Sorry to push everyone’s hard work down, but I thought everyone would want to know about this. There was no open thread at the time.

After 40 Years of Public Service to Missouri Bond Will Not Seek Reelection
Senator Calls for Republicans and Democrats to Work Together, Put Missouri First

JEFFERSON CITY, MO – Today, in an address before the Missouri General Assembly, U.S. Senator Kit Bond announced that after more than 40 years in elected public service to the State, he will not seek reelection in 2010.

“In 1972, I became Missouri’s youngest Governor.  Ladies and Gentlemen, I do no aspire to become Missouri’s oldest Senator,” said Bond.

Bond was first elected to public office in Missouri in 1970 as State Auditor, followed by two terms as Governor, and four terms as U.S. Senator.  Throughout his career of service to the State, Bond has worked across party lines to put Missouri first.  In his address to both chambers today, Bond called on Republicans and Democrats to work together for the common good.  As our nation faces an economic, housing, and financial crisis and the persistent threat of terrorism, bipartisan cooperation is more important then ever.

“In a world today where enemies are real – the kind who behead others based on their religion – it is important to remember there is a lot of real estate between a political opponent and a true enemy,” said Bond.  “Our cause is bigger than ourselves.  Events in the world and threats will continue to challenge us in significant ways.”

With a commitment to bipartisanship, members on both sides of the aisle have achieved critical successes for Missouri families and workers.  Bond pointed to some of his proudest bipartisan achievements, like taking the Parents as Teachers program statewide to prepare more children for school; making biotechnology a major growth industry for Missouri, providing jobs and economic development; expanding Community Health Centers to bring quality and affordable health care to Missourians in underserved areas.

While there are many successes Missourians can be proud of, more needs to be done.  During this next session of Congress, Bond will work Democrats and Republicans on critical state and national priorities, including: working to solve the housing and economic crisis; keeping American intelligence strong; continuing our efforts to make Missouri the Biotech Ally of 21st Century; promoting Missouri’s job-creating trade and investments; and building a better health care safety net for children, families and the elderly.

Bond stressed that free from the political demands of another election he hopes to make the next two years the best of his long career of service to Missouri and the nation.  The Senator stressed that the decision announced today was not an easy one to make.

“As a sixth-generation Missourian, I have always loved our state.  Through 40 years in public life I have met many wonderful people.  The people I have met along the way are the reason I ran for public office and the reason I am still here,” said Bond.  “I thank the voters of Missouri who elected me to represent them.  There is no greater honor. I am truly blessed to have been entrusted by them with the responsibility of public office.”

Joined by his wife Linda, Bond will meet with long-time friends and partners at events in Springfield, St. Louis and Kansas City on Friday, and Cape Girardeau on Saturday, where he will urge Republicans and Democrats to work together for the common good and put Missouri first.

Central Missouri Young Republicans eNews – Thursday, January 1, 2009

Happy New Year! For all those in the Show-Me State, and beyond, these are some of the items going on in mid-Missouri, specifically Columbia and Jefferson City. More or less a calendar of events and updates on 2009 municipal elections; no great insights from me in this edition.

The General Assembly (legislature) gavels back into session next Wednesday, the 7th, and Gov.-elect Nixon is sworn in on Jan. 12.

1. UPDATE – Central MO YRs January Meeting Announcement
2. MarineParents.com Care Package Project This Saturday
3. Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder “Inaugural Thank You Party”
4. NEW – Eminent Domain Controversy (from the Columbia Heartbeat Blog)
5. UPDATED – Other upcoming Republican area, state, and national events
6. Quick Hits
7. Potential Ballot Initiatives In Missouri In 2010
8. UPDATE – Columbia School Board Election and City Council Election
9. NEW – Republican National Committee Chairman Election Debate

OFFICER MOLLY BOWDEN MEMORIAL BLOOD DRIVE – Please donate blood in honor of Columbia Police Officer Molly Bowden. Friday, January 9, 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM at Grace Bible Church, 601 Blue Ridge, Columbia, MO. Free T-shirt for all who register to donate. Sponsored by the Community Blood Center.

