February 19, 2010 at 8:35 pm

Betty Knight to Retire in December 2010

Ms. Knight, a 16 year incumbent of the Platte County Commission and current Presiding Commissioner, claims that her desire to not seek another term in November is driven by her desire to spend more time with her family.

The big question is who will replace Ms. Knight?

Read the full story on the Parkville Luminary.

February 17, 2010 at 9:26 am

Gov. Nixon Awards $425k Of Your Money To Missouri Business

On Governor Jay Nixon’s official governor website, he proudly announced incentives for a St. Louis restaurant and bakery, Sweetie Pie’s,  to open a third (3rd) location…  The incentives are part of the Brownfield Redevelopment Incentives administered by the Missouri Department of Economic Development.

Yes, government should work to attract new businesses and facilitate growth and development of existing businesses.  This is most effectively done by maintaining low tax rates and strong public services.  These incentives, however beg a few questions.

  1. Would Sweetie Pie’s have invested in the growth of their own business and found non-tax dollars to fund their third location?
  2. Do they believe that opening a third location at this spot in St. Louis not be financially viable without the Brownfield incentives?
  3. If so, what will Sweetie Pie’s do once they have burned through the incentives?
  4. Since the incentives are to be used to clean up an old building contaminated with lead and asbestos, why isn’t the prior occupant being forced to pay for cleaning up of the building?

Could this be another example of corporate welfare? Maybe I’ll look into campaign contributions, too…

Source: Office of Missouri Governor Jay Nixon

February 3, 2010 at 11:23 am

Rusty Humphries – May 21st, 2010

The Park Hill South Republican Club  is pleased to announce nationally syndicated talk radio host Rusty Humphries sponsored by the Green Dragon Conservatives live at the Park Hill South High School Auditorium on Friday, May 21 at 7:00 pm.  As an added bonus, local talk show host Chris Stigall of 710 KCMO will emcee the event.

At the event, Rusty will do his hilarious parodies and Chris will have you standing and cheering during his speech. We will also be honoring military veterans as well as new recruits! It will be a blast and a once in a lifetime event you can’t miss.

Who: Rusty Humphries (with Chris Stigall)
When: May 21, 2010 – 7:00 pm
Where: Park Hill South High School Auditorium
Cost: $20 for adults, $5 for students

VIP Reception: $75 (includes one adult ticket)

Register for Rusty Humphries presented by the Park Hill South High School Republican Club and the Green Dragon Conservatives in Riverside, MO  on Eventbrite

ALL NET PROCEEDS GO TO SUPPORT LOCAL CONSERVATIVE CANDIDATES AND CAUSES

January 22, 2010 at 1:18 pm

Blunt Wins Senate Race if Elections Held Today

Dr. Larry Sabato, the Robert Kent Gooch Professor of Politics at the University of Virginia and founder of the Center for Politics, has a great track record predicting election outcomes. In an article posted on RealClearPolitics.com, Dr. Sabato writes that Roy Blunt (R) would win against Robin Carnahan (D) if the election was held today, January 22nd.  He continues, however, that the race is a “Toss-up” in November.

The Rasmussen Reports has Blunt with a 6-point lead, 49% to 43%.

January 14, 2010 at 1:03 pm

McCaskill Misses the Boat on Job Creation

In an effort to divert attention away from the healthcare fiasco currently being debated in the Senate, Claire McCaskill decided to follow the White House’s lead in hosting job forums – why this wasn’t done 11 months ago is beyond us. Regardless, to tout her efforts and her inability to come back to Missouri to personally talk with small business owners about how jobs are actually created, she decided to send out an email highlighting the ideas she solicited from her video teleconference. (emphasis mine)

Since I am unable to get home because of work on healthcare reform, yesterday I hosted town hall-style forums via video teleconference to hear from you, my bosses in Missouri, about the best way to create jobs in your communities.
Here are examples of the ideas I heard for small-business job creation in Missouri:

  • Making sure stable, solid small businesses can get loans to grow
  • Ensuring that any healthcare reform does not increase costs for small business
  • Assistance with job training and retraining
  • These common-sense ideas can create jobs and get us out of the ditch, and I look forward to drawing on them for legislation aimed at addressing small business needs. Look for updates from me as we work to make progress on this front.

