Intimidation in Missouri

We've always known that the purpose of SB1014 was to close the door on the political process to Democrats, and today Governor Blunt and his staff did so literally.

SB 1014 is the voter ID bill
http://www.senate.mo.gov/06info/BTS_Web/Bill.aspx?SessionType=R&BillID=83706

Responding to Governor Blunt's public notice that he intended to sign SB1014 today in his office, as a member of the media, I decided to drop by to cover this event for the benefit of Fired Up!'s readers.

Upon my arrival, Governor Blunt's staff initially invited me right into the reception area of the office along with other members of the media. Soon, the Governor's hyper-political communications director showed up to "handle" the situation. According to the FEC, I am a member of the media. However, that is not good enough for Mr. Jackson.

As I attempted to quietly enter the Governor's inner office with the rest of the media, Mr. Jackson told me that I had to leave. When I asked him why, he told me that it was because the event was for invited guests only. I asked him who had been invited; he told me that he did not know the answer to that question. Nor did he have an answer when I queried how he knew I wasn't invited if he didn't know who had been invited.

Apparently, there were lots of registered lobbyists invited, because during my conversation with Mr. Jackson, I saw several walk into the bill signing.
more . . .

http://www.firedupmissouri.com/blunt_bans_fired_up

Update: Last night Governor Blunt's spokesperson made the following statement to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

Jackson said that was his decision, and that he had good reasons. He called Temple one of the “Carnahan hate-bloggers…The Carnahans have a deep and visceral hatred for the Blunt family.'’

Jackson also accused Temple of having “Timothy McVeigh-like fantasies.'’

Temple, a lawyer, said he was struck “speechless'’ by Jackson’s McVeigh statement, and is weighing whether to seek legal action. Temple noted that McVeigh, convicted and executed for the Oklahoma City bombing, was “a mass murderer.'’

won't stand the light of scrutiny, say that anyone who questions them has an irrational hatred of you. Man, is this childish; but I shouldn't say that, because most children have a sense of shame that wouldn't allow them to do that.

More of this to come as elections near.

But I think this goes way beyond childish. They have called Roy Temple a terrorist! I hope he sues the shit out of them.

If the repukes are this desperate to get voter ID passed, there must be something wrong with it.

If you're a Democrat, they can say you don't look like the picture on the ID,
or you signature isn't exactly exactly the same, or anything, and turn you away.
You have no recourse.

...if you're poor, without a driver's license, and the DMV is on the other side of the city, what do you think the likelihood is that you'll get a license to serve as picture ID so that you can vote? Perhaps instead you'll just renew your passport... :banghead:

She is elderly, has no birth certificate and is not a licensed driver in MO. The day after blunt signed this bill, he signed another one aimed at calming down elderly voters, which says that if they were ever licensed to drive in MO, they can register to vote. Well my mom was a Kansas resident until she moved to MO this past March. She has no birth certificate, as she was born at home, and let her KS driver's license lapse years ago - she hasn't driven in 10 years. I don't know if we can even FIND her driver's license.

My mother is just up in arms over this. She wants to move back to Kansas "where we have that nice woman Democrat as governor"! LOL

She asked me to write to her state rep. Hopefully, she will be able to help my mom vote. In time for the August 8th primaries!!

Those are issued by doctors not hospitals. How did she get her id in the first place? Also try seeing if you can get KS to issue her a copy of her lapsed drivers licence.

You didn't need a birth certificate back then to get a license. She was born at home, no doctor was present.

We did try a few years ago to get her a birth certificate. At that time, the state wanted a sworn statement from a family member who was alive when she was born. But she is the oldest and has no older living relatives. We finally gave up and hoped she wouldn't need it. If she still lived in Kansas, she would be okay. But we live in a metro area that straddles a state line. People move back and forth all the time. We just found a new home for my mom that was closer to where my sister lives and more convenient for all of us to be nearby. My mom lived right down the street from me for 10 years. Now she is closer to my sister, who lives in Missouri.

But had I know about this voter ID crap, I would have insisted that Mom stay in Kansas.