Short bio about Molly Bowden

Mike Zweifel
Editor-In-Chief/Communications Chair
Central MO Young Republicans
http://www.centralmoyrs.com
Facebook
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1. Central MO Young Republicans January Meeting Announcement

PLEASE ATTEND: January Meeting – Thursday, January 8 at 7 P.M. at Bones in Jefferson City (210 Commercial Street)

Scheduled speakers: Fellow Young Republicans Rep.-elect Scott Dieckhaus (109th – St. Charles and Franklin Counties) and Rep.-elect Casey Guernsey (3rd- northwest Missouri). They will be discussing their campaigns, decisions to run for office, political backgrounds and their first few days as a legislator.

More speakers TBA. Several other freshmen legislators who are also Young Republicans (ages 18-40) have been invited to speak to the group from across the state.

Cash bar and dinner available for purchase. If you attend, please purchase food and/or beverage.

Free event. All ages welcome to attend. Donations to the group welcomed.

Join the Central Missouri Young Republicans at this event – $25 for one year. Full and auxiliary memberships are available.
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2. MarineParents.com Care Package Project This Saturday In Columbia

The next MarineParents.com Care Package Project pack date will be on Saturday, January 3, starting at 8:00 AM. The location is 2810 Lemone Industrial, in the front of the Dayton Freight warehouse on the east side of Lemone, just past the Gates plant. Approximately 1000 boxes will be packed and shipped to Marines deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. Lunch will be served around noon, and a presentation on a topic to be determined will be given when all packing activities are complete.

We need some experienced volunteers to help with preparations on the Friday before. If you have packed with us before and are interested in helping out on Friday, prior to packing day on Saturday, please call the office at 449-2003 to let us know.

Individuals who would like to assist with the packing day but are unable to do so can help with the weekly sorting process. On Thursdays from 10:00 AM until 3:00 PM, volunteers can sort donations that are received via the mail and organize those items for future mailings.

http://www.thecarepackageproject.com/pd-2009-01.asp
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3. Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder “Inaugural Thank You Party”

Lt. Governor Peter D. Kinder cordially invites you to an “Inaugural Thank You Party”

Sunday, January 11, 2009, 6:00 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.
Summit Lake Winery
1707 South Summit Drive
Holts Summit, Missouri

Attire: Business Casual
Please respond by Friday, January 2, 2009 to Lindsay Burcham at lindsay@capconllc.com.

MZ Note: As far as I know, there is a free event.
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4. NEW – Eminent Domain Controversy (from the Columbia Heartbeat Blog)

Letter: Historical Society Treasurer On Eminent Domain

I usually agree with your stands on the local issues of the day. You are a little bit off on the proposed site for a new headquarters for the Historical Society.

First the Rader family is not reliant on the Bengals income. Thanks to Grandpa, Garland Parmen, they own considerable rental property in Columbia. They fixed up the old Shiloh to give their kids a work place to keep them out of trouble.

Second this whole idea was started by the Sasaki study authorized by the City. It coincided with the Society’s increased need for more space and better safety for the States’ valuable collections. These serve the University, researchers from all over, and provide a valuable resource for genealogical research.

I find it interesting you feel that a beer joint is more important to the community than the State Historical Society.

Al Price

(Al Price is the Sixth Vice President and Treasurer of the Missouri State Historical Society. The City of Columbia is considering using eminent domain to have a new SHS at this site.)

Related – http://columbiatribune.com/2008/dec/20081214news010.asp
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5. UPDATED – Other upcoming Republican events of interest

A. UPDATED – Missouri Lincoln Days – February 20-22 at the Downtown Marriott in Kansas City (all info TBA; watch for registration info at http://www.mogop.org) Call 816-421-6800 or 800-228-9290 to reserve your room – ask for the special Lincoln Days rate!
B. CPAC 2009 – Conservative Action Political Conference in Washington, D.C. – February 26-28 – http://www.cpac.org
C. 2009 National Young Republicans Convention – July 8-11 in Indianapolis – http://www.yrindy2009.com
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6. UPDATE – Quick Hits

