According to Fired Up! Missouri, which broke the news, the Missouri Ethics Commission is out-of-commission due to a lack of action on the part of Governor Blunt, as he refused to fill three seats on the Commission. In March, three of the board members’ terms expired. Per state statute, it is the Governor who appoints members to the Commission, with the advice and consent of the Senate.
So far, Gov. Blunt has refused to appoint those members, leaving the Commission without an ability to hold quorum. Most governmental bodies can keep a member past his or her term until a replacement is found, not so with the Missouri Ethics Commission. Now the Ethics Commission cannot conduct business: prosecute ethics law violations.
Interesting enough, this is not the first governmental body that he has refused to appoint members. The Missouri Planning Council on Developmental Disabilities (MPC) is seeing a similar problem.
Why, exactly, would Governor Blunt refuse to appoint members to these bodies, and are there other groups that are experiencing the same problem. When it comes to the Missouri Ethics Commission, it appears there is a political gain involved.
Fired Up! Missouri reports that back in July 2005, the Missouri Ethics Commission found probable cause for violations of campaign finance law against Gov. Blunt, and referred those complaints to the Attorney General.
From the Missouri Ethics Commission website: “The commission is composed of six members, not more than three of whom may be of the same political party. These members must be from different congressional districts and no more than three can be from an odd- or even-numbered congressional district.”
In the case of the Missouri Planning Council, there is not apparent strain of relationship and that group is non-partisan as well. Of course the MPC does support positive legislation and policies for persons with developmental disabilities. This does include opposing Gov. Blunt’s signature to cut to Medicaid, and his initial proposal to cut First Steps.
Refusal to appoint members to these bodies certainly questions his own ethical standards for ensuring the quality of our state. Regardless of the case against him, it would seem that the Missouri Ethics Commission would be an invaluable agency to the state. It is obvious that the Governor does not value persons with disabilities as they were the first to see his cuts. In fact, we saw him running from them at the 2005 Disability Rally in Jefferson City. Surrounded by security, he ran out of the Capitol last year when a group of blind college students wanted to speak with him about his cuts. Those blind folks you know are a very dangerous group. Heaven forbid that their blindness might rub off.
(FAT JACK's NOTE: Thanks to The Turner Report for bringing this to my attention on his blog.)
So far, Gov. Blunt has refused to appoint those members, leaving the Commission without an ability to hold quorum. Most governmental bodies can keep a member past his or her term until a replacement is found, not so with the Missouri Ethics Commission. Now the Ethics Commission cannot conduct business: prosecute ethics law violations.
Interesting enough, this is not the first governmental body that he has refused to appoint members. The Missouri Planning Council on Developmental Disabilities (MPC) is seeing a similar problem.
Why, exactly, would Governor Blunt refuse to appoint members to these bodies, and are there other groups that are experiencing the same problem. When it comes to the Missouri Ethics Commission, it appears there is a political gain involved.
Fired Up! Missouri reports that back in July 2005, the Missouri Ethics Commission found probable cause for violations of campaign finance law against Gov. Blunt, and referred those complaints to the Attorney General.
From the Missouri Ethics Commission website: “The commission is composed of six members, not more than three of whom may be of the same political party. These members must be from different congressional districts and no more than three can be from an odd- or even-numbered congressional district.”
In the case of the Missouri Planning Council, there is not apparent strain of relationship and that group is non-partisan as well. Of course the MPC does support positive legislation and policies for persons with developmental disabilities. This does include opposing Gov. Blunt’s signature to cut to Medicaid, and his initial proposal to cut First Steps.
Refusal to appoint members to these bodies certainly questions his own ethical standards for ensuring the quality of our state. Regardless of the case against him, it would seem that the Missouri Ethics Commission would be an invaluable agency to the state. It is obvious that the Governor does not value persons with disabilities as they were the first to see his cuts. In fact, we saw him running from them at the 2005 Disability Rally in Jefferson City. Surrounded by security, he ran out of the Capitol last year when a group of blind college students wanted to speak with him about his cuts. Those blind folks you know are a very dangerous group. Heaven forbid that their blindness might rub off.
(FAT JACK's NOTE: Thanks to The Turner Report for bringing this to my attention on his blog.)
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4 comments:
It would be a shame if our politicians would actually have to be accountable for their ethics. It really burns me that Republicans run on the platform of being more moral and ethical and then they do not want to appoint people to the ethics committee. It really burns me that I bought it and voted for Blunt. Morality and Ethics is so much more than just a stand on abortion. Those Republicans are not representing my conservative views at all. I am very frustrated with them.
To quote the great President Ronald Reagan, “There he goes again.” Our governor is not doing his duty in appointing people to the Missouri Planning Council on Development Disabilities. Just when I thought we could not do much worse than Governor Holden on how he treated people with disabilities, Governor Blunt has demonstrated that he can. Why can neither party understand that not only are people with disabilities individuals that we need to support but also they have become well informed group of voters that do influence people?
"I don't need no stinkin' ethics commission."
The Boy Runt on 1-4-05, 126-05, 2-17-05 .... etc, etc ......
John Stone: LOL. You crack me up!
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