How to Fight Prescription Drug Abuse Without Violating Privacy Rights of...
The legislature may take an annual seven month break, but the effort to put your prescription drug use into a government database continues.. Over the past month, proponents of a prescription drug...
View ArticleHow Long Can Donald Trump Last?
The presidential primaries have long been a place where the nearly famous or longshots can grab the spotlight early in the process. Michelle Bachman led in Iowa at one point. Herman Cain surged to a...
View ArticleNixon’s Notes are Worthless
NFL owners met in Chicago two weeks ago to discuss Los Angeles. Owners competing to move to the nation’s second-largest media market presented their plans. No decisions were made, but a few things...
View ArticleGov. Nixon Tries to Move the Goalposts
When we first sued to stop Gov. Nixon’s illegal stadium scheme, he told reporters he didn’t have time to worry about “five or six legislators.” When he said, Nixon knew that Sen. Schaaf, myself, and...
View ArticleTrump v. Hillary – Now Not Later
You may have missed amidst all the other bluster coming from his mouth, but Donald Trump made the following claim, “You know a lot of the gangs that you see in Baltimore and in St. Louis and Ferguson...
View ArticleRight to Work – Freedom of Association Should Work Both Ways
The legislature overrode Gov. Nixon 10 more times this week, making him Missouri’s most overridden governor – ever. These bills ran the political spectrum, but one that failed garnered the most...
View ArticleEnsuring Economic Sanity in St. Louis and Kansas City
Economics 101 says when you increase the price of a product or service, fewer people will buy it. When the price goes up, demand goes down. Some people believe that this basic rule of economics doesn’t...
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A Moving Memorial in Jefferson City
On Thursday, I was privileged to attend the opening ceremony for the Moving Wall – a replica of the Vietnam memorial – in Jefferson City. The Vietnam War ended 40 years ago, but the valor of Americans...
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America: Forever the Great Hope
Last Sunday a Letter to the Editor asked how anyone could think America need to take refugees from war-torn Arab nations. It argued that such refugees should not be allowed to stay because they “won’t...
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Gov. Nixon’s Chance to Do the Right Thing on ASARCO
Three weeks ago, I had not heard of ASARCO. Three years from now, I hope most people in Missouri politics won’t recall it. What happens next is up to Gov. Nixon. ASARCO is the American Smelting and...
View ArticleNixon Flaunts the Sunshine Law
“This is a significant public policy proposal that deserves to be seen in public, talked about in public – not delivered as a cooked fish for dessert.” That’s what then-Attorney General Jay Nixon said...
View ArticleRandom Thoughts in October
Why I Fight Last week, I received an email from someone whose opinion I respect. “Stop throwing rocks,” they said, regain your focus. In one sense, that emailer was correct. Throwing rocks just for the...
View ArticleLocal Reps Win Polls
Local Reps Win Polls Dave Drebes of MoScourt.com conducted his annual best of the legislature poll two weeks ago – and three mid-Missouri representatives were winners. Rep. Caleb Jones was voted...
View ArticleEthics Reform and Its Limits
The late Daniel Patrick Moynihan famously noted, “The central conservative truth is that it is culture not politics that determines the success of a society. The central liberal truth is that politics...
View ArticleEthics Package Must Include Nixon Too
In his opening remarks last week, Speaker Richardson pledged that the House would pass a package of ethics bills at the earliest opportunity. This week, we delivered. On Monday, the House Committee on...
View ArticleNixon’s Speech – The Good, the Bad, the Strange
Some days in the legislature feel like Groundhog Day – in the Bill Murray sense. For me, that’s the case with most Opening Day speeches and the State of the State address. This week, on Wednesday...
View ArticleEthics Bills Move to Senate
On Wednesday, the House passed legislation to ban lobbyist gifts by a vote of 147 to 12. If this bill makes it through the Senate, the days of $500 steak dinners are done. The vast majority of elected...
View ArticleShow Us the Letter
Last year at this time, the Nixon Administration claimed it had a letter from bond counsel on which it was relying to justify Gov. Nixon’s belief that he could unilaterally agree to an unlimited amount...
View ArticleServing at the Public Trust Should Require Foregoing Private Profits
Legislators, judges, public employees with decision-making purchasing authority, and members of boards and commissions are all prohibited under current state law from taking actions which might benefit...
View ArticleWhy I Oppose PDMP and Hope You Will Too
Dear Colleague: According to the Supreme Court, the “right to privacy” is a “fundamental human right” and “the right most valued by civilized men.” Far from being a mere “emanation” or “penumbra,” the...
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