employees are warning lawmakers they will get payback. Quote: “Why should hardworking, middle-class federal employees have to suffer because our elected officials can’t clean up the mess they created?” — New York Post.

They are correct to blame ‘elected officials.’ Unfortunately, they aren’t blaming the correct ones—Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and Obama. On the other hand, they are overpaid and parasitic, sucking more from the economy and provide little or no return for our money except to eat more of our fiscal resources.

The article continues…

That would erase any budget savings or debt reduction resulting from the furloughs, which is supposed to be the whole idea.

Federal employees have a history of winning these labor fights.

The workers got their back pay the last time they suffered mass “unpaid” furloughs during the 1996 government shutdown under President Bill Clinton.

The automatic spending cuts, known as the sequester, threaten furloughs of up to a day a week for hundreds of thousands of federal employees, cutting their weekly paychecks by 20 percent.

Furloughs for as many as 875,000 federal workers would kick in after April 1, forcing workers to stay home without pay one day a week for about 22 weeks. — The New York Post.

That may gain some sympathy if it was correct. It’s not. The ones impacted are the non-union positions, the engineers, technical consultants that actually do work instead of unionized bureaucrats who, for the most part, do little more than push paper. We can reasonably rest assured Obama won’t impact his union contributors. As least not their leadership. The rank ‘n file are on their own.

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Sometimes you just can’t make this stuff up! I was surfin’ the internet this morning and what do I find?  This!

Kerry, Hagel and Brennan: The 3 Stooges are running the country

Friday, March 1, 2013 – What in the World by Bob Taylor
Washington is starting to look like a black and white comedy short: The Three Stooges running the country.

Photo: The Three Stooges

CHARLOTTE, February 29, 2013 ― As the new Secretary of State, Kerry is boning up on Islam and has learned that it “is not represented by a lot of jihadists and others,” but is, instead, “a beautiful religion.”

But Kerry continued by adding, “I’ve been reading a book recently called No god but God, which is the history of the Prophet and where he came from and how it developed as a religion. It’s fascinating.”

That should be enough to immediately let us know the direction of Kerry’s tenure in his new position, a direction wholeheartedly endorsed by President Obama.

When a controversial new CIA director, Brennan, who is just a confirmation vote away, joins his equally unqualified partner, Hagel, as Secretary of Defense, the trio will be complete and the image of the United States as a global force to be respected will be further diminished.

I could not make a more appropriate description of these three other than renaming them, Larry, Moe and Curly.

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The End of the Story…

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The Cass County Commissioners ended the horror story of the Cass County Broadband Initiative Monday of this week. The initiative was sold as bringing high-speed internet to everyone, every rural resident, in the county. Unfortunately, the supposed return on the county’s investment was a fantasy. The initiative would never have been self-supporting and would have been a fiscal anchor in the county’s budget for the foreseeable future. I’ve written about this project before, here and here, as well as having a few Letters-to-the-Editor published in our county newspaper.

In a 2 to 1 vote, on Monday of this week, the Commissioners voted to disband the project.

Unfortunately, the spending can’t end yet. While the project existed, it put the county deeply in debt. The county will have to cover those debts or declare bankruptcy. The up side is that no more money will be thrown down the rathole.

The legal investigations on where the money went, for what, and who benefited, is ongoing. Several millions are still unaccounted for. At least three, at my last count, former county politicos, are under investigation. The FBI is involved because some of those missing funds were provided by the USDA.

For the last forty years, Cass County has been controlled by a political oligarchy—mostly democrats. That ended in 2010 when the ‘Pubs won all three commissioner seats. Unfortunately, one, the newly elected Presiding Commissioner, was ousted by the democrat Prosecutor, and the other two ‘Pubs were members of the oligarchy. Nothing changed except for the political labels. The only member who espoused conservative principles was the one booted out.

The vote to end the project did not go by party lines. Jeff Cox, the ‘Pub Presiding Commissioner, and Luke Scavuzzo, the dem South Associate Commissioner, voted to end Broadband. Jimmy Odom, the ‘Pub Northern Associate Commissioner, voted to continue spending and the project.

Scavuzzo had originally been in favor of the project. In favor, that is, until it was disclosed that the county did not own the Right-of-Way on the roads that were to be used to lay the fiber. The county had been maintaining these roads but did not own them. When the cost of adding easements for the fiber was added to the existing cost projections, it was too much.

I didn’t vote for Luke Scavuzzo. He’s in the county south and I’m in the north. I must say that he has impressed me since his initial appointment a year ago and his actions since winning his current position last November.  Not that I’d vote for him. He’s still a dem.

