February 9, 2012

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UPDATE: Filing date delay filed (AUDIO)

February 8, 2012 By

A proposal has been filed in the state senate tol push the dates for candidate to file back almost a month.

Legislative and congressional districts are in a state of flux. A new bipartisan citizens committee has been named to draw new state senate districts. Other maps are facing court challenges.

Senator Mike Parson of Bolivar is   pushing the filing deadline back from February 28th to March 27th. He hopes that gives any commissions time to draw new maps.

He says the date for filing to start will be only two weeks after the new senate redistricting commission holds its first meeting. And right now, candidates and potential candidates don’t know what to do  because they don’t know what their districts will be. Even if the commission files a new map on the 18th, the 15-day public comment period would run the calendar past the February 28th date. 

He knows there could be more challenges. Parson says filing could be pushed back into May if necessary although that would be pushing things to the limit. He says enough time has to be left to get candidates registered and to get ballots printed for the August primary.

 AUDIO: Parson interview 2:33

Filed Under: Elections, Featured, Legislature, News, Politics & Government

Binding or not, Santorum celebrates MO primary win (AUDIO)

February 8, 2012 By

Whether it was meaningful or not, the outcome of Missouri’s Presidential Primary is being celebrated by the GOP winner.

138,957 Republican ballots cast were for Rick Santorum, for 55 percent of that vote. That more than doubled his closest competitor, Mitt Romney, a fact that Santorum highlighted.

“We doubled him up here (in Missouri) and in Minnesota!” Santorum told his supporters at a celebration in St. Charles last night.

See the unofficial results from Tuesday’s primary at the Secretary of State’s website.

Santorum was the only major party candidate to campaign in Missouri ahead of the primary. This, after he had skipped Florida due to the illness of his daughter.

He took the win as an opportunity to tell the President to listen to the people. “But then again I wouldn’t be surprised if he isn’t listening,” Santorum said. “Why would you think he would be listening now? Has he ever listened to the voice of America before?”

The outcome of the primary is non-binding. Caucuses in March will decide how the state’s delegates will be allocated for the Republican Party nomination.

AUDIO: Listen to Rick Santorum’s speech from St. Charles following yesterday’s primary. (14:30)

Filed Under: 2012 Campaign, News Tagged With: ,

Shorter legislative sessions to be debated

February 7, 2012 By

State senate leaders hope to talk by the end of the week about making Missouri’s part-time legislature even more part-time.

If Senator John Lamping’s proposed constitutional amendment already were in effect, this year’s debates would end on March 23rd, not May 18th.  And the veto session would be in June, not in September. Supporters say shortening the sessions would save a lot of money.

His proposed amendment would give several days to properly edit and print final versions of the bills with April 6th the new adjournment date. 

We’ve looked at the last decade of legislative session. Lawmakers had met for 41 working days, on average, by the date Lamping would have the session end.  Sessions have averaged 72 days under the present law. Today will be the 19th debate day of this session.

The proposal does not decrease lawmakers’ salaries while cutting their days in debate by 43 percent.

Filed Under: Featured, Human Interest, Legislature, News, Politics & Government

Bill offers chance for offenders to keep records from potential employers

February 7, 2012 By

Legislation has advanced out of the House Committee on Urban Issues that seeks to give some non-violent offenders some help in getting a job, to keep them from repeat offending. 

Representative Jamilah Nasheed (D-St. Louis)

Representative Jamilah Nasheed (D-St. Louis) says she has sponsored the bill for five years and this is the first time it has advanced out of a committee. She says her goal is, “To be able to not allow for employers to look at non-violent offenses as an obstacle to employment opportunities. I would also like to allow for law enforcement to continue to have access to those records.”

Under the proposal, non-violent offenders who have not committed additional crimes for five years after release can ask a judge to keep their criminal records from being accessible to potential employers.  The judge  can determine whether certain criteria have been met and then decide whether or not to grant the request.

Nasheed says right now, such individuals return to crime when they are turned away for employment because of their history. “They go out and they wreak havoc in our communities. They start selling drugs on our street corners. They start breaking into the homes and cars trying just to survive.”

She says without some way to break that cycle, the state will have to deal with such individuals at one point or another. “Either we’re going to deal with it on the front end or we’re going to deal with it on the back end. We’re going to house them in prison or we’re going to allow for them to have job opportunities after coming home from prison.

See the details of HB 1344

Nasheed is not discouraged that the bill has taken so long to advance. She notes, Illinois took seven years to pass similar language, which it is just now implementing.

The bill moves on to the House Rules Committee, and from there could advance to the House Calendar.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts, Law Enforcement, Legislature, News, Politics & Government Tagged With: ,

Today’s presidential primary generating little interest

February 7, 2012 By

Missouri’s presidential primary is today, but the Secretary of State says there’s not a lot of incentive to drive voters out to the polls.

Voters will have a choice to say who they want to run for president in the general election, but the decision is non-binding. Caucuses in March will decide how the state’s delegates are allocated for the Republican Party nomination. Those delegates will attend the August national convention in Tampa.

Secretary of State Robin Carnahan says only about one in four voters — 23 percent — are expected to turn out.

One of the republican party’s main contenders won’t even be on the ballot today. Newt Gingrich didn’t meet Missouri’s filing deadline or pay the thousand dollar fee to join. Republican candidates include Gary Johnson, Herman Cain, Mitt Romney, Michael Meehan, Rick Perry, Keith Drummond, Jon Huntsman, Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul.

Democrats are: Barack Obama, Randall Terry, Darcy G. Richardson, John Wolfe.

There are several local issues throughout the state, including tax increases, mayoral and commissioner races and school bond issues.

 

Filed Under: 2012 Campaign, Elections, News
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