Sen. Kit Bond, Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, Speaker Ron Richard and former State Treasurer Sarah Steelman spoke to the Missouri Young Republicans at the Party’s annual Lincoln Days earlier this afternoon. Each paid tribute to the group’s role in mobilizing for election victories, and encouraged members to continue the work moving ahead.
I asked Senator Bond if the Democrats will over reach in their legislative agenda, and he responded that they definitely will. I mentioned the stimulus package (and card check, I think) but he also noted that the over reach is, and will, come in the form of attacks on free trade. Interestingly, he also cited the Lilly Ledbetter Act – a measure aimed at addressing alleged gender-based pay discrimination by extending the statute of limitations on such lawsuits – as another example of Democratic over reach (citing the negative impact to the business environment).
One of my favorite moments came when Speaker Richard answered a young reporter’s question about the student curator position for the MU System. Asked why he does support voting status for the student seat on the board of curators, Richard – in frank, almost gruff fashion – told the reporter that he doesn’t think somebody that young is prepared to sit on the board of a billion dollar organization like the MU System.
There are other reasons for not giving special, extra representation to students on the board (students, like all Missourians, are already represented by all members of the board), but I thought Richard made his case well on this point, and I enjoyed seeing him make it. The student-government types at the public universities often have such a juvenile sense of entitlement, and Richard is having none of it.