Still, in this case, Luke Scavuzzo has demonstrated fiscal restraint and good practices. I wish I could say the same for the other ‘Pub associate commissioner.

Here’s the official report as it appeared in the Cass County Democrat Missourian.

Cass County broadband project dies

By Bethany Bashioum, Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013

The Cass County Broadband Project initiative has lost all of its steam.

Cass County Commissioners decided Feb. 25 that there is little to no feasibility left for the county’s broadband project, and made the decision to ultimately kill it during a public meeting by a 2-1 vote.

The project, conceived two years ago, looked to build a broadband fiber network in order to bring high-speed Internet access to 11,592 households and 701 businesses in rural areas of the county.

But after swiftly moving through a short list of other agenda items during Monday’s meeting, Presiding Commissioner Jeff Cox entertained a motion to approve a resolution in regard to the county’s Request for Proposals with general contracting firms to take the broadband fiber to homes in rural Cass County.

Associate Commissioner Jimmy Odom made a motion for approval, but the question quickly died due to the lack of a second.

In response to the previous motion, the following agenda item, a resolution to authorize the publication and release the broadband project’s RUS Form 515 became moot.

A few moments later, Cox then asked the Commission for the authority to disband the project.

Associate Commissioner Luke Scavuzzo seconded the decision.

In a brief statement, Cox cited a number of reasons for his decision after spending nearly two months studying the project.

Part of the decision, he said, was linked to the issue that although the county has requested a 60-day extension to the United States Department of Agriculture for the county’s 2011 audit as well as releasing a reimbursement of $326,000 that the county has spent on recent engineering costs.

Cox said that to date, the USDA has refused to release those funds.

“USDA funding is still frozen and we’re continuing to incur engineering costs that are not being reimbursed from the federal government,” Cox said. “We’re basically at the point where we can either take the monies out of the general fund to pay the engineers or we can just default on our contract with the engineer. Or, we can take the money out of the Certificates of Participation, which are supposed to be used for non-USDA eligible costs.”

…

When Cox opened the floor for the other commissioners to voice their perspectives, Odom, who has supported the project for it’s prospect to enhance economic development in the county, said he wants to hear more about the audit issues and why the USDA funds aren’t being released.

“I’ve never seen anything like that in government where we’re that far behind and I would like to know why,” he said.

On the other hand, Scavuzzo voiced his disapproval of the project, but thanked Freeman for her work.

…

Concluding the discussion, the Commission carried the vote to disband the project 2-1.

Cox and Scavuzzo voted in favor of ditching broadband.

“Initially, what I will be doing will be notifying all the parties involved now that the Commission has given me the authority to do that,” Cox said. “We will then have to deal with getting all those final bills paid.”

Cox said that there are few options available to deal with the debt that’s been accumulated, one being that it can be rolled into the county’s existing COP funds since the county is already paying the full interest on those funds.

“I think we need to return our focus to providing the core services that county government is responsible for,” he said. “I think it’s important that we get out now while we still can afford to do so.”

The county should have never gotten into this project. Jeff Cox restated that this project did not fall into any core responsibilities of the county government.

“I think we should return our focus to providing the core services that county government has a responsibility to provide, such as road and bridge and law enforcement. The things that the people in the rural areas, that this initiative was meant to help, are the people that I have seen hurt the most out of all of this because all the money that has been diverted from those core services.”

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Hypocrisy

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The news this morning is filled with items that the surviving NewTown students are going back to school at a new location. There will be armed guards at the school to insure their safety.  Too bad they didn’t think of that at their old school.

Newtown shooting survivors go back to school

MONROE, Conn. Classes resumed Thursday for the students of Sandy Hook Elementary School for the first time since last month’s massacre in Newtown, where a gunman killed 20 first-graders and six educators.

With their original school still being treated as a crime scene, the more than 400 students are attending classes at a refurbished school in the neighboring town of Monroe. Law enforcement officers have been guarding the new school, and by the reckoning of police, it is “the safest school in America.”

I seem to remember a few years ago, well a couple of decades ago, when drugs and gangs were problems in schools, there were armed officers assigned to schools then. I don’t know how many there still are. I believe they are now called “resource” officers.

That leads to the following question. Why is the NEA and AFT so strongly against armed guards in school? They don’t want armed, trained teachers, either? So what do they propose?

** crickets **

They have no solution and don’t want ours either. Perhaps they would be happier in a different area of employment? I wonder how RTW would affect their, the NEA and AFT, attitude, hmmm?

