If you get the Sunday Jefferson City News Tribune today, with some effort you can find on page 6, under a short article with headlines, Dozens of Teens Fight at Arizona State Fair, the public notice, Senate Candidate Mollie Freebairn Challenges Senator Kehoe to a Debate. (No online link to the notice is available, despite my request and payment of $520 by the Campaign for Freebairn. It is posted above on Facebook.) This is the second of three times the notice will be in the paper, so far without further news coverage or commentary. This is in striking contrast to the exemplary job the JC News Tribune is doing, for example, of covering the recent undisclosed contributor of $100,000 to the opponent of Cole County Circuit Judge Pat Joyces campaign for reelection. Rightfully championing the importance of fairness in the campaigns for office in the coming election, the News Tribune has devoted a number of articles questioning the ethical standards by which such a sum from an undisclosed source should be allowed to influence the election. At the same time, the same paper has been conducting a stealthy cover-up of the state senate campaign in Jefferson City and the surrounding seven counties. The pages of this flagship paper for the senate district race have been virtually devoid of discussion of this crucial decision confronting the voters. The successful candidate for Senate District Six will be responsible for representing the people of Missouri on a wide range of issues vital to our economy, education, healthcare, family planning, voters rights, energy, and transportation. Senator Kehoe has a dismal voting record on all of these issues. He has not been called upon to account for his position on most of them, nor has he offered an explanation. If the News Tribune continues its lack of coverage of these issues, doubtess the incumbent will be swept back into office, leaving all of us to suffer the consequences. Among them, the income tax cuts supported by Kehoe will cut at least half a billion dollars per year from mid-Missouris main employer, the State of Missouri. This is coming at a time when our local economy is already struggling. These cuts would also hurt many of the rural schools throughout the state. The stubborn refusal of Kehoe and his Republican colleagues to expand Medicaid is denying health coverage to 300,000 Missourians, along with improved healthcare for all Missourians, and thousands of jobs. Kehoe is the sponsor of legislation to turn I-70 into a privatized toll road, and allow Ameren to raise its rates without prior approval by the Public Service Commission. There are distinct indications that the current Comprehensive Missouri State Energy Planning process will release an energy plan for Missouri in 2015, essentially written by and for Ameren, with a new nuclear power plant as its centerpiece. Nuclear is too expensive for private financing so the public would have to pick up the tab. The overriding danger with uncontained nuclear waste such as that at the existing Callaway nuclear power plant, is that if it were to be accidentally released to the environment, such as by a terrorist attack or a Joplin-sized tornado, it could render the area within a 100 mile radius, or more, uninhabitable. According to Senator Kehoes Legislative Assistant, Adam Gresham, Kehoe has said that the Renewable Energy Standards Law passed by an overwhelming two-thirds of Missouri voters was the worst piece of legislation ever passed in our state, and it should be overturned. This is essentially what Ameren, the legislature, and the PSC have proceeded to do, with no regard for the thousands of jobs created by the budding solar industry. No effort was expended on the part of our legislature to break the fall of the solar industry in Missouri, since the PSC approved Amerens request to stop paying solar rebates at the end of 2013. Nor has there been any move to open its doors to the Grain Belt Express, a golden opportunity for Missouri to access 500 MW of pollution-free wind power at half the cost of coal, creating hundreds of jobs, and millions of dollars in tax revenues for rural schools. If you concur that these are among the vital statewide issues, and that the State Capitol needs new legislators whose allegiance is to the people of Missouri, please share with those you know who have common concerns, including the newspapers throughout Missouri. Thank You! Mollie Freebairn Energy & Environmental Scientist Democratic Candidate for State Senate District Six Jefferson City, Missouri Office: 573-556-8653 Cell: 573-418-9349
Posted on: Sun, 12 Oct 2014 21:10:01 +0000
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