Bond Issue
Who knew?
Submitted by .Sean on July 8, 2009 - 8:16am
Apparently Peter Kinder and Ron Richard have long histories of supporting bond issues, and their opposition to the current bond proposal may not be rooted in actual policy concerns. Henry J. Waters III of The Daily Tribune explains:
It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that House Speaker Ron Richard, Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder and several of their Republican colleagues in Jefferson City are making a crass political calculation concerning Chris Kelly’s bond issue based mainly on the posture of Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat.
As Kelly notes in his column on the facing page, Kinder was for it before he was against it. In the recent legislative session, the bond issue resolution passed overwhelmingly with Richard’s support. At that time Gov. Nixon had remained silent on the issue. Recently, after Nixon came out in strong support, suddenly Richard and other Republicans are changing their tune. The coincidental flip-flop is obvious.
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Richard changes course, again, on bond issue
Submitted by .Sean on July 1, 2009 - 11:54am
Up until last week, Ron Richard was a big fan of new bonds to help finance capital improvement projects.
Yesterday, Richard "changed his tune," and said any new bonds would put the state's future "in serious jeopardy" and "bury it under a mountain of debt for the next two decades." His spokeswoman even said Richard was "scared" of the plan.
Today, when asked by reporters to explain his dramatic change of heart, Richard indicated he is once again warm to the idea.
Read More »Speaker Richard executes dramatic flip-flop, now stands with Kinder against bond issue
Submitted by .Sean on June 30, 2009 - 1:41pm
Today, House Speaker Ron Richard and Lt. Governor Peter Kinder announced their opposition to a potential bonding issue proposed by Gov. Jay Nixon. The idea enjoyed broad bipartisan support in the 2009 legislative session -- it passed overwhelmingly in the House, and was only stopped because of "two or three conservative believers" in the Senate.
But now Kinder is desperately seeking relevance as a voice of GOP opposition, and Richard changes his positions on budget matters about as often as he changes his pants, so here we are.
Speaker Richard's dramatic change of heart
In April, Richard voted for HJR32 when it passed his House 131-28, which "would have allowed voters to consider a $700 million bond for construction projects on college campuses." In fact, Richard supported the plan as recently as last week -- along with GOP Floor Leader Steve Tilley, who was one of the top proponents of the idea when it sailed through the House.
