The State House is not a Frat House!!!

Would someone please explain this fact to Governor Blunt? The outrages coming from Jefferson city just get better and better. There is his brother Andy, a lobbyist on behalf of utility companies and the telecom industry. Matt just signed a plethora of legislation last week that enhances Andy's bottom line. Look for the car he parks in the driveway of the mansion every day to become a Bentley any minute now.

Then there is the issue of the license offices. The department of revenue has handled drivers licenses and car tags as long as they have been required. But Matt Blunt shut down a bunch of state offices and put them in the hands of private individuals, all of whom made campaign contributions to his gubernatorial race. The main office in downtown Kansas City (blue congressional district(s), state and federal) has been closed since the end of June. The person he appointed to the post declined it, and our local office remains closed. (My tags are due this month.)

The state auditor, Claire McCaskill, has attempted to audit state property, such as furniture and computers, from the newly-privatized offices, and has been stonewalled by the Governor's appointed Revenue Secretary. They insist that all they have to do is comply with existing Sunshine laws!

The Governor would be well served if someone would remind him that the State House is different than the Frat House. Insulating yourself within a circle of buddies does not make you "da man." In politics, it makes you look like a nepotistic weasel.

The office of the State Auditor is a constitutionally proscribed position, and not a political one. Claire McCaskill, a Democrat, is in that office because the people of this state trust her to balance our checkbook, and keep track of the states assetts. The governor needs to be goaded into bringing his revenue secretary, Ms. Vincent, to heel, and he needs to order her to cooperate fully with Ms. McCaskill's audit of the revenue offices. If she does not, he should fire her.

If the governor fails to take these steps, a special procecutor should be appointed and a Grand Jury impanelled to investigate the possibility that state assets were channeled into private hands, and taxpayers will be expected to foot the bill. (Not for social services, mind you, heaven forbid we pay for that! But his private friends will have to have the very best in their temporary places of work - on our dime, of course.)