The St. Louis Post-Dispatch features an article today about the growing power of blogs in Missouri politics. Most of it is devoted to Roy Temple's pro-Democrat site www.firedupmissouri.com, and the new pro-Republican site, rightmissouri.com
While naturally I would like to see a mention of The Turner Report in the article, this blog continues to fly under the radar as far as most of the state of Missouri is concerned, with the exception of Jefferson City, since I notice that many of my daily visitors are located in state offices (let me be quick to say I have no idea who those people are, just their general location). I don't have a big problem with that.
Besides, though some who are involved in partisan politics may disagree, this site is more of a news blog with an attitude and not a site that comes down on either side as far as politics are concerned. I follow the old journalistic adage about "comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable."
Those who remember my days at The Lamar Democrat in the 1980s might remember that I ripped into former Missouri Speaker of the House Bob Griffin, a Democrat, in one column after another.
It is hard to find a Democrat doing anything worth examining at the moment because the party has little political power in this state (though that may change as a result of actions taken by our Republican-controlled legislature and Governor Blunt).
All of the local elected officials are Republicans and they have certainly done quite a bit that needed to be revealed. Voters need to know that they have three legislators, Steve Hunter, R-Joplin, Ron Richard, R-Joplin, and Bryan Stevenson, R-Webb City, who are among the Missouri representatives who have received the most gifts from lobbyists.
They need to know that they have a state senator in Gary Nodler, R-Joplin, who has made an art form out of receiving campaign contributions from registered lobbyists, but not identifying them as lobbyists on the campaign disclosure forms. The makeup of Nodler's campaign contributions is a much more significant story than his movie meltdown (I eagerly await the handful of Nodler supporters who will immediately begin their attack and say that it is a Turner meltdown.) While Nodler's attitude about the poor and downtrodden is significant, how he expresses that in his voting record is even more significant.
The traditional media has done little or nothing to let people know how legislators voted on an amendment that would have trimmed the amount paid for their own health insurance. They elected not to do so at a time when they were taking the meat cleaver to Medicaid for the poorest Missourians. They deserve to know that Hunter, Richard, Stevenson, and Marilyn Ruestman, R-Joplin, voted to keep their benefits intact. They also deserve to know that two area representatives, Kevin Wilson, R-Neosho, and Ed Emery, R-Lamar, voted to cut their benefits. Maybe it was only a symbolic vote, but it was a revealing one.
Area media outlets also failed to cover how the local legislators voted on the attempt to override Governor Blunt's veto of a $227,000 appropriation for Alzheimer's research. As far as I can tell, The Turner Report is the only media outlet that reported that Bryan Stevenson was the only Joplin-area representative to vote to override the governors' veto. Hunter, Richard, Ruestman, Wilson, and Emery voted to sustain it.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch article mentioned that the blogs have stepped into the breech because newspapers and television stations have cut back on their coverage of news. That is likely true, especially when it comes to politics.
And while I would have loved to have been included in that article, if only for publicity's sake, this is not Fired Up Missouri or Right Missouri. This is not a blog for people who don't believe Democrats can do any wrong, nor is it a blog for those who believe Republicans do no wrong.
The Turner Report is here to cover news that is not being covered by the traditional media. Judging by the growing number of readers for this blog, there is an appetite for this kind of coverage.
3 comments:
Randy,
It is interesting that you continue to say that your blog doeasn'e fall with either side but you continually rip the republican party on a daily basis. There is a lot going on that is wrong with the democratic party. As a former journalist you should know that if you really wanted to be fair you would just need to "dig a little". You keep making reference to the one thing you have said about the democratic party in the 80s but that was 20 years ago??????
You make an excellent point, but this blog generally concentrates on this area of Missouri and on statewide officials. Right now, the Republicans have both U. S. Senate seats, the governor's mansion, the Seventh District Congressional seat, and all of the local state senate and state representative seats. That leaves me with Fourth District Congressman Ike Skelton, Attorney General Jay Nixon, State Auditor Claire McCaskill, and Secretary of State Robin Carnahan. I will keep an eye on those people, but right now I haven't seen anything too newsworthy. When I made my list of the top 20 representatives receiving gifts from lobbyists, I did name each Democrat who belonged to that list and what lobbyists were giving gifts to them.
You sponsor a website which is interesting, informative, and has a different attitude and perspective. I come here because I enjoy it.
Given the fact that republicans have pretty much taken over on the state and local level in Missouri, it is reasonable to expect that their conduct of business should be examined more often. Lack of critical examination gives us leaders like Tom DeLay. Keep up the good work.
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