MOsanthrope

Posted by Chris on June 19, 2006 at 12:03 pm.

It’s gotten to the point that each time I open the paper to read about Governor Blunt’s latest “cost-cutting initiative”, I instinctively anticipate the paragraph describing how campaign supporters or family business associates are somehow implicated in the deal.

First, we learned of the license bureau fiasco. Next it was the elimination of Department of Insurance consumer services coordinators in St. Louis and Kansas City. Then there was Blunt’s practice of traveling on private planes rented from political supporters. The Post-Dispatch summarized some of the various schemes here before offering its take:

In his inaugural address last year, Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt promised to “create an entrepreneurial climate where the spirit of free enterprise will flourish.” Government, Mr. Blunt added, “is the people’s tool.”

Sixteen months into Mr. Blunt’s term, it has become clear what he meant: People who have an in with the governor can use government as a tool to make themselves rich.

* * *

There are occasions when private companies can provide public services more efficiently than government can; corporations are neither inherently evil nor good.

But regardless of who’s spending public money, the public’s business must remain public, not draped in secrecy and phony platitudes about free enterprise. Government may be “the people’s tool,” but it’s not a burglar’s tool.

Add this to the list:

Underground fuel tanks at hundreds of Missouri gas stations eluded formal scrutiny in the past year because of a state cost-cutting move, and the state still hasn’t determined how it will seek out leaky tanks.

* * *

Failure to properly inspect the state’s 10,135 registered underground storage tanks at regular intervals would make it harder to fix problem tanks before fuel leaks contaminate soil or groundwater. It could also put certain federal funding at risk, said Dan Schuette, director of the environmental quality division at the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, which had performed the inspections.

But that doesn’t make any sense. How could they let that happen? There must be a paragraph missing….

Never mind. FiredUp! Missouri found it:

One of the members of the Board of Trustees of the storage tank fund is a business partner with Governor Blunt’s brother, Andy, in two ethanol related ventures: Show Me Ethanol, Inc. and Central Missouri Biofuels. Perhaps he was just too busy helping the Blunts to do his job protecting Missourians.

Kolb is also the co-owner of Jefferson City Oil Company. Jefferson City Oil is the company that provided thousands of dollars in an unreported contribution of fuel for Governor Blunt’s massive campaign bus during the 2004 election. The bus itself, was an unreported contribution from Highway Commissioner Mike Kehoe, another partner in the two ethanol ventures with Andy Blunt.

Filed under: Politics, Missouri, Environment