Cynthia Davis: Help is on the way

In a strident speech that you almost halfway to expect will end with the phrase, "I'll get you and your little dog, too," Rep. Cynthia Davis, R-O'Fallon, once again rips into the federal government as she continues her bid to unseat incumbent Sen. Scott Rupp. The same topic is addressed in her weekly column, which is reprinted below:

Last week I was honored to share the platform with U.S. Congressman, Todd Akin, during his Town Hall meeting to discuss the national healthcare debacle. The meeting started with a prayer which added a poignant moment to the morning and made a statement about what is really important.

While congress is resorting to chicanery to reduce our choices in healthcare, I am happy to report to you that my Missouri Healthcare Freedom Act: HJR 48 passed the House this week! Now it is time for the Senate to do the right thing and agree with the House to put it on the ballot so Missourians have an opportunity to vote on it in November. To read my Capitol Report on healthcare freedom follow this link: Capitol Report on Health Care


It might be easy to be discouraged because the national healthcare bill is too expensive; does not include a broad spectrum of medical choices; involves a big tax increase; reduces competition, innovation and cost saving ideas; and is an expansion of socialism and promotion of pro-death policies. However, I am optimistic because over 2,225 people came out to hear our message, and we are functioning as a conscience for the country.

When a person has a conscience, he might still do wrong; however, at least he is aware of the wrong-doing. The process of having thoughtful debate on a national level is so dysfunctional; the only way they can foist their healthcare bill on us is by resorting to harsh partisan tactics. This is a disappointment. However, we still live in the greatest country ever in history and our American spirit continues to be strong. It can be stressful to engage in the fight to preserve our freedoms, yet I am constantly renewed and invigorated in my spirit by hearing from you and knowing you care.

Gannett execs to receive more than $2.1 million in bonuses

The recession must be over since it seems to be business as usual for the nation's largest newspaper company.

In a proxy statement filed today with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Gannett, owner of USA Today and daily newspapers across the United States, including the Springfield News-Leader, announced more than $2.1 million in bonuses for its five top executives, including $1,450,000 for CEO Craig Dubow.

The bonuses, according to the proxy statement, were based on the company's performance. Since revenues were not anywhere near previous levels, that would indicate the hefty bonuses given to Dubow and the other top execs came on the backs of company employees who had to take two weeks of unpaid furloughs...if they managed to hold on to their jobs. Approximately 6,000 Gannett employees were shown the door in 2009.

The proxy statement is filled with explanations for Gannett's generosity, including the "sacrifice" made by Dubow, who voluntarily took a 17 percent pay cut, from $1.2 million to $1 million annually, to show solidarity with his employees. Of course, it is much easier to make that sacrifice if you know you are going to get it back in bonuses a few months later. The proxy statement notes that Dubow received $1 million in bonus money for 2008, meaning that his $200,000 sacrifice ended up as a net gain of a quarter of a million dollars. Nice work if you can get it.

The statement indicated Dubow would be making that same sacrifice this year, keeping his salary at $1 million. Who knows how much of a bonus will be forthcoming for 2010:

Mr. Dubow’s minimum annual base salary under his employment contract is $1.2 million; however, Mr. Dubow voluntarily reduced his salary to $1 million in 2009 and again in 2010. Mr. Dubow has not received a salary increase since January 2006.

Why would Craig Dubow need an increase to his base salary. The proxy statement reveals that his total compensation package for 2009 was $4,698,692, an increase of more than $1.5 million over 2008.

And while many Gannett employees were shown the door to help the company's bottom line, Dubow has no needs to worry on that account. If he ever leaves the company voluntarily, it has already invested nearly $9.6 million for his pension, he has nearly $6 million in stock options, and more than $3.8 million in restricted stock units, for a total of $19,312,688, according to the proxy statement.

After Dubow leaves the company, he will have medical coverage paid for life, home computer assistance for three years, use of the company plane for the same amount of time (though he will have to reimburse Gannett for that), use of an office, secretarial assistance, for a total of $47,000 worth of perks.