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I see that our Senator Roy Blount was bragging that he voted for the new tax plan and “averted” the fiscal cliff. Now we’re told the Senate only had access to that plan for 3 minutes before it came to a vote and it’s filled with pork, new taxes and few, if any, spending cuts.

So, Senator Blount, you’re proud of voting for a bill that you did not read, knew nothing of its contents, raised taxes and did not cut any spending. Is that correct? Then why do you expect to be re-elected?

No bill would be better than more pork, more spending. If the bill isn’t passed, the government won’t stop. I don’t see you refusing Obama’s bribe—your pay-raise, either.

RINO.

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Something is going on in Illinois. It appears the Illinois legislature is jumping on Diane Feinstein’s gun-grabbing plan. This notice from the Illinois State Rifle Association was sent to its members this week.

SPECIAL ALERT UPDATE– YOUR ACTION REQUIRED SENATE COMMITTEE APPROVES BILLS TO RUN RANGES OUT OF BUSINESS AND BAN 80% OF YOUR GUNS

MESSAGE FROM COMMITTEE DEMOCRATS: “Eliminating law-abiding gun owners is a good ‘first step’ towards a ‘civil society.’”

Votes on HB815 and HB1263 were split along party lines in the Senate Public Health Committee Wednesday night with the committee Democrats voting 6-4 and 6-3 to send the bills to the full senate. If these two bills become law, they will resulting most, if not all ranges in the state going out of business as well as the banning of ALL semiautomatic rifles, pistols and shotguns as well as banning all pump shotguns and rifles.

In comments made during testimony, committee Democrats stated plainly that HB815 and HB1263 were “first steps” and that these bills have as their objective the creation of a “more civil society.” In other words, elimination of lawful gun owners is a required first step for creating a more civil society. Of course, there was no mention of the impact of eliminating criminals.

I’m sure these democrats are proud how well gun banning has worked for Chicago and Cook County.

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Boehner is scrambling to save his Speakership. He’s trying to persuade GOP House members that he’ll be tough with Obama this year…all the while picking off lint from his suit where he rolled over for Obama and the dems.

Boehner tells GOP he’s through negotiating one-on-one with Obama

By Russell Berman – 01/02/13 05:04 PM ET

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is signaling that at least one thing will change about his leadership during the 113th Congress: he’s telling Republicans he is done with private, one-on-one negotiations with President Obama.

During both 2011 and 2012, the Speaker spent weeks shuttling between the Capitol and the White House for meetings with the president in the hopes of striking a grand bargain on the deficit.

Those efforts ended in failure, leaving Boehner feeling burned by Obama and, at times, isolated within his conference.

Or, perhaps it’s the hot breath of opposition to his role as Speaker of the House?

Eleventh Hour: Speaker Boehner Moves to the Right

by Matthew Boyle 3 Jan 2013, 1:36 AM PDT

The Speaker of the House will be elected today and some conservatives believe they have the votes necessary to oust John Boehner. In an appearance on CNBC, American Majority Action spokesman Ron Meyer said there are more than 20 House Republicans willing to vote for someone other than Boehner on Thursday when the 113th Congress convenes to elect a Speaker. Another source from a different organization has similarly confirmed that more than 20 have planned to oppose Boehner.

I don’t trust John Boehner. He’s a liar; a phony to the core interested only in his own benefit. A loyal member of The Ruling Class. The sooner we’re rid of him, the better.

 

 

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Followup of Previous Posts

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Why does time fly faster with the intensity of events? Yesterday I wrote about the similarities of current events to those preceding World War I. I mentioned the increasing tensions between China (PRC), Japan, the Philippine Islands and the US. This morning I saw two new items that give more credence to another coming conflict in the Pacific.

 

Chinese General: Prepare for Combat

Top Chinese general in unusual move tells troops to ready for combat with Japan

BY:

China’s most powerful military leader, in an unusual public statement, last week ordered military forces to prepare for combat, as Chinese warships deployed to waters near disputed islands and anti-Japan protests throughout the country turned violent.

Protests against the Japanese government’s purchase of three privately held islands in the Senkakus chain led to mass street protests, the burning of Japanese flags, and attacks on Japanese businesses and cars in several cities. Some carried signs that read “Kill all Japanese,” and “Fight to the Death” over disputed islands. One sign urged China to threaten a nuclear strike against Japan.

Below is another news item that hints of Chinese violence being directed towards the US.

