Month: April 2011

Categories
Critters Legal, Laws, and Regs

This isn’t the end

I listened to, and recorded, the “debate” on SB 113 in the House today.

First, my thanks for those brave souls who suffered the indignities heaped on them by Representative Loehner, aided and abetted by Tilley. I’ll have the folks’ names as soon as I can decipher who said what from the recording. I’ll also post all of the recordings I have—though be forewarned, you’ll need a strong stomach to listen to them.

This is not the end. We still have the possibility of a Nixon veto. Well, OK, the possibility is slight: after all, the politicians in this state are more afraid of the Missouri Farm Bureau than the voters. Still, we can only be pleasantly surprised—read that “astounded”—at this point. Whether I vote for Nixon again is based on his actions in regards to SB 113. I have no patience for people who trade either dogs or our votes for political gain. It is just that simple.

If Prop B fails, if all our leaders let us down, then we’ll start over with a citizen referendum that overturns SB 113. But next time, we’ll also have the companion initiative that adds a Constitutional Amendment prohibiting the state representatives from modifying the bill without a 3/4 majority vote. Such an amendment would have killed SB 113 in the Senate.

We also have two other ballot items we’ll have to fight: HJR 3, which creates a ballot item to create a Constitutional Amendment to protect agriculture from any new laws regarding livestock enacted by the citizens of the state; and HJR 5, which attempts to do the same about hunting and fishing. It’s time that we remind certain folks in Missouri that they have to play by the same rules as the rest of us.

We will be heard. One way or another, we will be heard.

Categories
Critters

The Reps who voted against their districts

Recovered from the Wayback Machine.

The Jefferson City News Tribune has a list of the votes for SB 113 in the House.

I’m focusing on those from Yes on B districts who voted to gut Proposition B by voting for SB 113.

Republicans:

My old friend, TJ Berry, who I got into a back and forth with last week, came out for SB 113. I’m not surprised by his action: he was just playing games when he talked about “compromise”. Since his district voted for Proposition B by 57.1%, tell him what you think of his “compromise” in the next election.

John Diel came from a St. Louis district that voted for Proposition B by 61.4%! I wonder what he got in order to betray the people in his district so heavily.

Kurt Bahr’s district supported Proposition b by 61.7%. So, Rep. Bahr, are you saying that 61.7% of your district is too stupid to know how to vote?

Paul Curtman let down the 54.7% of the people in his district that voted for Proposition b.

Melissa Leach also let down the 51.5% of the people in her district.

Bill White also felt that 53.4% of the people of his district don’t really need representation, since he wasn’t really representing their interests.

Wow, Paul Wieland, you don’t think much of the 61.5% of the people in your community who voted for Proposition b, do you?

Doug Funderburk walked out on the 60.5% of the people in his St. Charles County community. Last I heard, the folks in St. Charles County don’t take kindly to elected officials disrespecting their votes.

John McCaherty also decided that he knows better than 62.8% of the people in his district. Why, if he’s so much smarter than they are, I’m sure they’re going to release him from his onerous obligation of pretending to support their interests in the next election.

Jerry Nolte came from a district that voted for Proposition b by 70%! More people voted for Proposition b in his district than voted for him. Think about that, Representative Nolte.

Noel Torpey from Independence. Rep. Torpey comes from a district that voted for Proposition b by 65.5%. In his promise to voters on his election site, he wrote:

I, Noel Torpey, pledge to give you a voice in the Missouri House of Representatives. I believe as Thomas Jefferson once said “The will of the people is the only legitimate foundation of any government.” I will be walking door to door in your neighborhood soon. I look forward to meeting with you and hearing your thoughts on improving Missouri.

The will of the people… Yeah. Right.

Democrats:

Jamilah Nasheed, from St. Louis. Representative Nasheed comes from a district that voted for Proposition b by 80.8%. What the hell was she thinking? Hopefully, her district lets her know how they feel being spat on in the next election.

Though not as egregiously bad as Rep. Nasheed, Terry Swinger from Caruthersville comes from a district that supported Proposition b by 56.3%.

Those who were absent:

Republicans:

Chuck Gatschenberger let the 54% of the people in his district down by not showing up for the vote and not voting to support them.

Jeff Grisamore let down the 60.2% of the people in his district. I think we’re seeing a trend: only those who come from districts who supported Proposition b didn’t show up to even vote.

Yup, Dwight Scharnhorst didn’t show up for the vote and didn’t support the 64% of his district who supported Proposition b.

All three of these gentlemen were present for the previous bill’s vote.

Democrats:

I’m particularly disappointed in Steve Webb not voting. He comes from a district that voted for Proposition b by 72.2%. However, I note that he was missing from all votes that day.

Michael Brown from Kansas City was absent from the vote and his district supported Proposition b by 74.4%. Again, he was missing from all votes that day.

The same cannot be said for Linda Black, who was at the vote, but didn’t vote, and didn’t support the 58.7% of the people in her district that voted for Proposition b.

As I noted earlier: every single absent/non-voting representative came from a Proposition b district.

updated

Official House Journal detailing the vote and the amendments offered.

Categories
Critters

How much are the dogs worth?

Evidently, the welfare of the dogs and the vote of the people are worth $1.1 million to Governor Nixon and the kiddies in the Missouri Senate.

According to a new story from Fox, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved Nixon’s 1.1 million request for additional inspectors, on condition that Nixon signs SB 113.

So it doesn’t matter what we’ve said all along—that dogs in wire cages 6 inches longer than they are is inhumane; that dogs that are sick or injured need vet care, not to be slapped with mystery ointment by Billy Bob; that frozen water is not really a treat for dogs; that no, no dog likes to be in freezing temperatures for 24 hours a day, every day; that every dog needs a breath of fresh air…sometime—no, it doesn’t matter what we’ve said, because Governor Nixon and the good ole folks in the Missouri Farm Bureau, the General Assembly, the Department of Agriculture, and the Cattlemen’s Association, why they all got together and worked through a way of pretending to help the dogs, while not really helping the dogs.

Missouri dogs in large scale commercial breeders and the Missouri voters both just got screwed. But it’s OK because the powers-that-be are leaving $1.1 million dollars on the dresser as they leave.