So Margaret Donnelly is going to be an advocate of poor minorities trapped in failing urban schools by “holding the line” against vouchers, which would enable them to attend outstanding private schools for free. Makes sense to me!

Nick’s sarcasm amuses me. Try this on for size. Surely what is best is to take money from school districts, helping many of our children, and help out the few that could take advantage of a voucher. That would be the best solution to education that would be for the greater good of the whole society.

While I could focus on Koster’s negative aspects, like this crazy voucher business, I would like to talk about positive things. Like Jeff Harris trying to prevent middle income families from being taken advantage of with sub-prime mortgages. How about how Jeff Harris led the fight to prevent corporate farms from ruining our environment or being the leading advocate to open up government through the Sunshine Law. I could go on and on about why Jeff Harris should and will be the best AG that this state has seen. I would just like to ask what Chris Koster has done besides strip 100,000 Missouri citizens of their health care.

Taking money from the school district wouldn’t be the best thing for the school district, and especially for the employees of the district who might lose their job. Of course, if it is your kid who is stuck in the failing school, is your priority to continue funding the failing school, or to get a good education for your child? Rich people already send their kids to private schools. Vouchers would provide poor kids with the same opportunity.

As far as Harris “trying to prevent middle income families from being taken advantage of with sub-prime mortgages” … uh, if you are middle-income and you’ve paid your bills in the past, you should not even have a subprime mortgage. On the other hand, if you have bad credit = a history of not paying your bills, then you aren’t eligible for a prime mortgage. So the options are, offer them a subprime mortgage, or let them rent. I’m a landlord, so as far as I’m concerned, they can rent. But let Harris be honest about the ultimate impact of reducing the availability of subprime mortgages: a drastic decrease in poor and minority home ownership.

I didn’t know that Nick Kasoff had ever been a poor minority trapped in the State of Missouri’s failing urban schools, but maybe you were. Nick your comments are very interesting and I guess you have not been able to visit the private schools. The media doesn’t cover it, but there are more failures in the private voucher schools than the public schools. The parents become dissatisfied by mid-school year and many of the students end up returning to the public schools.

So many people are fooled by the media, but Nick Kasoff deserves a tour of the public schools and an explanation of why vouchers are being pushed so hard by some State Legislators.

Here is a beginning education for you Nick Kasoff:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jm1JFhJuKVU

After viewing this video, some of the actions of State Legislators should be clear!

“Once you go whack, you can never go back!”

Jo do you know whether Koster avoided the vote on vouchers ? The part of his statement that you used above doesn’t say whether he voted on the voucher bill.

I am in agreement with Nick. I know this story is more about the scary voucher monster than Koster’s voting record. If you look at the actual language of the bill, instead of being “fooled by the media”, you’ll surely see that this is not a voucher, but a tuition tax credit, and that it isn’t for poor parents but parents of special needs children. The reason behind this idea is that parents with special needs children often can’t find appropriate services in public schools, but their taxes pay for them anyhow. Especially when talking about autism, the cost of a private education can run up to 80K a year.

Here is a beginning education for you, Standupdemocrats:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sp7dbnNzEu4

This is the decision you come to when your priority is public school CHILDREN, and not the obviously fallible public schools.

Even if you want to defend the bill, the fact is Koster didn’t vote for it. He also didn’t vote against it. And that’s the issue Harris was raising. Koster the Chameleon is trying to hid his pro-voucher record from Democratic voters while not coming out against them and alienating his big dollar pro-voucher donor Rex Sinquefield.

No matter how you slice it, and no matter what side of the voucher issue you come down on, Koster’s refusal to vote was a gutless act and exemplifies pretty much everything that’s wrong with politics.

Nick and benini, if you support his bill, then you ought to be as miffed about Koster refusing to vote on it as those of us who oppose vouchers are. We can disagree on vouchers themselves, but either way, shouldn’t Koster have a position on this issue?

I think I would agree with Nick on the merits of the bill but I think people are missing the point of what Harris said. First, the education establishment is opposed to the bill because it is in their view a limited voucher bill that opens the door for something in their view that would destroy public education. Nick like Rex Sinquefield feels they are wrong, that the St. Louis school system is a joke and that kids shouldn’t be trapped in lousy schools. Most Democrats stick with the education establishment and many Republicans think kids should have alternatives. Koster as a Republican supported what republicans call the tax credit bill or what democrats call the voucher bill. If what Harris says is true Koster as Democrat didn’t vote because he doesn’t know what to do because he got all that money from Sinquefield. I think that is the problem that people seem to have with Koster they believe he really has no core values. Nick or I may not agree with Harris but I can appreciate he stands for something even if it is the wrong thing. I am a big fan of Gibbons but that doesn’t stop me from appreciating that the basic point of what Harris says rings true to me. Nick agree ??? disagree ???

Agreed–I wish Koster had the guts to go one way or the other, and I think it’s an important issue for both dems and republicans (eh, but attorneys-general don’t make laws, on the other hand). I’m just as displeased with Harris, however, for politicizing something that in my opinion is quite a bit more than a party issue.

All of the AG candidates are getting frowny-faces from me today.

Approving a voucher system would mean we add some parents of private school students onto the state’s welfare rolls as preferred recipients of a subsidy. Oh well, it’s only one issue and I’m not a single issue voter.

But repealing all donation limits basically means that your state legislators voting on vouchers and everything else will mostly be those who have the approval and money of people like Soros and Sinquefield.

I’d say that’s a little more important.