Countdown Begins to Blunt Blame for License Plate SNAFU

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the Missouri Department of Revenue has issued several thousand duplicate license plates ("Delayed computer system could've prevented license plate gaff [sic]"):

Months ago, state officials revealed that the Department of Revenue had spent millions of dollars on a new computer system meant to handle license plate transactions electronically, but that the computers still weren't running.

Friday, the agency said the system could have prevented the state from issuing some of the nearly 22,000 license plate sets mistakenly printed with numbers already in use.

The department printed 21,978 sets of duplicate license plates, 1,502 of which were distributed to motorists before officials learned of the mistake July 8.

As Matt Blunt has turned state-run license bureaus over to private hands, as most license bureaus have run for time immemorial (at least to this commentator), let's count down the hours until someone blames Matt Blunt for this problem and ignores:

In January, State Auditor Claire McCaskill disclosed that the department, under previous administrations, had spent more than $17 million since 1995 on a computer system that still is not in operation and had computers and other equipment sitting unused in a warehouse.

The program -- called FASTR -- would allow licensing offices around the state to submit vehicle licensing and titling information electronically to the Department of Revenue's headquarters in Jefferson City, instead of mailing in the paperwork as they do now.

Aw, hell, who am I kidding? A quick look indicates they're already on it:

Perhaps if Trish Vincent, Gov. Blunt's Director of Revenue, wasn't spending all of her time stonewalling the State Auditor and handing out fee offices to the Governor's political cronies, she might have a little time to actually manage her department. And if she did, maybe they wouldn't have thrown away $55,000 of the taxpayers money.

Coming soon: Matt Blunt to blame for the Dred Scott decision! and other settled matters of ill-advised Missouri history.