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Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright to deliver lecture at Westminster College in September

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Westminster College in Fulton is adding to its long list of world and U.S. political dignitaries who have addressed the school and its National Churchill Museum communities.

Madeleine K. Albright, the first female U.S. Secretary of State

Madeleine K. Albright, appointed the first female U.S. Secretary of State in 1997 by President Bill Clinton, will deliver the 59th John Findley Green Foundation Lecture this September on the Westminster campus. Albright will speak to the Westminster college community Thursday, September 19.

Some of the other prestigious Green Foundation lecturers in Westminster’s history are British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher,

President of the U.S.S.R. Mikhail Gorbachev, President of Poland Lech Walesa, President Harry S. Truman, President Gerald Ford, Vice President George H. W. Bush and Secretary of State James A. Baker.

“This is a tremendous honor to welcome a world leader of Dr. Albright’s stature to Westminster,” says Westminster President Dr. Fletcher Lamkin

“I have asked that her lecture further articulate her ideas about democracy’s future prospects, and how humanity might once again break down the walls that divide us, and join together, in a spirit of hope, to confront the challenges that lie ahead.”

Albright’s lecture will be the highlight of Westminster’s 12th annual Hancock Symposium, two days of lectures, panel discussions, and presentations on one particular subject of global importance.  Her latest book, Fascism: A Warning was published on April 10, 2018 and debuted at #1 on the New York Times’ best-seller list.

Albright’s other accomplishments include:

  • chair of Albright Stonebridge Group, a global strategy firm, and Chair of Albright Capital Management LLC, an investment advisory firm focused on emerging markets,
  • professor in the practice of diplomacy at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service,
  • chair of the National Democratic Institute, president of the Truman Scholarship Foundation and a member of the U.S. Defense Department’s Defense Policy Board,
  • served as member of President Jimmy Carter’s National Security Council and White House staff, and served as Chief Legislative Assistant to U.S. Senator Edmund S. Muskie,
  • chosen by President Obama to receive the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, in recognition of her contributions to international peace and democracy,
  • served as the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations,
  • wrote New York Times bestselling books: Madam Secretary: A Memoir (2003); The Mighty and the Almighty: Reflections on America, God, and World Affairs (2006); Memo to the President: How We Can Restore America’s Reputation and Leadership (2008); Read My Pins: Stories from a Diplomat’s Jewel Box (2009); and Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance and War, 1937-1948 (2012).

 

Westminster College was the site of Churchill’s famous “Iron Curtain” speech

 

Secretary of State candidates split on top issue facing the office

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After two terms for Robin Carnahan, Missouri will have a new Secretary of State in 2013. The two major party candidates for that office disagree on the most important issue in the race.

Republican Shane Schoeller says it’s taking away opportunities for voter fraud, “That we do more to protect the integrity of the elections. That’s why I’ve been a strong proponent of getting photo ID passed as the primary source of identification when you show up to vote on election day, which my opponent (Jason) Kander has called ‘extreme’ and ‘unfair.'”

Democrat Jason Kander does say the proposals that have come up in Missouri were extreme and unfair, and he points out approaches taken in other states that he supports.

“If you look at Idaho, for instance … no one would call it a liberal stronghold, and it has come up with a sensible and strong voter ID law that doesn’t disenfranchise a single eligible voter. In Idaho, if an eligible voter goes to cast a ballot on election day and doesn’t have photo identification, the voter can sign a sworn affidavit and then cast a ballot like everyone else, not a provisional ballot … which are rarely counted. If voters aren’t who they say they are, they’ll be put in jail. That seems like a strong deterrent to me.”

Schoeller says he proposed a bill that included the affidavit language that Kander voted against. Kander says the difference between it and the Idaho measure is that Schoeller’s proposal would have given individuals in that situation a provisional ballot, but Schoeller says the ballot would be counted unless it is proven the person casting it is not a legitimate voter.

Kander says the most important issue facing the Secretary of State, and all elected officials, is finding ways to spur job creation. He says his approach would begin with the office’s business services division.

“What I will do is make sure that the folks who work in the business services division also take a real, proactive role in connecting and building relationships with organizations throughout the state … many of which are nonprofit organizations … who exist to help new entrepreneurs avoid some of the common pitfalls that people run into when they first start a business.” Kander adds, “If we develop those relationships through the business services division, then we can make sure to connect people with these organizations that many times they don’t even know are there in their community.”

Schoeller says he, too, has plans in mind for that division to help foster job creation.

“Right now, there’s a little less than 60 different classifications that you have to figure out how to register a business under when you register a business in the state of Missouri. In our neighboring state of Kansas they have less than ten classifications.” Schoeller says he would work to reduce the number of classifications used in Missouri.

