Ron Richard will appoint profiling committee, Libertarian says
JEFFERSON CITY — According to a news release posted on Facebook by Missouri Libertarian Party spokesman Mike Ferguson, Missouri House Speaker Ron Richard has agreed to appoint a special committee to investigate the political profiling done by the state’s “fusion center” known as MIAC.
The MIAC came under fire earlier this year for a report about the militia movement that indicated that some members of that violent movement favor specific third-party presidential candidates. The report named Bob Barr, Ron Paul and Chuck Baldwin. All three men sought, and obtained, apologies for the state and the report earned nationwide publicity.
Some of that publicity was spurred by Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, who criticized Gov. Jay Nixon over the report, even though the report was produced mostly under the previous administration. Since the MIAC controversy, the Post-Dispatch and others reported that MIAC had also issued reports profiling groups from all political spectrums.
In his news release, Ferguson takes a shot at Kinder:
“In contrast to Lt. Governor Peter Kinder’s grandiose statements and rhetoric in his press conference last month, he’s nowhere to be found on actually delivering the solution to this problem. Despite his skillfully taking a public bow for the hard work of others, it should be pointed out that Mr. Kinder contributed nothing to this effort other than empty words.
“It’s important for the public to know the difference between those who merely talked about leading, like Lt. Governor Kinder, and those who truly led, like Representatives Schoeller, Molendorp, Dixon, Kelley and Guest.”
Hmm, them’s fightin’ words! Maybe Ferguson is planning a little political future for himself?
Actually, Glenn Nielsen is the chairman of the Missouri Libertarian Party. Mike Ferguson’s no slouch, though. In addition to acting as the MOLP’s spokesperson on the MIAC issue, he’s a recently elected city councilman in Grandview, a suburb of Kansas City.
Best regards,
Tom Knapp
Chair
St. Louis County Libertarian Central Committee
Tony, I don’t know if your readers or up on this issue. Its not that no one cares about this situation, but what will be done about a state agency making adverse reports on third party candidates? The Democratic Party as well as the Republican Party have a lock on the political apparatus in Missouri. I’m sure that most of your readers don’t know that third parties in MO can’t have their own judes during elections per state law. I guess I’ll write my letter to Ron Richards asking him to investigate the disenfranchisement of third parties by Missour’s un-democratic two party system. If Democrats and Republicans can support school choice, why can’t they support political choice?
Tony, you forgot to mention that the PD didn’t report this story until it had been all over the Internet for a week and I had to push for the coverage. Nor has the PD had much coverage of our DHS issuing a report that vets are now consisdered criminally dangerous.
And somehow I missed where the PD reported “that MIAC had also issued reports profiling groups from all political spectrums.” Could you please tell us when that happened. I read the entire PD every day and do not recalling seeing that story.
If Mike were to run for Governor, I would support his efforts both with my time on this side of the state, and money in supporting his campaign.
Last election cycle when I was running for Governor, I met Chris Kelly () at one of our final campaign events. We have many common interests, and I especially like his efforts to sponsor the state-level FairTAX ballot initiative.
Andy Finkenstadt
The link to Chris Kelly’s web site is http://www.chriskelly24.com/ , (It was swallowed by in my previous reply.)
If Mike Ferguson ran for statewide office I’d support him and would encourage other Indies to as well. He’d be a breath of fresh air in Jeff City.