Missouri Family Network

http://missourifamilynetwork.net/

2-27-13 Missouri Family Network broke the story related to us by Local License Office personnel (received phone calls, verified by phone contacts made to additional fee offices). Following multiple phone contacts and repeated questioning of LLO personnel, MFN brought testimony before the Missouri Senate Transportation Committee in the context of a public hearing on SB 252.  At first the confidential informants speaking with us thought they were in a position of an ethical breach of the public trust.  After some brief research we informed them that the concerns were much greater and that if their stories were true, DOR was in direct violation of various laws of the State of Missouri.  At that time we went public with what we still believe to be serious violations of State Law by the Department of Revenue.  In our testimony we outlined the allegations reported to us from LLO personnel who are fearful that they are being required to break the law under DOR directives.  Outlining 32.091.7 RSMo we detailed the first two clearly stated laws being broken under chapter 32 of Missouri law.

As of today (Saturday, March 9, 2013) approximately 2/3rds of the State’s 183 LLOs have been retooled and can no longer process licenses or CCWs (by directives of the DOR). If the three offices were in fact restructured on Friday, March 7th, as planned (Memphis, Carthage and Ironton), there remain 63 local license offices that can still process your CCW and/or driver’s license with the old equipment (not scanning any documents).  According to what we have been told citizens may renew expiring licenses up to six months in advanceof the actual expiration date.  So if your birthday is between now and September 10-30, you can travel to any remaining license offices to renew before they are retooled.  We do not have a schedule for these remaining 63 offices, so you should call any office to confirm everything before traveling.  You will be able to find addresses and phone numbers by going

All LLOs are scheduled to be retooled and scanning by April 1st, 2013.  Here are the locations not yet retooled:

Kahoka                        Sarcoxie                      Salem

Monticello                   Joplin                           Viburnum

Palmyra                       Neosho                        Rolla

Hannibal                      Pineville                      Waynesville

New London               Cassville                      Lebanon

Monroe City                Branson                       Hartville

Shelbina                      Forsyth                        Nixa

Macon                         Lakeview                    Ozark

Moberly                       Crane                           Ava

Paris                            Monett                        Gainsville

Bowling Green            Aurora                         Thayer

Elsberry                       Mount Vernon            West Plains

Louisiana                     Republic                      Alton

Vandalia                      Springfield                  Willow Springs

Mexico                        South Fremont            Mountain View

Linn                             Glenstone                    Eminence

Hermann                     Marshfield                   Cabool

Troy                             Buffalo                        Mountain Grove

Montgomery City       Bolivar                        Houston

Owensville                  Osceola                       Licking

Keytesville                  Gallatin                       Malden

 

It’s Time To Get Some Skin In The Game!

What have you done to affect the outcome of this election?

Have you stepped outside of your comfort zone?

Made an effort to change minds?

Made an effort to get out the vote?

It’s time to get some skin in the game.

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We are nearing in on 30 days until the election, and it will take every last Conservative, Freedom-Minded World citizen to steer America away the socialistic, freedom-crushing, citizen-enslaving, out-of-control Federal Government envisioned by our current President.  I purposely say World Citizen because the outcome of this election affects every person on the planet.  As America goes, so goes the planet.  The choice couldn’t be starker: Freedom vs Enslavement.

In 2008, I made my first phone calls during the primary for Mitt Romney… …because I realized that John McCain was a terrible choice as a candidate for the Republican Party.  I’m a computer geek, and I had no idea what I was doing.  It was outside my comfort zone.  But, I did it anyway.  It’s THAT important!

So, it’s time to get involved. There’s no more waiting!

How can you get skin in the game?

• Door-To-Door
• Phone Banks
• Email
• Print Media
• Street Signs
• Absentee Voter Recruitment
• Direct Mail
• Leafleting
• Election Day Mobilization
• Robo-Calls
• Education and Policitcal Socialization
• Radio Ads
• Television Ads

According to a Yale study:

Across a number of mobilization experiments, one consistent finding is that more personalized messages are more effective in mobilizing voters. When Donald Green and Alan Gerber put forth this generalized finding in Get Out the Vote!: A Guide for Candidates and Campaigns (2004), they contended that door-to-door canvassing was the most consistently effective and efficient method of voter mobilization, and they suggested that the success of canvassing could be attributed to the personal, face-to-face delivery of the GOTV messages. In recent years, this finding has proven to be robust. More recently, however, experiments of professional and volunteer phone calls (Nickerson 2006b; Arceneaux 2006; Arceneaux and Nickerson 2006) have suggested that personalized messages delivered in a conversational manner over the phone may be as effective (and cost-effective) as canvassing.