If for some reason, the ownership of Gannett changes hands, Craig Dubow is guaranteed $39 million under his contract, with the other top four officials guaranteed a combined $48.5 million, for a total of $87.5 million.

It must certainly be comforting to Gannett employees to know that the crisis has disappeared. Through the sturdy leadership of self-sacrificing Craig Dubow, the company must be rapidly returning to its previous levels of prosperity. After all, these are savvy newspaper veterans. They certainly wouldn't commit all of that money to a handful of top executives if the newspaper business was not thriving.

On my blog, The Turner Report on July 9, 2009, I described this kind of hubris in the following fashion, and the statement remains accurate eight months later:

The Internet hasn't killed newspapers, newspaper executives can see the real killers every time they look in the mirror.

Sit-in planned today at Missouri Southern

Protests against the lack of inclusion of gays and lesbians in the non-discrimination policy at Missouri Southern State University will continue today with a sit-in between 12:15 and 1:15 p.m. at Hearnes Hall.

A previous post on the subject of MSSU and discrimination can be found at this link.

Democrats not trying to sway Skelton vote on health care bill

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is trying to garner every vote she can for the health care bill, but she and her other top-level Democrats are making no effort to sway Fourth District Congressman ike Skelton:

“I’m not even wasting my time,” said Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a regional Democratic whip tasked with pulling votes from the heartland. “Ike Skelton is a ‘no' vote and his district is a ‘no’ district."

$40,000 added to Kinder coffers

Two oversized contributions added $40,000 to Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder's campaign committee Wednesday, according to 48-hour reports filed with the Missouri Ethics Commission.

Kinder received $25,000 from Ann Albrecht, St. Louis, and $15,000 from Hunter Engineering Company, Bridgeton.

House passes Health Care Freedom Act

The Missouri House approved the Health Care Freedom Act today, continuing a session that finds the lawmaker apparently more concerned about federal legislation than about handling the problems that are facing the state:

Democrats criticize Cynthia Davis' "bait and switch" on abortion bill

Democrats are upset with Cynthia Davis' actions on an anti-abortion bill in her committee. From a news release issued earlier today:

Democratic members of the House Special Committee on Children and Families Committee succeeded today in blocking – at least temporarily – an unconstitutional attempt by the committee’s Republican chairwoman to hold a vote on an anti-abortion bill that she had completely replaced with another bill that wasn’t before the committee.

The committee was scheduled to vote this morning on HB 1238, which would change state laws relating to abortion consent requirements. Committee Chairwoman Cynthia Davis, R-St. Charles, instead offered a substitute bill that deleted all nine pages of HB 1238 except for a single sentence and replaced it with language from HB 1236, which would establish medical screening requirements designed to make it more difficult for a woman to obtain an abortion. HB 1236 hasn’t been referred to any committee.

Davis’ attempt to switch bills violates Article III, Section 21 of the Missouri Constitution, which prohibits bills from being changed from their original purpose. The action also could violate Missouri’s Sunshine Law, which requires advance public notice of what legislation will be considered at government meetings.

“I understand Representative Davis’ frustration that HB 1236 was not assigned to our committee by the speaker as she desired, but she still has a responsibility to follow rules meant to assure transparency in government,” said state Rep. Jeanette Mott Oxford of St. Louis, the committee’s ranking Democrat. “She cannot announce one bill and then completely replace it with another while deleting virtually all of the original legislation. That violates statutory and constitutional safeguards against deceptive legislation.”

Davis’ substitute bill eventually was set aside so that it could be redrafted. The committee is now scheduled to vote on HB 1238 on Thursday following morning adjournment of the House.

Davis has engaged in a pattern of deception and abuse of authority to prevent an open discussion on HB 1238/HB 1236. During the original public hearing on HB 1238 on March 3, it quickly became apparent that the witnesses in support instead were testifying on HB 1236, even though that bill wasn’t before the committee. The Democratic committee members sent Davis a letter on Tuesday admonishing her for her deceptive and unprofessional conduct at that hearing.

