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Missouri Republicans Are Strong Conservatives

Here at The Missouri Record, we’ve promised an open forum--and we’ve already delivered.  Just last night we published a column by David Steelman attacking the Republican “establishment” in our state. While Mr. Steelman makes several noteworthy points, he also seems to conflate Republican problems in Washington with alleged problems here at home. He writes, with flourish:

Elected Republicans, particularly in Congress, have expanded government; ignored the Constitution; bailed out failed big businesses with taxes collected from successful small businesses; and spent, and spent, and spent. ….In Missouri, the Republican “establishment,” a cabal of officials, lobbyists, consultants, and advisors, has since 2000 prevented the nomination of any Republican for Governor or US Senate who was not a member of Congress, a former member, or the son of a member.

By making these two points nearly simultaneously, Mr. Steelman has cast aspersions on the entire slate of Republican nominees for US Senate or Governor since 2000. But, as Daniel Patrick Moynihan once said, “You are entitled to your own opinions, but not your own facts.”

The last time I checked, nominations for Governor and US Senate in our state were decided by elections. Mr. Steelman, for obvious reasons, was disappointed in the results of the last statewide Republican primary. Today, he has created a fictional cabal of Rockefeller Republicans in the Show-Me State as a scapegoat for that disappointment.

A quick review of the records of recent Republican nominees (Jim Talent, Matt Blunt, and Kenny Hulshof) reveals Mr. Steelman’s fiction.

(Story continues below.)

In 2000, then US Representative Jim Talent was the Republican nominee for Governor. He was also the nominee for U.S. Senate in 2002 and 2006.

Is there anything in Jim Talent’s record to suggest he was a closet Rockefeller?

On taxes, Senator Talent voted for the largest tax cuts in US history and voted to kill the death tax. On life and family values, Senator Talent had a 0 percent lifetime rating from NARAL and a perfect rating from the Christian Coalition. On the Second Amendment, Senator Talent received an A from the NRA. On socialized medicine, Senator Talent received a 0 rating from the American Public Health Association.  On Social Security, he advocated for the creation of personal accounts.

Today, Talent serves as a Distinguished Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, the pre-eminent conservative think tank. They don’t hire Republican squishes at Heritage. 

MATT BLUNT

The next elected leader on the closet Rockefeller list is former Governor Matt Blunt. A major point of Steelman’s article is that Republicans got into a spending contest with Democrats. Much venom has been spat against Governor Blunt by partisan Democrats and liberal ideologues, but he’s never been seriously accused of overspending. On Blunt’s watch, state government grew at the slowest rate in decades – both in terms of actual expenditures and bureaucracy.

And let’s not forget – when Gov. Blunt took office, it appeared that Medicaid would bankrupt our state. Pundits, editorialists, and liberals claimed Blunt had no choice but to raise taxes. Gov. Blunt proved it a false choice. He didn’t raise taxes. Instead, he saved our state budget by reducing spending. Later, he actually cut taxes – for individuals and businesses.  In 2006, he was the only governor in the country to receive an A rating from the CATO Institute. 

Like Jim Talent, Gov. Blunt won’t be joining the Arlen Specter fan club anytime soon.

KENNY HULSHOF

In 2008, Missouri Republicans nominated US Representative Kenny Hulshof for Governor. Despite an all-out effort to tar Hulshof, Mrs. Steelman lost her bid for the Republican nomination, and, in the process, soured the climate for the entire slate of statewide Republican nominees.

Let’s look at Hulshof’s actual record.

On taxes, Hulshof, like Talent, voted for the largest tax cuts in American history, and he led the charge to kill the death tax in the House of Representatives. In fact, in 14 years in the United States Congress, Hulshof did not vote for a single tax increase. Unlike others, he took the pledge – and kept it.

On life, Hulshof garnered a 98 percent career rating from National Right to Life and a 0 rating from both Planned Parenthood and NARAL. On the second amendment, he earned an A grade from the NRA.

In the course of his gubernatorial campaign, Hulshof proposed a robust series of conservative policy ideas: market-based health care reform, multi-faceted school choice, significant tax cuts to create jobs, and the strongest informed consent law in the country, to name just a few.  And while politicians in Washington and bankers in New York were making dire claims of economic collapse last fall, Hulshof had the guts to vote against the bailout – TWICE. That’s not the record of a wayward Republican. It’s the record of a rock-ribbed conservative.

WHERE ARE THE MISSOURI ROCKEFELLERS?

And so I ask, which of these Republicans comes from the Rockefeller strain? The truth is that none of them do. While Mr. Steelman’s criticisms of Washington have some merit, he only provides fictional examples of wayward Republicans from our home state.

I have no doubt that Mrs. Steelman would make a great United States Senator, US Representative, or even Governor. She too has a strong record and history of great conservative rhetoric. And I’m also not saying that any of the above candidates are above reproach. Of course they aren’t. No one is. But let’s not let thwarted past ambitions stand in the way of rational thought. Our recent Republican nominees for the two highest elected positions in our state have been stellar conservatives. To suggest otherwise is to engage in revisionist history.