http://www.24thstate.com/2011/05/local-control-means-republicans-never-have-to-say-responsibility.html

05/26/2011
Local Control Means Republicans Never Have To Say Responsibility

The St. Louis Tea party was actively lobbying several issues in Jefferson City this past legislative session; however, there were two key pieces of legislation that I focussed on. One issue was the elimination of red light camera tickets on a statewide basis. The second issue was to defeat the attempt to turn local control of St. Louis police Department from state control to mayoral control.

Numerous St. Louis Tea Party members testified for Senator Lembke’s bill in support of eliminating red light cameras and the tea party supports the elimination of all photo traffic enforcement. Cities contract out photo enforcement not for safety, but for generating revenue. Even an amendment that Senator Lembke introduced to not eliminate red light camera enforcement, but codify rules regarding enforcement and specifications on yellow light timing, was stripped out in conference by Senator Stouffer (R). Senator Stouffer explanation was that the red light camera issue was a local control issue and he complied with the request of the Missouri Municipal League, to strip senator Lembke’s amendment.

In the Missouri House of Representatives, Speaker Steve Tilley assigned Representative Paul Wieland’s red light camera bill to an unfavorable committee and the bill was never heard or voted on. American Traffic Solutions (ATS) and The Missouri Municipal League have more influence with the Speaker then the overwhleming majorities of voters who oppose red light cameras.

I testified at a Senate Hearing against mayoral control of the St. Louis Police because the St. Louis Tea party is in support of an effective police department without city government interference. No one can say St. Louis City government is effective or efficient. The St. Louis Police Officers Association then threw their members “under the Bus” and switched their position. The carrot of a collective bargaining agreement enticed them to back mayoral control. Senator Engler (R) proposed the Senate Substitute in support of mayoral control citing collective bargaining was a local issue.

Mayor Slay was quoted saying: “There wasn’t really any opposition to the local control bill in terms of merit”. However, the mayor underestimated the influence of Tea Partiers and our good governance principals. We can take ownership in helping defeat the mayoral control bill. Thanks to responsible Tea Party Senators the mayoral control bill died in Fiscal Review.

Speaker of the House Steve Tilley made local control his number one issue. Mayor Slay and Rex Sinquefield money once again have more influence with Speaker Tilley than does the Tea Party. At some point Republicans need to stop using "local control" as an excuse to do the bidding of campaign donors and democratically controlled cities. These money sources (to politicians and municipalities) should not cause our legislators to abrogate principals of good government as they balance state authority and local control.
 

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