1. Blog for Young Republicans – http://therelevantelephant.com/
2. Social network for Young Republicans across the country – http://www.yrnetwork.com
3. Columbia’s paperless news for paper-free neighbors: http://columbiaheartbeat.blogspot.com
4. Social Network for Missouri Political Junkies: “Missouri Matters” – http://missourimatters.ning.com

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7. Potential ballot initiatives In Missouri In 2010

1. There will be another push for the Missouri Civil Rights Initiative that would ban affirmative action programs within state agencies (I don’t remember the exact language of it, but this is the one that got Sec. of State Robin Carnahan raked over the coals by a judge in Cole County for ridiculous ballot language, and she is up to the same old, same old this time as well)
2. There will also be a push for “Saving Our Secret Ballot”. A group plans to target Missouri with this one. Seems pretty interesting and is fairly straightforward. Found their site: http://www.sosballot.org. State Senator John Loudon is co-chair.
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8. Update on Columbia School Board Election and City Council Election

School Board – Two people have filed for the two available seats. One seat is open due to Board Prez Michelle Gadbois not seeking re-election. Steve Calloway is undecided about running again.
http://www.columbiatribune.com/2008/Dec/20081230News002.asp
http://www.columbiatribune.com/2008/Dec/20081231News051.asp

City Council – One person filed for the 2nd Ward, and the current 6th Ward Councilperson has filed for re-election.
http://www.columbiatribune.com/2008/Dec/20081231News004.asp

We will see if more candidates file. My guess is people are waiting until after the start of the year.
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9. NEW – Republican National Committee Chairmanship Candidates Debate

Next Monday, Jan. 5, Americans for Tax Reform will be hosting a debate between the 6 candidates for the RNC Chairmanship. It will be livestreamed at http://www.rncdebate.org/, and you can submit questions to the site (registration required).

“Six candidates will face off in a public debate on Monday, January 5 from one o’clock to two-thirty at the National Press Building: Saul Anuzis, the GOP chair of Michigan; Katon Dawson, the South Carolina Chairman; Chip Saltzman, the former party chairman in Tennessee; Mike Duncan, the present RNC chairman; Michael Steele, the head of GOPAC; and former Maryland chairman and Ken Blackwell, the former Secretary of State of Ohio.”

And this is a posted item from Grover Norquist from ATR at RedState.com concerning the debate:
http://www.redstate.com/grover_norquist/2008/12/30/lets-have-a-debate/

Missouri gets 3 votes – two from the national committeepeople, and 1 from the state chair.
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Until next time,
Mike Zweifel
Communications Chair, Central MO Young Republicans

http://www.centralmoyrs.com

Secretary, Missouri Federation of Young Republicans

http://www.missouriyr.com

I have been a lurker and periodic poster at RedState for a little over one year now, and am very happy that I found this site. I have linked several posts from the CMYRs eNews that I create to posts on this site, including the Fred! video from a couple days ago.

As part of my activism for Missouri, espcially the central Missouri area, I ask the readers of RedState to permit me to post the (usually) weekly e-mail I send out to area Young Republicans, as well as other Republican leaders in mid-Missouri. I realize this knocks down entries a notch in the Diaries, but from some of the posts I have read recently about activism, the events and information in these e-mails are at least in the same ballpark.

The information generally covers just Boone and Cole Counties in central Missouri (Columbia and Jefferson City), but I will have information regarding other counties, and state events, like the upcoming Missouri Lincoln Days in February.

Please post comments as to whether you would like me to continue to post this eNewsletter, or if you think this is not what you want to see in the Diaries.

Sincerely,
Mike Zweifel
(MoRepublican)

Read More →

All in all, a very mixed bag for Missouri Republicans and conservatives. It looks like Missouri voted for John McCain and Sarah Palin by about 6,000 votes with all precints reporting. If this holds, I believe this will be the first time since 1956 that Missouri did not vote for the presidential winner, and only the 2nd time since 1900.

Read More →

The Missouri Primary Election was held Tuesday, August 5th. As of 11:40PM, only a few precincts had not reported.

Congressman Kenny Hulshof defeated State Treasurer Sarah Steelman in a hotly contested Republican primary. Kenny will be facing “Wrong Way” Jay Nixon in the general.

Read More →