David Day

This morning, about 200 people descended on the Capitol to yell and wave signs of anger about deficit spending in Washington at the Jefferson City Tea Party.  It was a far cry from the "thousands" predicted last week, but was a decent crowd for a cold morning at the Capitol.

I was really curious to see how the event would be set up to look like a "grassroots" movement, but was pleasantly surprised to see that lobbyist Carl Bearden didn't even bother with creating that illusion. Bearden orchestrated the whole event on behalf of Americans for Prosperity, and emceed the hour-long program -- it was his Tea Party, start to finish. 

Missourinet's Steve Walsh described the roster of speakers as "primarily Republicans" -- by which he means "entirely Republican" -- none of whom could credibly be called regular dudes.

The Missouri House Veterans Committee voted 6-5 yesterday against a proposal by Rep. Stephen Webber (D-Columbia) that would pay deployed state employees the difference between their regular pay and their military pay

Committee Chairman David Day (R-Dixon) opposed the bill because it would single out those on active military duty for "special treatment."

I have a real concern with separating out one relatively small segment and saying, "We’re going to give you this special safety net that we’re not going to provide anyone else."

If any segment of the population is undeserving of special treatment, it's those self-absorbed nogoodnicks on active duty. At least they kept the special treatment for deployed politicians intact.