Beijing demonstrators damage US ambassador’s car

By DIDI TANG | Associated Press – 12 hrs ago

BEIJING (AP) — A car carrying the U.S. ambassador to China was mildly damaged after becoming the target of boisterous anti-Japan demonstrators who were expressing outrage over a territorial dispute and marking the 81st anniversary of Japan’s invasion of China.

The State Department said in a statement Wednesday that Ambassador Gary Locke was unhurt in Tuesday’s incident, and that diplomats have expressed concerns to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

The statement said around 50 protesters surrounded Locke’s car as he tried to enter the embassy and were eventually removed by Chinese security personnel.

Over the years, I’ve worked with a number of Chinese. Most came here to the US to attend our universities. Most return to China. Some don’t. One of the things they taught me is nothing happens spontaneously in China without the government, I mean the Party’s approval—and active assistance. When you read a news item such as the one above, be aware it is not an expression of popular sentiment. It is a planned government act.

America’s weakness—and it is weak after four years of Obama’s administration and the crumbling of our military due to neglect, entices our enemies to take advantage of our weakness, real or not.

Add to all this is China’s deployment of nuclear-tipped, ballistic anti-ship missiles, missiles purposely designed to attacK our carrier fleets, it becomes apparent our military may no longer be a deterrent to war.

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This afternoon the Cass County Commission will hold a public meeting to discuss the outside auditor’s report on the County’s management for 2010. There is only one commissioner who is still in office from that period but he declined to run for re-election. The media will have a very strong presence, print and TV, at the meeting from what I’ve been told.

I’ll be there too with my little notebook and a voice recorder. The release of the outside report has been picked up by the local media and while the report was balanced, it was not kind to the Cass County Commission.

There has been more document drops since that auditor’s report. One is particularly interesting. The former Presiding Commission endorsed in writing a company that had existed less than a year, had no track record, no customer base and no product! The letter appeared to be given as a reference for the company to acquire public grants from the Mid-America Regional Council.

As more documents are released to the public, the county government is looking worse and worse. It makes one wonder what other activities will be exposed. Many of the ones now could lead to criminal charges.

 

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Why government should not compete with business

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The outside auditor’s management report for Cass County was released earlier this week. An earlier report by the County Auditor on the County Collector’s office had been blocked from being released on the county website. When the outside audit was delivered, the county Powers-That-Be relented and allowed both reports to be posted on the Auditor’s section of the county website.

There has been a firestorm about these reports since their release.  There has been accusations and counter-accusations on local Facebook groups and other internet forums. If you read the management report closely, you’ll see why a commissioner abruptly resigned last year and why another chose to not run for re-election.  The outside auditor is particularly damning on the actions and methods of the county commission and vindicates the county auditor.

But that is not the theme for today’s post. We should use these auditor reports to develop county Policies and Procedures to insure future occurrences do not occur.  In the business world, this is known as “Lessons Learned.” That is why we have auditors and auditor reports.

I would suggest that at the top of those lessons learned is this:

  1. Never compete with business. Especially, never compete with business when business has a proven track record, established customer base and existing infrastructure to support the product. In this case, the Broadband project should have been shown the door at its first appearance.  There is no way the county can compete with AT&T, Embarq, Sprint, CenTel, Comcast or Time-Warner in providing broadband internet access and provide a competing product at a competitive cost.  The rural customers that were to be served by the Broadband project don’t have the customer density to support Broadband at a reasonable cost.  That means municipal customers would subsidize the rural customers. The county’s competing product would have to do so at a price that is equivalent or lower than broadband service by AT&T, Sprint and others.  Any competent business manager or certified project manager would have seen these pitfalls and would not have approved the broadband project.  In business, this comes under Risk Identification, Mitigation and Avoidance—all part of a needed business plan that didn’t exist.
  2. Never subsidize new technologies or pilot plants without a proven vendor track record, customer base and established maintenance and support. In short, never be the first kid on the block with new technology until it has been proven.  In this case, the county subsidized the production of a pilot bio-fuels plant with the University of Central Missouri with no scope of work, project plan nor established schedule of deliverables, i.e., it was money thrown down a hole with no obligation of any return on investment.

The Commissioners violated other those and other common business rules and we now see the result. I don’t know the background of the two appointed democrat commissioners, Luke Scavuzzo and Terry Wilson. I would hope when they were selected to fill the vacant commissioner positions by Governor Jay Nixon, that he picked people with proven and successful business backgrounds for surely as God created little green apples, Cass County needs competent commissioners. We’ve not have any, as far as I can determine, for decades.

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