KC Buzz Blog

FDA lab update

   Earlier this month, The Star reported on bipartisan congressional efforts to save 13 regional Food and Drug Administration labs, including one in Lenexa. (Confidential to Claire McCaskill: That's just over the state line from Missouri.)

   Now, we're informed by Rep. Dennis Moore's office that FDA staff meetings to discuss the potential closings have been postponed as agency brass respond to congressional inquiries and try to ensure Reps. Moore, Boyda, Cleaver and Graves and Sens. Brownback, Roberts, and Bond (who all wrote various letters to FDA questioning the proposed closings) are happy with the process. No word on when those meetings might be held.

   At stake: More than 50 jobs in Lenexa.

Posted by Matt Stearns

A new Senate hat

    Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill added a new title to her Capitol Hill resume today - deputy whip. She was one four freshmen Democrats that Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the assistant majority leader, named to his whip team.

  The deputy whips are tasked with persuading colleagues to support Democratic bills. "A razor-thin Democratic majority means that every vote counts and there is no room for error," Durbin said in a statement.

    McCaskill is one of 11 deputy whips. Sen. Barbara Boxer of California is the new chief deputy whip.

Posted by David Goldstein 

Burl Ives spotted in Indy

   Allen Garner may have a new nickname around Independence City Hall.

     It happened Monday night while Garner, Independence city counselor, led the Independence City Council through his interpretation of the Clean Indoor Air Act of 2006, which Independence voters approved in November and which prohibits smoking in most public places.

    Garner’s remarks included discussions of legal theory and occasional references in Latin. His expertise didn’t seem to satisfy council member Renee Paluka-White who, in reference to Garner, called him “Burl Ives.”

   After the meeting Paluka-White confirmed that the actor she had wanted to invoke was not Ives but Raymond Burr, television lawyer and hero of the old “Perry Mason” series.

   Garner shrugged off the reference after the meeting.

   “I usually had a problem with Perry Mason,” he said, referring to the TV lawyer’s sometime unlikely legal maneuvers that helped wrap up episodes in dramatic fashion.

Posted by Brian Burnes

Will she or won't she?

    KC Mayor Kay Barnes spurned congressional Democrats last year when they tried to persuade her to run against Republican U. S. Rep. Sam Graves. But they've started their courtship all over again.

    Barnes, in Washington for a U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting, met today with House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and others in all likelihood to talk about the race.

     All the mayor would say was, "I've been involved in some general discussions, but I don't have any comment beyond that. I met with some of them, yeah."

     Barnes didn't run last year because she wanted to complete her second term in City Hall without distractions. But she's popular and her Northland ties are strong. Will she go this time?

    "I certainly told her I thought she would be a great candidate," said Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill, who also met with the mayor today. "She has not made up her mind to do this. I think she's certainly being encouraged by a lot of people."

Posted by David Goldstein  

Blunt calls for more scholarship money for needy college students

   Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt proposed tonight to more than double the state scholarship money going to needy college students, while Senate Democrats countered with a scholarship expansion financed with proceeds from Missouri's student loan agency. As part of his State of the State address tonight, Blunt recommended $72.5 million for needs-based scholarships during next school year -- up about $45 million from what was originally budgeted for the current school year.
    Here's the text of the speech.

Posted by Keith Chrostowski

Troubled water commission

    The Sierra Club continues to snap at Gov. Matt Blunt’s heels over what the “illegal composition” of Missouri's Clean Water Commission.
  The environmental organization has raised concerns that Blunt has appointed too many Republicans to the commission. Although the law says only three members of the same political party can be on the commission, Blunt has appointed four.
  Late Monday, Ken Midkiff of the Sierra Club announced in a press release  that his organization has filed a formal complaint with the attorney general’s office.
    It’s also rumored there is a bill floating around that would make it OK for the commission to have four Republicans. But even if the General Assembly passes the law, it won’t go into effect until much later this year.
   So what does the commission do in the meantime?

Posted by Karen Dillon

Rep. Beth Low: Missouri lawmakers aren't earning their money this month

      Missouri state Rep. Beth Low said Wednesday she will introduce a bill that would deny per diem payments to Missouri lawmakers on days when they make only procedural votes in their chambers.

   The Kansas City Democrat frankly said her proposal was in response to the inaction of the House since the session began Jan. 3 The House has not started moving on legislation because Republican leaders have not yet brought rules to the floor for approval, a necessary step before lawmakers can take up bills.

   Her bill would require a lawmaker to cast at least one vote every day to collect the $79.20 per diem, and that couldn't include simple quorum votes and votes to approve the House journal that occur each day. Low said that if her bill were law today, taxpayers would have already saved $103,277.

   “It is outrageous that the House hasn’t done an iota of meaningful work two weeks after convening,” Low said. “House leadership had ample time to get the rules ready for a vote on the first day of session so we could immediately begin the jobs voters sent us here to do. The way things are going right now, taxpayers clearly are getting ripped off."

Posted by Tim Hoover

Susan Phillips signs on with Graves

   U.S. Rep. Sam Graves has hired former GOP state representative Susan Phillips to be a staff liaison.

    Phillips, a Kansas City, North, Republican, recently stepped down as the 32nd District representative because of term limits. As a Graves’ liaison, she will work with him on policy issues concerning law enforcement, faith-based issues, women, children and charities.

   “I am excited to have a four-term state representative on my team,” Graves said in a press release. “Susan will be a valuable asset as she represents my office in the area she previously served as state representative.”

   Phillips was a leading social conservative in the House. She favored more restrictions on abortion and ending state subsidies for birth control pills.

Posted by Mike Rice

Claire and the Passions: So Tough

   Sen. Claire McCaskill told a morning audience on ABC that no one should doubt the toughness of the 16 women now sitting in the Senate.

   "This is a tough, tough group of women," she said.  "Don't cross these women."

   McCaskill appeared with 15 other women, all Senators, on Good Morning America (Nancy Kassebaum would be proud.)

    Go here to find the video of the interviews.  McCaskill's at the end.

    Go here to understand today's headline.

Posted by Dave Helling

Bond's cousin nominated to be U.S. attorney

   The long-rumored nomination of John Wood to become U.S. Attorney in Kansas City materialized Tuesday with a White House announcement that he is going to the Senate for confirmation.
   Until recently, Wood served as chief of staff to Michael Chertoff, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. Predictions that President Bush would nominate Wood, a cousin of U.S. Sen. Kit Bond, began circulating in the legal and political communities last spring.
    He will replace Bradley J. Schlozman, who was appointed interim U.S. Attorney in March 2006 following the resignation of Todd Graves.
   Schlozman said he is looking forward to a smooth transition:   “I know John well and have worked very closely with him during my time at the Department of Justice. He is an incredibly bright, highly principled and genuinely likeable person for whom I have nothing but the greatest respect.”
    A magna cum laude graduate of the Harvard Law School, Wood clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas from 1997 to 1998. He then worked until 2001 as an associate in the law firm of Kirkland and Ellis.
   A Missouri Republican, Wood also served on the staff of former U.S. Sen. John C. Danforth.
   He worked in the Justice Department before moving to the White House, where he served as deputy general counsel for the Office of Management and Budget. Returning to Justice, he served as counselor to the attorney general, where he oversaw the department’s civil, civil rights, antitrust, tax and environmental divisions and civil terrorism litigation.
     Chertoff appointed Wood as his chief of staff in February 2005.
     He is married to Julie L. Myers, assistant secretary of Homeland Security for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She’s a native of Shawnee.

Posted by Mark Morris