A leading state senator accuses Governor Blunt of calling the legislature into session to approve a 70-million dollar economic development package while the governor and attorney general play political football with an economic development issue that is ten times bigger.
Senator Kevin Engler of Farmington, the chairman of the Commerce and Environment Committee, is tired of the Governor and the Attorney General maintaining their political disagreement about the Taum Sauk reservoir collapse while a school district in his area faces a financial crisis—because of lost property taxes lost the reservoir.
Ameren, the reservoir owner, has federal permission to rebuild but won’t until Attorney General Nixon and Blunt’s Department of Natural Resources resolve their legal issues. Blunt and Attorney General Nixon already are waging a campaign for Blunt’s job.
Engler finds an ally in democratic senator Tim Green who says the dispute is doing neither politician any good.
Engler says the legislature might have to resolve this issue if Blunt and Nixon can’t quit playing politics with people in his district.
(Audio with this story is from Senate floor discussions involving Engler and Senators John Griesheimer, R-Washington, Chairman of the Senate Economic Development Committee, and Tim Green, D-Spanish Lake.)
Download Senate discussion of issue (9:01 mp3)
