Matt Blunt Outsources Law Enforcement

Matt Blunt has outsourced some of the Highway Patrol's duties. State awards private contract to handle background checks:

The state has hired Identix Identification Services Inc. to collect the fingerprints electronically at locations around the state and submit them to the patrol. Gov. Matt Blunt's office said that should speed up the turnaround time to about five business days.

By outsourcing some of the administrative overhead of the Highway Department's duties, Blunt is showing initiative in putting more police on the highways without raising taxes.

It's consistent behavior for the governor, but the silence with which the press has reacted is inconsistent; we at DMB 2008 realize that this plan has no pretty sobbing or outraged faces to put on television. But these unheralded moves take a measure of the man, and we think measures up to the job of President of the United States.