Matt Blunt

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Matt Blunt
54th Governor of Missouri
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 10, 2005
Lieutenant	Peter Kinder
Preceded by	Bob Holden
Born	November 20, 1970 (1970-11-20) (age 37) Springfield, Missouri
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Melanie A. Blunt
Profession	Navy Officer
Religion	Southern Baptist

Matthew Roy "Matt" Blunt (born November 20, 1970) was elected Governor of Missouri on November 2, 2004. At the age of 33, this made him the second youngest person ever elected to that office after Kit Bond. He is a member of the Republican Party. Blunt was the youngest Governor in the United States until Bobby Jindal was sworn in as governor of Louisiana on January 14, 2008. Blunt announced on January 22, 2008 that he would not seek a second term as Missouri governor, so he could spend more time with his family.^[1]

[edit] Background and education

Blunt is the son of current House Minority Whip (previously Majority Whip and Interim Majority Leader) Roy Blunt and his first wife, Roseann Ray Blunt. After graduating from Jefferson City High School in Jefferson City, Missouri, Blunt was accepted into the United States Naval Academy where he received a bachelor's degree in history in 1993.

As an officer in the United States Navy, he went on to serve as an engineering officer aboard the USS Jack Williams and as the navigator and administrative officer on the USS Peterson.

His active duty service included participation in Operation Support Democracy, involving the United Nations blockade of Haiti, missions to interdict drug traffic off the South American coast, and on duties involved in the interdiction of Cuban migrants in 1994. During his Naval career, Blunt received numerous commendations, including four Navy and Marine Corps Achievement medals.

Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, Blunt was called into active military service. Blunt completed a six-month tour of duty in Great Britain during Operation Enduring Freedom, during which time he continued to work full-time as Missouri Secretary of State. He is a Lieutenant Commander in the Navy Reserve. In accordance with Pentagon regulations and the Missouri Constitution, if Blunt is called for military duty while Governor, he might have to either transfer his gubernatorial powers to Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder, or resign from the Naval Reserve. [1]

Blunt is a member of the State Historical Society of Missouri, the American Legion, and the Missouri Farm Bureau. As Governor, he is a member of the National Governors Association, Southern Governors' Association, and the Republican Governors Association. Blunt and his wife, Melanie, were married in May, 1997. Their son, William Branch Blunt was born on March 9, 2005.

[edit] Political career

In 1998, Blunt was elected as a Republican to the Missouri House of Representatives to represent the 139th legislative district for a two-year term. In 2000, he was elected Missouri Secretary of State; although only a first-term state representative, Blunt defeated the Speaker of the Missouri House of Representatives Steve Gaw. Blunt was the only Republican elected to statewide office in Missouri in 2000. On November 2, 2004, he defeated then-State Auditor (and current U.S. Senator) Claire McCaskill 50.8%-47.9% and was elected Governor of Missouri.

[edit] Election as Secretary of State

Blunt received considerable fundraising support from his father's supporters and from out-of-state Republicans in his 2000 Secretary of State bid. Senior political strategist Karl Rove appeared at an April 21, 2000 fundraiser in Springfield.[2] The state Republican Party contributed $160,000 to Blunt's campaign, having received $100,000 in donations from Rep. Roy Blunt's PAC[3], and the 7th District Congressional Republican Committee - a fundraising group affiliated with the senior Blunt - donated $40,000.[4]. Contributions from 84 of Rep. Blunt's colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives totalled over $65,000.[5][6] Matt Blunt defeated his Democrat opponent Steve Gaw with 51.4% of the vote, to Gaw's 45.1%.[7]

[edit] Term as Governor

When Blunt took office in January 2005, it was the first time in Missouri since 1921 that a Republican held the Governor's office with Republican majorities in both houses of the State Legislature. Blunt and his allies in the Missouri General Assembly moved quickly to enact legislation that they said would create a positive business climate in the state and result in job growth [8]. Among the legislation passed were tort reform measures that overhauled the state's legal system [9], and changes in the state's workers compensation laws.

Handling the states financial crisis by reducing spending was Governor Blunt's first task in office [10]. Along with the Republican leadership in the General Assembly, Blunt trimmed state spending in order to keep the budget balanced without raising taxes. Particularly controversial were provisions eliminating parts of the state's social entitlement programs. The cuts were criticized by editorials in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch [11] [12] [13]. After some minor changes to the Governor's original requests the final version was passed [14]. Many Missourians who had previously depended on Medicaid were no longer eligible for benefits. Approximately 177,000 Missourians had their health benefits cut off due to these legislative actions [15]. Two years later, with an election almost a year away, Governor Blunt implemented the MO HealthNet Initiative, Senate Bill SB577 [16]. Missourians were able to leave the Medicaid system or have coverage restored for the new coverage which was intended to offer them more choices and more rewards for healthy behavior [17].

Abortion and stem cell research have also been contentious issues during Blunt's term. Blunt opposes abortion, but has also opposed efforts to ban research procedures such as somatic cell nuclear transfer. There were efforts to pass such a ban in the Missouri General Assembly during the 2005 session. Disagreements among Republicans over the stem cell issue held up efforts to pass restrictions on abortion, such as a 24-hour waiting period, and a restriction on helping minors cross state lines to avoid Missouri's parental consent requirement. In September 2005, Blunt called a special session of the General Assembly specifically to address abortion. The General Assembly passed the above-noted restrictions, and Blunt signed them into law [18].

