Blunt

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Former Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt was in Springfield today, addressing a free-market think-tank about how Illinois might make its government spending and operations more “transparent.”

Blunt ushered in the Missouri Accountability Portal during his tenure, giving Missourians easy access to information about how their tax dollars are being spent. That accomplishment - which Illinois is currently working to emulate - took up most of the lunchtime speech before the Illinois Policy Institute.

“Every citizen has a right to know where and how their tax money is being spent,” said Blunt.

Unmentioned in the speech was an arguably related topic: The controversy over the Blunt administration’s alleged foot-dragging on providing official information contained in governmental emails. Asked about it after his speech, Blunt called the email controversy “blown out of proportion” and noted that his office ultimately did set up a new system to provide easier access to the records.

Blunt took a few jabs at President Barack Obama (“The present administration seems to have limitless confidence in the government” rather than the free market); poked fun at his own party (“The Republican Party couldn’t organize a `Tea Party’ movement if they had to”); and recounted his one meeting with ex-Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich in terms that immediately rang true to reporters in the room. (“He seemed affable enough . . . (but) he was 45 minutes late”).

Asked about any potential return to politics, Blunt - now 38 and a Missouri-based consultant for the Washington, D.C., lobbying firm Cassidy & Associates - left open the possibility, but added: “Being a former governor is a better quality of life.”