    Unfortunately for Senator McCaskill, selecting these three ‘ideas’ as examples of how to create jobs shows a lack of understanding as to how and why jobs are created.

    “Making sure stable, solid small businesses can get loans to grow.” This is putting the cart in front of the horse. Forget the fact that more new businesses are started during recessions and would not qualify for loans based on this statement, typically the stable, solid small business already has a credit relationship with a lender. Furthermore, this ‘idea’ does nothing to provide the confidence necessary for a small business to want to expand. Businesses of all sizes need confidence that the business environment (economy, government regulations) are going to be conducive to growing the business as well as a vision that demand for their product or service is going to exceed what they can currently serve with the employees they have.

    “Ensuring that any healthcare reform does not increase costs for small business.” Claire. Claire. Claire. This is not an idea for creating new jobs but a plea from small businesses to not hurt, or destroy the jobs we do have. Unfortunately, PelosiCare/ReidCare/ObamaCare does nothing to address the ever increasing costs of healthcare and insurance, but is setting the table to drastically increase the costs for small employers.

    “Assistance with job training and retraining.” This is great, however it is aimed more at the unemployed. So what if people are being trained for new positions if new positions do not exist.

    SOLUTIONS – Before we get criticized for not providing any suggestions, here is what Senator McCaskill and her ilk should be implementing to get the economy moving again.

    1. Permanently lower marginal tax brackets on ALL tax payers. Rebates and temporary tax breaks do nothing to instill long term confidence in businesses and consumers. Rebates have no lasting impact on the economy as we learned from the Cash-for-Clunkers failure and the rebates distributed during the Bush administration. Businesses and consumers need to see concrete evidence that tax are going to remain stable for a long time to come before they will begin to take risks (make investments) necessary to a healthy, vibrant economy.
    2. Reduce the size and scope of government. Trillion dollar budget deficits and a threatening regulatory (anti-business) policies are not conducive to job creation and growth. Reducing the size of government, reducing the federal budget will go a long way to building confidence in the economy and help stabilize the value of the dollar. Again, this is necessary to a healthy, vibrant economy and important when small businesses consider investing in their own companies and hiring new employees.
    3. Establish policies that are conducive to international trade. Our businesses need access to foreign markets to sell goods and obtain supplies. Furthermore, numerous foreign-owned businesses employ millions of Americans. Increasing the barriers for foreign companies to conduct business in America only leads to a tougher international environment, especially when American companies try to export their goods to those countries.

    For an experts opinion, enjoy this video from the Center for Freedom and Prosperity by senior fellow at the Cato Institute, economist Dan Mitchell.

    December 16, 2009 at 9:26 am

    Parkville Sewer Rate Increase Approved

    Posted by Evan Maxon in Parkville

    In an unanimous vote, the Parkville Board of Aldermen approved a 2% increase in sewer rates.  In the approved minutes from the December 15, 2009 meeting, Mayor Richardson stated that this rate increase is designed to raise additional funds for future capital improvements, as necessary. Page 6 of the proposed 2010 Budget confirms the intended use of these funds.

    SECTION 703.040:     OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE

    C.     The minimum charge per month shall be eleven dollars twenty-eight cents ($11.28) eleven dollars fifty-one cents ($11.51).  In addition, each contributor shall pay a user charge for operation and maintenance including replacement of $0.533 $0.544 per one hundred (100) gallons of water as determined in the preceding Section.

    D.     For those contributors which contribute wastewater the strength of which is greater than normal domestic sewage, a surcharge in addition to the normal user charge will be collected.  The surcharge for operation and maintenance including replacement is:

    $0.6805 $0.6941 per pound BOD

    $0.5781 $0.5897 per pound SS

    G.     The charge for users in the Riverchase Subdivision of Parkville shall be a set user charge of fifty-one dollars sixty-eight cents ($51.68) fifty-two dollars seventy-one cents ($52.71) per month.

    Again, it was unanimously approved by the Alderman.

    In Favor:  Jim Brooks (Ward 1), Deborah Butcher (Ward 1), Gia McFarlane (Ward 2), Scott McRuer (Ward 2), Jeffrey Bay (Ward 3), Marvin Ferguson (Ward 3), Nan McManus (Ward 4), Marc Sportsman (Ward 4)

    Opposed: None.

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    Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.

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