Monday, December 19, 2005

Neosho Daily calls Nodler on legislative games


Gary Nodler once again showed just how thin his skin really is when he pounced on the Neosho Daily News for its recent editorial which pointed out the political shell game being played by Nodler with the filing of his bill to strengthen penalties against CAFOs. I made similar points in a recent post.
Nodler adopted his normal superior tone in a letter to the editor printed in the Thursday, Dec. 15 Daily. "The editor expressed his suspicion of the timing of my announced legislation since the controversy had gone on for nine months. I will be happy to educate him on this." Nodler then noted that Senate bills cannot be introduced after March 1 and the Moark controversy started after that.
I thoroughly enjoyed it when Nodler wrote, "The newspaper also stated that this (his bill) was an attempt to get back in the good graces of Newton County constituents. The fact is that my constituent communications have never indicated that I was out of the good graces of voters in Newton County and I also know of no polling that would support that suggestion." If that doesn't indicate that the senator is out of touch with his constituents, nothing will.
Then Nodler comes to the heart of his letter. "I have said before and I will now repeat that it is unethical for a legislator to use his or her office to interfere with an ongoing regulatory proceeding. It is also unproductive because when a legislator does that, he or she makes it less likely that the position they favor will succeed. Most regulators will bend over backwards to avoid the appearance of yielding improperly to political pressure. Most Missourians do not want to live in a state where regulators obey the orders of politicians rather than the dictates of state law."
Well, no, Gary. Most of your constituents would appreciate your using your influence to help them. That is what good politicians do. At the least, an appearance at one of the meetings or an attempt to broker a compromise would have been well received.
But I will repeat what I have said earlier. It is easy to propose a bill after the damage has already been done. And the whole thing smacks of hypocrisy since Nodler has shown an inclination to get involved in other matters and throw his political weight around.
Case in point, the situation that occurred late last year when two Joplin police officers arrested and handcuffed an 11-year-old boy at an elementary school. The following was featured in an article written by Jeff Wells in the May 10 Globe:

"State Sen. Gary Nodler, R-Joplin, said Monday that in a telephone conversation last week, he told (Police Chief Kevin) Lindsey that he thinks the city needs to reveal what punishment was given to the officers.

" 'I believe it would be healthier for the community if the city's response to the incident was publicly known and understood,' Nodler said.

"Nodler said his comments are strictly as a private individual, and Lindsey said he thought Nodler was not speaking in an official role."

Nodler had no qualms about getting involved as a private citizen in that situation. So forgive me if I have trouble buying into his reasoning for avoiding the Moark controversy.
You can't have it both ways, Gary.

13 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:57 PM

    You can bet that Nodler is sweating a run on his office by Rep. Kevin Wilson, and has been making moves to bolster his standing while seemingly taking jabs at Wilson i.e. " Then Nodler comes to the heart of his letter. "I have said before and I will now repeat that it is unethical for a legislator to use his or her office to interfere with an ongoing regulatory proceeding."

    I see a real dogfight in the future and Nodler in my opinion is coming at swinging. Keep up the good work and how bout an interview with Wilson? I would like to hear his thoughts on running for Senate.

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  2. Anonymous5:18 AM

    What difference could a Wilson run possibly make to the voters. They are both cut from the same cloth, the only difference is that Wilson has a bit more common sense than Nodler.

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  3. Anonymous5:49 AM

    Randy, you are wrong again. The differences between the Joplin police incident and the Moark situation are that Nodler made no public comments about the police in Joplin and he is a resident of Joplin free to make any private comments he chooses to the officials there. Senator Nodler doesn't live in Neosho and isn't a citizen there at all. His position has been consistent, and correct, it is wrong for a legislator to interfere with regulators. The fact is such interference could violate federal corruption in government laws. Of course you would love to see Nodler violate federal law and get in trouble.

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  4. Anonymous5:52 AM

    I don't know enough about the issue at hand to have an opinion, but some of the things Nodler writes in his letter ("let me educate you") sure come off as being very arrogant.

    Whether he is right or wrong, his condescending attitude leads me to want a change in that seat.

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  5. Anonymous6:20 AM

    No he presently does not live in Neosho but he was raised there. Went to high school there and had family there, so he does have history and ties to Neosho.

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  6. Anonymous6:31 AM

    Nodler does not live in Neosho now as he lives in Joplin. He, however was raised in Neosho and his family lived there. You don't think that he did not use that for his running? He was raised there but does not want to get involved in the community? He is cutting his own throat and support.

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  7. Anonymous6:57 AM

    I wish he'd move to Alaska

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  8. Anonymous8:19 AM

    Why thrust our troubles on unsuspecting Eskimos?

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  9. Anonymous8:23 AM

    The Joplin Globe report you quote was later corrected by the paper with an acknowledgment that the words attributed to Nodler were from Chief Lindsey and that Nodler had refused to comment on the issue. Once again, the news media prints false information and later it is resurrected by bloggers like Randy to spread lies.

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  10. No one ever said that Nodler did not get involved in the Joplin police situation, only that the quote used in the article did not come directly from him. As usual, Nodler's apologists are scrambling for any technicality they can find to evade the facts. Come on, guys, it's the holiday season. Go see a movie.

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  11. Anonymous8:50 AM

    Go see a movie? HA! Makes me wonder what would be the better "show" if Nodler were to be there!

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  12. Anonymous5:30 PM

    Open your eyes Mr. Turner....a local rep. (you know who he is) covets Nodler's senate seat so badly that he is working behind the scenes to bring Nodler down and there's a certain local editor who is dumb enough to be his mouthpiece and promoter. A guy who can't even get a chairmanship in a house controlled by his own party is pathetic.

    No matter what he does, I will work hard to keep Nodler in office - over that squirrel who wants his job.

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  13. Anonymous9:04 AM

    Representative Kevin Wilson was fired by MOARK shortly after he was elected to the House. I wonder why the Neosho Daily News editor in questioning motives didn't ask the obvious question about Wilson's motive in opposing the MOARK permit. In fact Randy, why didn't you question it?

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