Pardon me a moment of self indulgence, but I have to take this opportunity to crow about my State Senator.
First of all, she has the perfect Senator name - Jolie Justus.
Senator Justus. Does that just totally kick ass, or what? I mean, really. If that name is on the ballot, just certify the vote right now. How can you not vote for Justus?
I intend to call her Senator Justus for a long time, and in my flights of fancy, I don't go to a tropical isle on vacation - I watch election returns in November of 2016 and she takes the Class III Senate seat currently held by Kit Bond. I know. I'm such a wonk...I probably need professional help.
Right now, as I write this, she has been in chambers for over 24 hours as the Missouri legislature debates the sale of MOHELA (Missouri Higher Education loan Authority) assets. She is live-blogging the proceedings. She started live-blogging the issue shortly before 5:00 this morning.
If you can't tell, I'm a big fan of Senator Justus. She does a lot to restore my faith in the possibility of good government and representation of the people.
If you read her blog, you will see why I am so enamored of her as a politician. Some of the truly democratic, thoughtful ideals she holds just choke me up. I put her in the same category as I place Russ Feingold, Nancy Kassebaum and the late Paul Wellstone. It is a mighty small group of truly dedicated public servants that rises to that level in my mind, and she gained entre' very early on, but she doesn't make one single neck-hair stand up. That is unprecedented.
At one point the bill's handler and the governor's staff would not assure me that UMKC's projects would be included in the plan unless I promised them a yes vote. This was BEFORE I was provided the version of the bill that they wanted me to vote for. Of course I want UMKC's projects to be included, but how could I ever promise to vote on a bill that I hadn't even read?(emphasis added)This reminded me of that time a reporter asked Senator Feingold how he could vote against the Patriot Act, and he responded "I read it."
[Cross Posted from Blue Girl, Red State]
