As Dave Catanese points out [1] at the KY3 Political Notebook, Matt Blunt vetoed HB 327 --a lard-packed economic development bill-- just as the St. Louis Business Journal was publishing a Peter Kinder editorial [2] that implored the Governor to sign the legislation.
But Kinder wasn't the only fellow Republican whose publicly stated opinion Blunt cavalierly dismissed with the veto. Sen. Chris Koster, who hopes to be on the GOP's statewide ballot with the governor next November, had also weighed in two weeks ago by urging the governor to sign the bill [3]:
McKee’s large land purchases in poor city neighborhoods have come under scrutiny, largely because he would be the sole beneficiary of a state tax-credit proposal now before Gov. Matt Blunt. Koster, a St. Louis native, praised McKee and the tax-credit plan during his speech to donors attending a fundraising event Tuesday in Clayton.
Koster made a point of calling for Blunt to sign the bill, which Koster said would give Missouri more economic tools.
More evidence of the splintering of Blunt's circle of partisans.
Blunt's willingness to dismiss the concerns of key Republicans with his veto points to an every-man-for-himself pattern which many observers have seen developing in recent weeks. With several statewide Republicans telling potential supporters quietly (and, at times, not so quietly) that they can still win even with Blunt taking a beating by several points in the gubernatorial contest, the Guv is apparently asserting a preference for sacrificing other GOPers at his own altar, if need be.Look for this phenomenon to continue and expand throughout the next legislative session, as prospective GOP candidates look to push off from the damaged Governor --and he looks for ways to demonstrate his dominance of the Republican agenda.
Blunt and once-allied Republicans will all have to be on the lookout for friendly fire