“My constituents would have been appalled to see the violation of the spirit, and perhaps the letter, of the Sunshine Law that occurred in our committee on March 3 and that was attempted today,” said state Rep. Jill Schupp, D-Creve Coeur. “Clearly one bill was announced, but another was the topic of testimony in a ‘bait and switch’ maneuver that does not pass my sniff test for transparency in government.”

Davis allotted nearly all of the March 3 hearing to supporters and prohibited the standard practice of allowing committee members to question witnesses. After all supporters had testified, Davis allowed a mere five minutes of questioning about the bill at the end of the hearing.

“In addition to the transparency issues, the lack of a democratic process in issuing a gag order to committee members while witnesses testified is equally deplorable,” said state Rep. Margo McNeil, D-Florissant. “There were important questions that needed to be asked, but instead we were held as silent hostages for the better part of an hour.”

Livengood headed for Delaware newspaper

Missourians interested in reading some of the best statehouse coverage this area has ever had, will have to get their fill in the next two months.

After that, Michigan native Chad Livengood, whose dogged reporting for the Springfield News-Leader has been a staple of my everyday reading since his arrival on the scene, will be headed East. He explained his move on his personal blog:

I'll be leaving the Springfield News-Leader in May for a new job at the News Journal in Wilmington, Delaware.
At the News Journal, I'll be covering Delaware largest county (New Castle) and have a chance to do more in-depth investigative reporting on a statewide scale.
There's a hot U.S. Senate race in Delaware to fill Vice President Joe Biden's old seat that I'll also be helping cover.

The editor at the Wilmington newspaper, which is also owned by Gannett, is former News-Leader editor David Ledford. Livengood will stay with the News-Leader until the end of the 2010 legislative session.

Goodman: Healthcare bill filled with "bribes, kickbacks, giveaways and other forms of graft"

Sen. Jack Goodman, R-Mount Vernon, a candidate for Seventh District Congress, issued the following statement today concerning the federal healthcare bill:

“Whether it is the American worker or Members of Congress, Speaker Pelosi and the Democrat leadership seem intent on stripping anyone of their constitutional right to vote in this country that gets in the way of their radical ideology. First, it was the so-called “card check” legislation that would take away the right to a private ballot for the American worker and now we learn Democrats are poised to pass the Senate Health Care Bill by using procedural gimmickry to prevent Members of Congress from representing their districts and voting against this bill. The strength of America is the people, and today’s liberal Congressional leadership is attempting to silence the voices of the people, becoming a ruling elite class imposing its ideology on the people.

“If what Speaker Pelosi said is true, that no one wants to vote on the bill, she should be a true leader and take this bill back to the drawing board instead of taking these anti-democratic measures to pass a bill laden with bribes, kickbacks, giveaways and other forms of graft. The American people are tired of this unbelievable arrogance of power and want work on real solutions that will reduce the cost of healthcare, get government out of our healthcare decisions and put patients back in charge of their healthcare choices. I am outraged that someone in the Speaker’s trusted position would even dare to try these types of tactics.”

Blunt, Carnahan portraying themselves as outsiders

It seems ironic that U. S. Senate candidates Roy Blunt and Robin Carnahan, members of Missouri's two most prominent political families are portraying themselves as outsiders in their campaigns. That irony is explored in an article by Associated Press reporter David Lieb:

"This is a year when people are very unhappy about the direction of the country. They're very unhappy in particular about the performance of government and of Congress," said Dave Robertson, a political scientist at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. "All candidates are going to try to emphasize that they are not part of the problem, but can contribute to the solutions."
Few candidates face a more interesting challenge in this climate than Missouri's Senate contenders.
The Carnahans and Blunts are the state's versions of the Kennedy political dynasty. During the past half-century, members of the two families have served at almost every level of government — from the local school board to the state Legislature to the Governor's mansion and the U.S. House and Senate.