Matt Blunt Balances Budget on Backs of State-Funded Researchers

Alzheimer's Researchers Upset About Blunt Veto: Governor Cuts State Funding For Disease Research:

Researchers and agencies fighting Alzheimer's disease expressed disappointment Friday in Gov. Matt Blunt's decision to veto all state funding for research of the disease.

Blunt vetoed funding of roughly $227,000 on Thursday as part of about $36 million in cuts to try and balance the budget.

The funds provided seed money to assist researchers. They used the money to obtain their initial data and then often pursued larger grants from national sources, said Nancy Litzau, communications and development director for the Alzheimer's Association of St. Louis.

Blunt cut a small program that provided very little seed money to research. Of course, when researchers figure out the pharmaceutical treatment for Alzheimers, their corporate patrons would profit. So let them fund it. Perhaps the Alzheimer's Association of St. Louis, if it finds this intolerable, can reallocate $227,000 of its budget to covering this shortfall.

Instead, I expect it to use it as the source for a fundraising plea and then to spend those raised funds lobbying for more state money.

Because although we at DMB2008 believe charities can more effectively aid social problems than a state bureaucracy, we recognize that a lot of not-for-profits aren't run efficiently and exist to take part in redistribution of wealth from taxpayers or contributors to the coffers of charitocrats. With just enough thrown to the charity's target audience to keep up credibility.