Schoeller says another area important to businesses relates to when rules are passed either through the legislative process or by voters. “All too often, regulators sometimes write beyond the intent of legislation and they, for example, write into the rule making process their own ideas. I think it’s important that if you’re in the office of the Secretary of State that … you’re protecting people who are business owners and Missourians across the state from any unnecessary regulations.”

Schoeller accuses Secretary Carnahan of allowing such regulations to go forward, and says he will hold regulators accountable.

Voters go to the polls a week from tomorrow.

Judge: decision likely Monday in Missouri courts ballot issue

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A hearing has been held in the case against the Secretary of State’s Office over the summary for a ballot issue to change how Supreme Court and Appeals Court judges are chosen.

The proposal was passed this year by the Republican-led state legislature as Senate Joint Resolution 51. It would raise the number of appointees of the Governor on commissions that nominate appellate court finalists, and raise from three to four the number of finalists.

See the ballot language for Amendment 3 and Senate Joint Resolution 51. 

The attorney for those wanting the ballot language to be rewritten, Clayton Callen, tells the judge the language would be misleading to him and anyone else who favors the proposed change.

“In the absence of this court taking action to revise what I would describe as a ‘flawed summary statement,’ many other voters across the State of Missouri holding similar opinions as mine will look at this summary and they think, ‘Boy, Missouri Bar members and lawyers … members of a single profession selecting judges … that can not be a good idea,’ and they will vote against this proposal. Of course if they were actually to read the amendment, Amendment 3, that is purportedly summarized by this summary, they would actually find that it reduces the power of the Missouri Bar to select judges.”

State Solicitor General James Layton says Secretary of State Robin Carnahan is right in emphasizing that the commission that chooses those judges could no longer have to include lay people.

“That is her prerogative, because it is within the realm that is allowed under the language of this particular amendment. We ask the court to allow this to proceed on the ballot and allow the voters to educate themselves, as they ought to do, and then decide whether it is they want a commission that can have all lawyers or whether it’s going to be a matter of whether there are three or four members of the Missouri Bar.”

Cole County Circuit Judge Jon Beetem says he hopes to have a decision by Monday afternoon. Ballots must be printed in two weeks.

Secretary of State clears seven initiative petititons for circulation

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Secretary of State Robin Carnahan has announced that seven initiative petitions to amend the Missouri Constitution have been cleared for circulation for the 2010 ballot. Four of the initiative petitions relate to stem cell research, one pertains to the banning of affirmative action programs, another deals with health carriers, and one involves real estate taxation.

There is a formula for getting constitutional changes on the November, 2010 ballot. Signatures must be collected from registered voters – with the number equal to eight percent of the total votes cast in the 2008 Governor’s election – and those signatures must come from six of the state’s nine congressional districts. Furthermore, they must be submitted to the Secretary of State’s Office by 5 pm on May 2nd.

Post-Civil War legal documents restored

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Ten years of painstaking work pays off with a rare glimpse into the legal mess left in Missouri once the Civil War ended.

More than 11,200 court cases filed in St. Louis Circuit Court between 1866 and 1868 have been rescued, cleaned and restored thanks to a $330,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Secretary of State Robin Carnahan says the court cases run the gamut; from claims for freedom filed by slaves, to property lawsuits asking for reparations for damage done by soldiers. Carnahan noted one lawsuit in which a store owner in Iron County sought to recover losses from a Civil War raid.

"So, he turned around and filed a lawsuit against 56 people, a lot of well-known folks, including former Governor Marmaduke for claims of the loss," Carnahan said.

Documents will be available at the old St. Louis Globe-Democrat building at 710 N. Tucker Boulevard, Room 213.

"Part of what we’re doing here is the first step which is preserving documents, getting them cataloged so you can find them again, but then getting them online so anybody can take a look at them," Carnahan explained. "We’re trying to do all this in advance of the sesquicentennial of the Civil War that comes up in 2011."

The documents will be added to the thousands already on the Missouri Digital Heritage Initiative portion of the Secretary of State’s Web site, which has become an extremely popular Web site.

Download/listen Brent Martin reports (1:15 MP3)

Cease and desist order issued against Lee’s Summit investor

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Secretary of State Robin Carnahan has issued a cease and desist order against a Lee’s Summit man she accuses of defrauding two sisters of more than one million dollars.

Carnahan accuses Mark Greenway of defrauding the sisters out of $1.3 million, spending the money on himself rather than investing it for the sisters. According to the Secretary of State, the sisters initially gave Greenway $630,000 of their inheritance. They gave him more over the next few years. The order alleges Greenway opened a joint checking/savings account in each of the sisters’ names as well as his own. It accuses Greenway of using the money to buy classic cars for himself, pay for personal household expenses and even take out certificates of deposit for both himself and his wife.

