Seth Jackson's letter to the editor in the Thursday Joplin Globe reminded me of how far the Globe falls short some time in its duty to the public.
Jackson addressed the fact that Rep. Steve Hunter, R-Joplin, received $973.31 in gifts from lobbyists during the month of May alone.
That was the first mention of this in the Globe. While I commend Jackson for bringing it to the Globe editors' attention, he should not have to do that. With the exception of The Turner Report, there has been no effort made by any local media to explore the amount of gifts being received by local politicians and the possible effect they have on votes and legislation.
As I pointed out, the $973.31 Hunter received in May would have placed him in the top 20 among all representatives...for the first five months of 2005. Unless you read The Turner Report, you had no idea that Hunter has received more gifts from lobbyists than any other Missouri representative during this calendar year.
The Globe was one of the first publications to point out Hunter's conflict of interest, promoting pro-business legislation while being paid by a lobbying organization, Associated Industries, that far from coincidentally is pushing the same legislation that Hunter is sponsoring. Then it just dropped it. And that conflict of interest was never more in evidence than in the 2005 legislative session.
It was never mentioned in the Globe when Hunter did his victory lap around the state, visiting eight cities for Associated Industries to talk about the worker's compensation law that he sponsored.
It was never mentioned in the Globe when Hunter accepted more gifts in 2004 from lobbyists from Ameristar Casinos than most legislators accepted from all lobbyists put together.
I don't recall it being mentioned in the Globe when area representatives Hunter, Marilyn Ruestman, R-Joplin, Bryan Steverson, R-Webb City, and Ron Richard, R-Joplin, voted against an amendment which would have cut representatives' insurance benefits...even though they were voting to cut Medicaid benefits for many poor Missourians. It should be pointed out that Kevin Wilson, R-Neosho, and Ed Emery, R-Lamar, did vote to cut their health coverage, but the vote fell a couple of votes short.
While I appreciate the efforts the Globe has made in representing the average citizen as far as Joplin city government is concerned, a newspaper with the Globe's stature can have a tremendous effect if it also turns its attention to state government, and especially the performance of our local representatives and senators.
It should not take a letter to the editor from Seth Jackson to get these facts out to the public.
1 comment:
While, I appreciate the fact that Kevin Wilson voted for the cut, his wife is employed by a public school district, so in all fairness there would have been a zero effect for Kevin personally on this issue. Let's not forget to look at motives and reasons for the way they vote on issues such as this one. Things are not always as they appear. Thanks, and keep up the great work.
Post a Comment