By Barb Shelly, Kansas City Star editorial page columnist
On its first day back from spring break, the Missouri Senate spent a little more than five hours debating a controversial bill that would make it a crime to coerce a woman into having an abortion.
The extent to which this kind of coersion actually happens is questionable, and proving it is problematic. The sponsor, Rep. Sen. Rob Mayer, laid the bill over after Democrats showed no signs of giving up on a filibuster.
The attention given to an abortion bill shows that the more folks promise change in Jefferson City, the more things remain the same.
Before the session, the talk was all about cooperation and getting the state's economy back on track. Now, midway through, the debate is once again about abortion.
An anti-coercion bill was introduced last year and went nowhere. Had the legislature passed it, there was a good chance then-Gov. Matt Blunt would have signed it into law.
This year, there's a good chance that Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat, will veto such a bill. As the former attorney general, he need only cite the legal pitfalls.
The slim chances of getting this bill signed into law make the prolonged debate even more of a waste of time.
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What, they shouldn't be able to multi-task?
It's ok for Obama to spend time jetting off to Chicago for a long Valentines day weekend instead of reading/signing the porkulus, it's ok for Obama to spend every Wednesday night partying, it's ok for Obama to jet off to California to do Leno, it's ok for Obama to push all his agenda items that will make the economy worse, but the Missouri Legislature shouldn't consider any legislation that isn't related to the economy?
I think the Legislature is perfectly capable of handling more than one piece of legislation at a time, that's their job. Or is it just that you don't like what they are considering so you are getting in a snit? This is a perfectly valid piece of legislation and if you don't like it you are free to write/call your congress person and senator. I'm sure there are many other matters that they will deal with that are not specifically related to economic recovery. Do you plan to get pissy about those too, or just this one, because you personally don't like it?
Barbie, Do you just phone it
Barbie,
Do you just phone it in or do you have any clue how the mo legislature actually works?
You see the budget begins in the House and makes it way throughthe committee process. When it is done there it is voted upon by the whole House and sent to the Senate.
Once in the Senate the process repeats and goes through their committee process and then to the floor.
After that any difference between the two houses are worked out in conference committees.
So in the roughly 4 months all of this takes what do you wish for the legislature to do? sit on their thumbs and wait for the budget? Or perhaps you wish for them to take a page out of President/Messiah Obama's playbook and spend the State of Missouri into a black hole of doom all the while making stupid, idiotic statements and appointments of tax cheats and morons?
Why did the Star fire Kit Wagar...I may not have agreed with him much but at least he had a brain and knew the process.
So coercion is OK?
Yea, it's a woman's choice, and the liberals will argue that til the cows come home. But let some Republican actually help a woman make the choice without coercion, and the liberals come out against "choice". Sounds like the Republicans can't win for losing. Why hasn't some Democrat come out for a law against coercion? Do they want the woman to have a "choice", or do they just want the baby dead?
Barb Why Don't You Run For Office, I would vote for you.
Why do we vote for these legislators? But they seem to be entrenched in their political seat. Over and over they muddy the waters with these types of issues. They waste their time discussing items which they can do noting about. Usually this is peoples morals. It seems to me that legislators would by now have realized that laws will not change citizen's morals.
Do they really care about the real issues? Most people realize that poverty, war, murder and assault, stealing, education and medical care are the real issues.
When election time comes near that's all these politicians talk about because they know that these are the real issues. They pretend to care about these issues then to get elected or re-elected. Once elected they go back to the old smoke screens and waste time just as you have noted.
I have been told by junior elected officials that they actually tried to make a difference once elected but were unable to do so because the older elected officials prevented them. Then he went further to say that these older politicians brought up the same old things over and over to take up precious time so that real bills could not be considered. He said this was even worse in the committees which he belonged too.
I then asked him how this could be curtailed. He stated that to his knowledge it could not because once in a political position a person was there for life as people will vote for him over and over again even were he to be doing a terrible job. Most of these politicians decided when they wanted to retire from that office.
I then asked him how this type of politician could be removed from office. He stated that years ago sexual misconduct or stealing might have been cause for him to loose a re-election. He then stated that sexual misconduct and stealing is now expected in elected officials and is hardly ever cause for election loss. He really doesn't know how an elected official can loose a re-election today.
To summarize keep up the good analysis of our politicians in all political offices. We need more reporters to concentrate on the time wasted by our politicians. It would be even better if you could cite actual instances. Maybe that citing may cause citizens to think about what kind of job that politician is doing.
Every now and then one of the younger elected officials actually is able to get bills through that help the citizens. This should be highly publicized too. We need a lot more of them that actually stand up for us and fight the entrenched politicians.
Again, GOOD JOB!