Perspective: Nixon again tries to move goalposts
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Perspective: Nixon again tries to move goalposts
http://www.newstribune.com/news/2015/se ... goalposts/
State Rep. Jay Barnes, R-Jefferson City, Mo.
Sunday, September 6, 2015
When we first sued to stop Gov. Nixon’s illegal stadium scheme, he told reporters he didn’t have time to worry about “five or six legislators.”
When he said that, Nixon knew that Sen. Schaaf, myself and the others did not represent a minority of legislators, but an overwhelming majority. Since that first series of articles, several other key legislators have spoken out against Gov. Nixon, including the chairs and vice-chairs of both the House and Senate budget committees. There are also enough stalwart senators who have pledged a filibuster that there is zero chance next year’s budget will include money for Nixon’s scheme.
So what does a governor do when the opposition is marching the ball down the field? Move the goalposts.
His new line on last year’s budget. “They had language that would have limited this,” Nixon said. “And after discussing it, they took that language off.”
This seems to suggest that the Legislature either voted to appropriate money for Nixon’s plan or kept language in the budget that was sufficiently vague to be interpreted to allow him to spend taxpayer money.
Unfortunately for Gov. Nixon, the actual budget bills are online for the public to read. In particular, section 5.215 of House Bill 5 appropriates $12 million from general revenue “for debt service and maintenance on the Edward Jones Dome project in St. Louis.” There is no money appropriated anywhere in the budget that an honest person could rationally argue was intended for a new stadium.
Here, Nixon is a poor man’s Donald Trump. If you just say it loudly enough, someone will believe you. Nixon is wrong to think he’s going to bully anyone into following him down this path of new stadium debt – and he knows it.
Just this week, Sen. Ryan Silvey, R-Kansas City, promised to work to put stadium funding to a statewide vote next November. Nevermind for a moment that the project is premised on illegal financing for an illegal location. Gov. Nixon’s authority to sign any long-term obligation is limited by the constitution. He cannot bind the Legislature to appropriations. Instead, he can only sign an agreement that would purport to bind his and future gubernatorial administrations to requesting appropriations for a project. In plain English, Gov. Nixon does not have the power to appropriate your tax dollars. Much as Gov. Nixon would like to be king, the power to appropriate is exclusively a legislative power.
Sen. Silvey’s proposal punches the bully in the nose. While Nixon may believe the Legislature two years from now will blink, he has to know the people of this state will not authorize their tax dollars to build a stadium for a billionaire. There’s a great chance Sen. Silvey’s proposal will be headed to your ballot next November.
Trump v. Hillary now not later
You may have missed amidst all the other bluster coming from his mouth, but Donald Trump made the following claim, “You know a lot of the gangs that you see in Baltimore and in St. Louis and Ferguson and Chicago, do you know they’re illegal immigrants? They’re here illegally. . . .
continued at http://www.newstribune.com/news/2015/se ... goalposts/
http://www.newstribune.com/news/2015/se ... goalposts/
State Rep. Jay Barnes, R-Jefferson City, Mo.
Sunday, September 6, 2015
When we first sued to stop Gov. Nixon’s illegal stadium scheme, he told reporters he didn’t have time to worry about “five or six legislators.”
When he said that, Nixon knew that Sen. Schaaf, myself and the others did not represent a minority of legislators, but an overwhelming majority. Since that first series of articles, several other key legislators have spoken out against Gov. Nixon, including the chairs and vice-chairs of both the House and Senate budget committees. There are also enough stalwart senators who have pledged a filibuster that there is zero chance next year’s budget will include money for Nixon’s scheme.
So what does a governor do when the opposition is marching the ball down the field? Move the goalposts.
His new line on last year’s budget. “They had language that would have limited this,” Nixon said. “And after discussing it, they took that language off.”
This seems to suggest that the Legislature either voted to appropriate money for Nixon’s plan or kept language in the budget that was sufficiently vague to be interpreted to allow him to spend taxpayer money.
Unfortunately for Gov. Nixon, the actual budget bills are online for the public to read. In particular, section 5.215 of House Bill 5 appropriates $12 million from general revenue “for debt service and maintenance on the Edward Jones Dome project in St. Louis.” There is no money appropriated anywhere in the budget that an honest person could rationally argue was intended for a new stadium.
Here, Nixon is a poor man’s Donald Trump. If you just say it loudly enough, someone will believe you. Nixon is wrong to think he’s going to bully anyone into following him down this path of new stadium debt – and he knows it.
Just this week, Sen. Ryan Silvey, R-Kansas City, promised to work to put stadium funding to a statewide vote next November. Nevermind for a moment that the project is premised on illegal financing for an illegal location. Gov. Nixon’s authority to sign any long-term obligation is limited by the constitution. He cannot bind the Legislature to appropriations. Instead, he can only sign an agreement that would purport to bind his and future gubernatorial administrations to requesting appropriations for a project. In plain English, Gov. Nixon does not have the power to appropriate your tax dollars. Much as Gov. Nixon would like to be king, the power to appropriate is exclusively a legislative power.
Sen. Silvey’s proposal punches the bully in the nose. While Nixon may believe the Legislature two years from now will blink, he has to know the people of this state will not authorize their tax dollars to build a stadium for a billionaire. There’s a great chance Sen. Silvey’s proposal will be headed to your ballot next November.
Trump v. Hillary now not later
You may have missed amidst all the other bluster coming from his mouth, but Donald Trump made the following claim, “You know a lot of the gangs that you see in Baltimore and in St. Louis and Ferguson and Chicago, do you know they’re illegal immigrants? They’re here illegally. . . .
continued at http://www.newstribune.com/news/2015/se ... goalposts/