"Chainsaw" Matt Blunt Wields the, Well, Chainsaw

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch should have put an MP3 of sorrowful violins behind this story: Hundreds of state workers are losing their jobs

Job security has been one of the advantages of state government jobs.

Sure, the Legislature trimmed the staff in tight times. But the cutbacks usually hit what some called phantom employees - vacant positions.

Things are different now.

Under Gov. Matt Blunt, hundreds of pink slips have gone out - and more are coming.

That's unfortunate, but it's less a result of Matt Blunt being just plain mean than it's a result of fattening the state government beyond what its revenue could sustain. Think of it as an economic environmentally unfriendly lifestyle, and Matt Blunt is going all Kyoto on his predegovernor's ill-conceived public gluttony.

Blunt is trying to plug a $360 million hole in the budget without raising taxes. Missouri had been using one-time funds - such as federal grants and revenue bonds - to pay ongoing expenses. Blunt, a Republican who took office in January, opposes temporary patches. Trimming the bureaucracy is part of his solution.

That, friends, is fiscal responsibility, and that's why, in spite of his flaws, we here at DMB2008 want to, well, Draft Matt Blunt 2008. He's accepting the task and unafraid to be called heartless when he cuts the bureaucracy by 1.6%.

Another Poll Overlooks Blunt

Over at Q and O, McQ links to a Boston Globe report about whom the Washington insiders think will run in 2008:

The top Republican choices were Allen, followed closely by US Senator John McCain of Arizona, then Senate majority leader Bill Frist, former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani, Romney, and five other Republicans. Of possible Democratic nominees, Senator Hillary Clinton of New York led the group by a 202-point margin, followed by former US senator John Edwards, Virginia Governor Mark Warner, US Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana, Kerry, and five others.

I cannot find who the other five are, but I expect Matt Blunt didn't make the list.

I'm not worried, though, that he's overlooked on the national stage. Look how other lower Midwest unknown governors have gotten lucky, so to speak, in the not-too-distant past.

Blunt Balances Budget on Backs of Inexpensive ISP's Users

According to a Columbia Tribune article, Matt Blunt is planning to balance the Missouri budget of on the backs of Internet users:

A program that sparked a discussion among senators was MOREnet, a technology infrastructure system that provides Internet access, videoconferencing and other services to colleges, K-12 schools and libraries across the state.

In the current year, MOREnet - which operates as a unit within the UM system - received $14.5 million from the state. The House recommended only $11.6 million for next year, and the governor called for only $10.2 million.

Essentially, the Missouri state government acts as an Internet Service Provider. Which duplicates effort made by private companies which could do the job more efficiently.

One state senator wants to cut the funding altogether, but she must be new around Jefferson City since she understands priorities:

Sen. Luann Ridgeway, R-Smithville, said she'd like to see the spending item eliminated, but senators eventually settled on the governor's position.

The state is struggling to fund critical health-care services in the Medicaid program, Ridgeway said, and MOREnet provides a function that should be left to the private sector.

"My proposal is let the free market do what it does, and let's get out of the Internet business once and for all," she said. Ridgeway said she knows of one community where businesses can't get high-speed Internet access. She said the government already provides service to the customers - such as libraries and school districts - that would entice a private-sector provider to enter those markets.

Unfortunately, cuts or elimnation of the funding would require MORENet to behave like a business:

Bill Mitchell, executive director of MOREnet, told senators that if the cuts were implemented, the MOREnet advisory council could reduce or eliminate services such as training and could impose a price hike on customers. Mitchell said all of the state's public colleges and universities use the system, along with 513 K-12 school districts. A private Internet service provider, he said, would be more expensive for those entities.

It would be more expensive for them, but less expensive for the state of Missouri.

News story originally seen on Missourians Fired Up! and The Panic Button ("The chronicles of Governor Matt Blunt: an inexperienced sociopath's attempts to scuttle Missouri")

Not in the Running Yet

Here's a poll of potential 2008 GOP nominees.

Matt Blunt's not on it yet, but this blog has only been up for three hours. We're still building momentum.

Matt Blunt Balances Budget on Backs of Violent, Drug-Abusing Criminals

At least, that's what the St. Louis Post-Dispatch would have us believe with this story: Drug program for prisoners will end:

By the end of next month, the Department of Corrections will eliminate the treatment program at the Jefferson City prison, where the state's toughest prisoners are housed. The department will focus rehabilitation efforts on less dangerous inmates who are more likely to be released sooner.

The move should save about $1 million of the $16.5 million Gov. Matt Blunt wants to cut from the department. Ten counselors, the program's director and a secretary will lose their jobs at the Jefferson City prison but be offered similar work at a prison in northwest Missouri, where the program will continue.

The article starts out with the typical anecdote of someone who successfully went through treatment, but doesn't mention any failures in the program. But those wouldn't tug at our heartstrings the same and rouse our outrage at a decline in government largesse.

Instead, Matt Blunt reallocates resources to programs where they might prove more effective: less violent criminals. The poor, soon-to-be-unemployed counselors will be offered jobs at the prison where the program will continue, so they're not unceremoniously walked out by security. They have to choose whether to move with the job or stay in Jefferson City.

So Matt Blunt trims one more million dollars from the state budget. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the program's administrators are sad to see it go, but aren't they always?

Not Quite Coach, But Better

Blunt saves state $405 an hour on flying:

Every hour that Gov. Matt Blunt travels aboard a private plane, he saves the state $405.

That's the amount that the Missouri Office of Administration calculates that it costs per hour - for fuel, equipment and labor - to fly its state-owned plane, which used to transport whoever was governor.

But Blunt's decision to avoid the state plane and use private planes instead hasn't cut into the state's base cost of about $156,000 a year to keep and maintain the plane.

The only way for the state to save more money is to get rid of the two-engine aircraft. "We are evaluating," said Mark Kaiser, who oversees the plane as the Office of Administration's director of general services.

Sell it. Sell it.

What would our previous governors done? Undoubtedly, hiked taxes.

Matt Blunt Balances Budget on Backs of All But 15% of Missourians on Medicaid

Missouri Medicaid cuts signed into law:

Gov. Matt Blunt signed legislation Tuesday that will scale back Medicaid, the government's $5 billion health care program for the poor.

. . .

Even with his changes, he said the program is still "very generous" and will cover 15 percent of Missourians.

It's not enough for critics of the reduction, notably the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

What, you don't hear the thunder? That's because those critics haven't collapsed in a crash to fill the void in funding. No, it's easier to simply plead that the government, that is, everyone else do something.