Missouri Morning Summary - January 30, 2009, 4:33 AM
St. Louis lawyer Linda Martinez is leaving a partnership with the big law firm of Bryan Cave in St. Louis to be the state's economic development director. She specialized in financial and development issues and has promised "bold steps to create and retain good-paying jobs." She's been serving as acting director since Nixon took office two weeks ago.
The state senate has to confirm her appointment, but Senator Brad Lager has stalled the process until he gets some information. He wants a list of all clients she has worked with for the last year so he can determine if any potential project before the department or its divisions are pending as Martinez takes over. He says he wants to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest. Martinez says legal ethics keep her from revealing that list. But she had promised members of a Senate committee she would recuse herself from any actions involving any of her former clients. Lager has asked the department, the state housing commission, and the state development board for lists of any companies they have dealt with that used Bryan Cave as their representatives. He expects to have that information early next week and be more comfortable about voting to confirm her in the job.
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Leaders in the Missouri House say they will not use federal economic stimulus money to fund on-going state expenses, a stance at odds with the budget proposed by Governor Nixon. House Speaker Ron Richard said during a news conference at the Capitol that he will not use money allocated by Congress to stimulate the economy to pay for state operating expenses. The Nixon Administration anticipates receiving slightly more than $800 million from the economic stimulus plan. It wants to use the money to make up for a drastic drop in state revenue.
House Budget Committee Chairman Allen Icet insisted during the news conference that using one-time funds from Washington to pay for ongoing expenses would backfire in later years. Both Icet and Richard referred to the difficult decisions the Republican majority made during other lean years; decisions they said they stuck to despite being roundly criticized. They said those tough decisions have paid off this year. Missouri faces a revenue shortfall of less than $300 million. Icet said it would be much greater if the legislature hadn't made the cuts it did in the past.
The two suggested that the money from Washington would best be used to create jobs. Richard suggested highway construction and other infrastructure projects would provide an immediate jolt to the sagging state economy. Richard and Icet also have suggested that a rebate to taxpayers might be in order.
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Much of the talk at the 2009 Missouri Conference on Transportation focused on the federal stimulus package and how much money might be coming to Missouri for its transportation needs. Transportation Director Pete Rahn says it should be made clear that the money being proposed for highways and bridges - about $30-billion across the country - is nowhere near what is needed. He says that amounts to about 65 percent of an annual appropriation to highways and bridges under the federal program. Just how much money will be needed? Says Rahn: At least two to three times this level of investment. It is still unclear how much money Missouri can expect from the stimulus package, with no clear idea how much will be dedicated to transportation.
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Governor Nixon has defended his decision to cut off funding for capital improvement projects planned by five universities. Nixon made the defense during a news conference in Columbia, which took a big hit with the suspension of a $31 million expansion of the Ellis Fischel Cancer Center. The Office of Administration outlined a total of 13 projects within the University of Missouri system that have been suspended and are under review. Projects have also been suspended at Missouri State University in Springfield, The University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg, Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau and Truman State University in Kirksville.
Nixon told reporters that the projects were suspended, because the sale of Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority assets hasn't generated the money expected. Nixon said the money simply isn't there to go through with the projects at this time. He said his administration attempted to target projects that weren't under construction or, at least, were not that far along. The decision caught state lawmakers off guard.
It was well-known that Nixon didn't favor the Lewis and Clark Discovery Initiative devised by former Governor Matt Blunt. The initiative relied on money generated by the sale of MoHELA assets. Nixon claimed the program hampered the ability of MoHELA to fulfill its primary role: providing low-interest loans to college students.
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Kansas City's Union Station is laying off about 30 people and leaving about 10 other jobs unfilled as the economy falters. Members of the station board are estimating that consumer spending at Union Station could drop by as much as 40 percent in 2009. The board also is anticipating that donors won't be able to give as much money. The jobs cuts will save the station $1.3 million. Officials also plan to trim other expenses by more than $3.5 million. Employees learned of the layoffs Wednesday and Thursday.