So, the top two methods to Get Out The Vote and influence the voter are activities you can complete in your own neighborhood or on your own phone!  Even better, if you can make calls from home into the Swing States, your efforts are magnified!

Where and how can I get involved to make calls or go door-to-door?
(I’m sorry to 3rd parties, but I believe we need to first send Obama back to his mansion in Hawaii)

• Contact your county GOP Chairman. I searched for “Randolph County IL GOP” on Google and it came right up:
  • Search google.com
  • Search bing.com
  • Search yahoo.com
• Contact your local GOP Victory Office.  In Missouri:
  • http://www.mogop.org/resources/mo-gop/victory-office-locations/
• Make calls into swing states:
  • http://www.mittromney.com/call-home-landing

Get to it! There is no more time. Get some skin in the game. Change voters minds. Get Out The Vote!

(People have asked me ‘what can I do’… …well this is it!)

Some Helpful Hints Around The House (2):

Some More Helpful Hints Around The House:

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How About 10 Years?

Senator Crowell makes the excellent point that we need to keep the revolving door between the Missouri Legislature and the Lobby Hiring Office locked tight.  But, it seems to me, with the Billions of Dollars being spent on lobbying, that it would be chump change for a Business / Union / Group to keep a former Legislator on the payroll for two years.

To cleanly close the door between Lobbying and Legislating, the number of years between the two jobs should be at least 10.  Citizen-Legislators should have plenty of time being a Citizen before going back to lobbying the General Assembly.

But, this is a good start:

Pass Ethics Reform Now

Holding Politicians Accountable

Politicians work for you, to represent your interests, not their own.  But far too often a few politicians use their position to be self-serving and forget to make decisions based on what is best for you.  The special session this past fall put on full display how lobbyists and special interests, through campaign donations, are controlling politicians more and more.  In my opinion, two key bills need to be passed in order to stop this abuse and make politicians more accountable to you, the voter.

Missouri had an ethics law passed in 2010, but, this past month, the Missouri Supreme Court struck it down because of the process by which it was passed.  Among the key provisions in the bill struck down was banning the laundering of donations through campaign committees, publicly reporting contributions of $500 or more within 48 hours of receiving them, and important enforcement abilities for the Missouri Ethics Commission to ensure politicians comply with all campaign finance rules.

The court’s ruling makes it imperative that the General Assembly acts quickly to ensure campaign donations are transparent.  Senate Bill 826 contains the exact same ethics provisions passed in 2010 minus the issues the Missouri Supreme Court said made the bill unconstitutional.  By passing this bill, campaign contributions would be made in the open so Missouri voters are able to hold politicians accountable for the campaign contributions they receive.

In like manner, when voters approved term limits, they made it clear that they did not want legislators making a career out of their service at the Capitol.  Each legislator has the honor to serve as a citizen-legislator for their district; however, the current system provides some legislators with the opportunity to land high-paying jobs as soon as their term is complete.  The General Assembly should not be a revolving door between public service and lobbying.  This has the potential to lead to a conflict of interest as the governor or special interests may trade these high-paying jobs for votes.

Senate Bill 851 would prevent legislators from being able to take a job as a lobbyist or in the executive branch for two years after they leave office.  This provides an important cooling off period between the time a person serves in the Legislature and the time they take a high six-figure job lobbying their former colleagues.  It also ensures that during their time in the General Assembly, legislators are serving your best interest, not trading their actions for future employment.  If you are going to be the boss of the politicians, instead of the special interests, now is the time to enact these key ethics reforms.

Holding office should be an act of public service and not a springboard to lining one’s own pockets.  As lawmakers, we are entrusted to make the best decisions for you and must be focused on doing what is right, not on who has contributed money or promised a future high paying job.  If you are to have confidence in your elected officials then it is time to pass these two bills.

Contact Me

As always, I appreciate hearing your comments, opinions, and concerns.  Please feel free to contact me in Jefferson City at (573) 751-2459.  You may write to me at Jason Crowell; Missouri Senate; State Capitol; Jefferson City, MO  65101, or email me at: jcrowell@senate.mo.gov or visit me on the web at http://www.senate.mo.gov/crowell.