A spokesman for Carnahan, Laura Egerdal, says Greenway is not registered to sell securities in Missouri. An investigation by the Secretary of State’s office disclosed that Greenway was previously found by the Securities and Exchange Commission to have committed fraud which led the Federal District Court in Kansas City to enter a prior Order of Permanent Injunction against Greenway based on the SEC findings.

Greenway has 30 days to request a hearing on the charges.

For more information regarding investments and fraud protection, visit the Secretary of State’s online Missouri Investor Protection Center at or call the toll free Investor Protection Hotline at 1-800-721-7996.

Movement launched to place secret ballot guarantees in Missouri Constitution

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Missouri is one of five states that are part of a national movement to reject a proposal to do away with the secret ballot rights of employees considering forming unions. While the movement is aimed primarily at rejecting a Congressional effort known as card check – a proposal to recognize a union as the employees’ bargaining representative without benefit of a secret ballot vote – it would extend to protection of all secret ballot voting.

Dave Rouchka and Senator John Loudon The grassroots movement is known as SOS Ballot – Save Our Secret Ballot . Two of the SOS Ballot Missouri Advisory Board members were on hand at the Secretary of State’s Office on Tuesday to announce the proposal – outgoing Senator John Loudon (R-Chesterfield) and Sedalia businessman Dave Rouchka.

They say elimination of the secret ballot leads to intimidation and harassment. Their goal is to collect enough signatures to place a proposed Constitutional Amendment on the 2010 ballot – a clause that would state the right of individuals to vote by secret ballot is fundamental and shall be guaranteed.

The ballot initiative must go through the review process before it can be certified to gather signatures.

According to Laura Egerdal with the Secretary of State’s Office: "It needs to be approved by both the Secretary of State’s Office and the Attorney General’s Office for form. That means it’s worded correctly, insertions are underlined, anything that’s being removed is in brackets – the very technical aspect. If it meets that hurdle, then we write the ballot summary language, which has to be less than a hundred words. And then at that point, after about a month, it would be certified to gather signatures in Missouri."

Download/Listen: Steve Walsh report (9:00 MP3)

Recounts certified; no results change

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Recounts haven’t changed the results of extremely close races in the Missouri legislature, but, according to the Secretary of State’s office , do say something about our election system.

One Senate race and two House races decided by a margin of less than one percent have undergone recounts. Republican Jim Lembke might have lost six votes in the recount, but still won his senate race against Democrat Joan Barry by 70 votes.

Lembke garnered 44,216; Barry 44,146.

Nearly as close was Democrat Kenny Biermann’s upset of Republican incumbent Vicki Schneider in a St. Louis area representative race. The certified results give 10,950 votes to Biermann and 10,877 to Schneider, a 73-vote margin; one vote closer than prior to the recount.

Republican Denny Hoskins won by a more comfortable 122 votes in his victory over Democrat Jim Jackson in a representative race in West-Central Missouri. Hoskins won 7,008 votes. Jackson received 6,886 votes.

Secretary of State spokesman Laura Egerdal says three recounts to determine races for the General Assembly demonstrate a closely divided electorate in Missouri. She notes the presidential race in Missouri was the closest since 1908. Republican John McCain took Missouri, barely. McCain received 1,445,814 votes to Democrat Barack Obama’s 1,441,911; a margin of 49.4% to 49.3%.

The Missouri vote was the closest of any in the country. Missouri doesn’t provide automatic recounts. The losing candidate can request a recount when the margin of victory falls within one percent. Obama could have requested a recount, but he had already secured enough electoral votes to win the presidency and his campaign declined the opportunity.

 

Download/listen Brent Martin reports (:60 MP3)

Missouri ballot counting not over yet

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It’s not over until the Secretary of State says it’s over. And the Secretary of State says Tuesday’s election is not over. About 7,100 votes have not been counted yet.

They’re provisional ballots. When people show up at a polling place and their registration cannot be verified, they are allowed to cast provisional ballots that are held back and counted later after the registration status is confirmed.

More than 4,500 of those ballots are from the St. Louis and Kansas City metro areas which means they probably lean Democratic. State law says election officials have to determine the legitimacy of each of those ballots within two weeks. About sixty percent of the ballots turn out to be invalid.

Requests for absentee ballots on the rise

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Missouri appears to be experiencing an increase in the number of absentee ballot requests.

Secretary of State Robin Carnahan says that although absentee requests are not tracked statewide before the election, unofficial reports of the requests from local election officials in ten of the state’s largest counties show a 40% increase over absentee ballots cast in 2004. The highest increase is in the city of St. Louis, which has received 14,801 absentee ballots compared to a total of 7,408 in 2004.

Absentee ballots must be received by the local election authority by 7pm on Election Day to be counted. To vote absentee in Missouri, a registered voter must expect to be prevented from going to their polling place on Election Day. Acceptable reasons include absence from their jurisdiction, illness or physical disability, religious belief or practice.