Thursday, October 05, 2006

Article: Blunt highest ranking Republican House member unscathed by Foley scandal

Speculation continues that Seventh District Congressman Roy Blunt's rise up the House ladder, which was stalled when John Boehner defeated him for majority leader may not be over yet.
An article posted on the Knight-Ridder service earlier today refers to Blunt as the highest ranking Republican House member unscathed by the scandal surrounding last week's resignation of Rep. Mark Foley:

Some observers say Blunt could be the last man standing in the House leadership and therefore next in line for the top job, either as speaker or, if Republicans lose control of the House in midterm elections next month, as minority leader.


"His angle is to become speaker if the other guys fall," said George Connor, a political scientist at Missouri State University, which is in Blunt's district. "He is the least tainted and the most qualified."

Jeff Roe, a Missouri Republican strategist, said Blunt could survive such an atmosphere because "should there be an effort to change direction, Roy is a guy who's real credible. The guy clearly leads, clearly can count votes."

"I don't think anybody's thinking about leadership races," said Gregg Hartley, a former chief of staff to Blunt who's now a leading lobbyist. "Right now, there's a huge challenge, which is maintaining the majority. . . . (Blunt) is a strategic thinker. But he keeps himself focused on the task at hand."

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I do not want to see anyone unfairly punished because of this creep, but I would be very pleased to see Roy Blunt become Speaker of the House. In spite of nasty remarks by some, it would be a huge plus for this area. Roy is hardworking and cares very much for his district...I truly hope everyone keeps his or her job. I am just thrilled that Blunt has the leadership position he has...

Anonymous said...

Ozarks Voice "The Cover Up"

The story of a six year effort started when I turned in 1800 signatures on a petition asking for the development of a technology park be placed on the Springfield ballot. The City said no then just like they said no in August of this year when 1300 signatures were turned in. They say it is appropriating money and the citizens can not do that with a ballot petition even though they allowed Sheriff Merritt to do it on this years November ballot because they will pay to enforce it. We do have a new petition going and it can be found at our website.

This project could bring more and better business and job opportunities for all of southwest Missouri. That is why we want people from across the area to consider joining the effort. To help or learn more people can go to: www.technologypark2006.org. We also think we need to include College of the Ozarks, Drury, Evangel, MSU, OTC and other colleges in the area.

Most say that MSU, the City and Roy Blunt stole the idea from our volunteer grass roots effort. Mainly the Jordan Valley Innovation is about research for military issues. That project is fine, but we need more general opportunities for the people of southwest Missouri since the world economy is moving ahead so fast. We would like to see research in agricultural, environmental and other general areas of new technology. We also talked about the incubator strategy which according to news story JVI was not included, but now they claim will be.

It is upsetting that the city continues to turn down a citizens led effort even though we have helped push the Technology agenda forward. They must be having many sleepless nights trying to figure out how to shut us down! We need more grassroots efforts so that the citizens can use the democratic process since we own the government. Free enterprise should allow business and the citizens to steer where government money goes in the economy. Letting the citizens have a say in their own destiny is something that must send chills down their spines.

Sincerely,

Steven L. Reed lives in Springfield

Steven L. Reed
1441 S. Estate
Springfield, MO 65804

417-849-4279
sreed@technologypark2006.org