Right-Wing Steps Up Pressure To Boot Engler From Senate Leadership
With a new website and op-ed in the Missouri Record, it appears that some of Missouri's righteous right are becoming more vocal in their opposition to Sen. Kevin Engler's bid to be President Pro Tem after the November elections. A coalition made up of Missouri First, Inc. (led by I'm-not-a-lobbyist-I-just-lobby-peopl-in-the-Capitol-all-session Ron Calzone), the Franklin County Patriots (with strong ties to Senate candidate Brian Nieves), the Ron Paul-loving Campaign for Liberty and the In God We Trust PAC Tea Party are listed on the new MOLeadershipProject.com.
The Campaign for Liberty's Paul Hamby lays out the grievances in his op-ed announcing the website: "In the past few years, Engler has blocked, or failed to support, legislation from across the board -- often bills with a huge base of support, like the Health Care Freedom Act, various sovereignty bills, the anti-RealID, anti National Animal Identification System (NAIS), and the Missouri Jobs and Prosperity Act (Fair Tax) bills, to name a few. It seems if he or his financial supporters did not personally agree with a bill then he never allowed it to move forward."
To be fair to Engler (he probably doesn't want my help), the Senate did pass legislation opposing the REAL ID Act while he was floor leader, and did pass legislation expressing opposition to the federal health care bill (I have vague memories of Republicans getting very excited about Proposition C). And opposition to a huge increase in sales taxes is bipartisan -- even the former Most Powerful Man in Missouri has expressed grave concerns about the so-called "Fair Tax" plan.