In October 2005, Blunt announced his support for an initiative petition, prominently supported by former Senator John Danforth, that would amend Missouri's Constitution to prohibit a ban on somatic cell nuclear transfer. Because constitutional amendments can only be approved by the voters, this would effectively remove the issue from the Legislature. [19] Due to his position on this initiative, Missouri Right to Life announced that it no longer considers Blunt a pro-life politician.[20]

Criticism from both the left and the right made Blunt's first year in office difficult. In February 2006, a poll conducted by SurveyUSA showed him with a 33% job approval rating, the fifth lowest of any governor in the nation. [21] His approval among Republicans polled was 62%, but his rating among Democrats was only 12%.[22]. This was one of the greatest partisan divides of any governor.

In the 2006 legislative session, Blunt's stated priorities included enacting a version of "Jessica's Law" requiring a minimum 25 year sentences for child sex offenders one of his legislative priorities. [23] In the area of education, Blunt proposed selling Missouri's student loan agency, known as MOHELA, and using the proceeds to pay for endowments and new construction for the state's public universities. [24] In the area of elementary and secondary education, Blunt has proposed that school districts be required to spend at least 65% of their budgets on student instruction. After the proposal was criticized, Blunt suggested that the 65% threshold should be a goal, rather than a mandate.[25] Blunt has also offered his support for measures that would allow pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions for emergency contraception, in contrast to Illinois, which recently enacted legislation requiring pharmacies to fill such prescriptions.[26]

As of July 24, 2007, Blunt had a 48% approval rating. [27]

In October 2006, Governor Blunt earned the highest score of any US governor from the libertarian Cato Institute. Blunt received a grade of 'A' -- the only governor to do so -- by reducing Missouri's budget, limiting Medicaid spending, and making the state government smaller. [28]

[edit] Environmental record

Blunt has promoted Missouri as a potential hotspot for bioscience, although he has been criticized for restricting science funding for controversial research such as that involving stem cells—a decision seen as discouraging the science community at large from working in the state.^[2][3] On June 5, 2007, the chair of Blunt’s Advisory Council for Plant Biotechnology Roger Beachy announced that Washington University would go ahead with plans for the International Center for Advanced Renewable Energy and Sustainability, rather than wait for a grant from the Department of Energy.^[4] In 2006, Blunt signed legislation requiring gasoline sold in Missouri to contain 10% ethanol.^[5] Despite these advances, Missouri’s per capita carbon dioxide emissions have increased 15% since 1990, a development largely due to lack of incentives for reducing dependence on coal. Missouri’s per-person CO₂ emissions have increased faster during this period than have those of all but four other U.S. states.^[6]

[edit] Supporting Biotechnology

As Monsanto's home state, Missouri has vast numbers of programs supporting the development of genetically modified food crops and the science that helps create the fee based seeds driving the industry. In 2005 Governor Blunt created the Missouri Life Sciences Trust Fund to take monies from the Tobacco Settlement fund and apply them to biotech efforts. In January 2006 Gov. Blunt created the Lewis and Clark Discovery Inatative (LCDI) designed to spread biotechnology across the State. The LCDI takes funds from the Missouri higher education learning assistance fund (MOHELA)

Among the many efforts are Executive Orders [29] and programs created by Blunt delivering University cooperation, tax relief, research funds and seed capital for "life science" start up firms and an innovative program to reward Insurance Companies and other large institutional investors for putting their money in funds that hold biotech stocks. Full details of the Missouri Biotech efforts in pdf Report.[30]

[edit] United States Attorney controversy

Main article: Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy

In April 2006 it was reported that United States Attorney Bud Cummins "is handling an investigation into how the license fee offices were awarded to political supporters of the Blunt administration."[31] On October 4, 2006, Cummins announced "that he has concluded an inquiry into alleged wrongdoings involving the awarding of contracts for Missouri fee offices with no indictments sought or returned." Cummins elaborated: "First, the matter has been closed with no indictments sought or returned. Second, at no time was Governor Blunt a target, subject, or witness in the investigation, nor was he implicated in any allegation being investigated. Any allegations or inferences to the contrary are uninformed and erroneous." [32] Cummins has since become embroiled in the Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy: in December 2006, Cummins resigned from his post in favor of Tim Griffin, a former aide to Karl Rove. Cummins described the dismissal of the U.S Attorneys as "unprecedented", and said "I think the fact that my name turned up and other names turned up on the disloyal list had a lot more to do with some political minion at Justice wanting to be a U.S. Attorney and wanting to create a vacancy than it had to do with anybody's loyalty to the President."^[7] Cummins concluded his investigation of the Blunt Administration two months before he resigned.

[edit] Email Controversy

In September 2007, Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon questioned the governor's office regarding the storage and deleting of emails. According to the state's sunshine laws, any documents that are sent through the governor's office are public record and must be accessible. Former staff lawyer Scott Eckersley has claimed publicly that he was fired from the governor's office for criticizing the office's handling of emails, though the Blunt administration says his employment was terminated for disciplinary infractions [33]. The office has pursued Eckersley for breaching confidential information about his former job through the Office of Disciplinary Counsel.

[edit] 2008 Election

On January 22, 2008, Blunt announced he would not run for re-election. The race was expected to be a heated battle against Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon.^[1] Political observers in Missouri and Washington D.C. have noted that Blunt, as the young governor of a swing state, is a possible running mate for Sen. John McCain in the 2008 presidential election.^[8][9]

[edit] Electoral history

[edit] See also

United States Navy Portal

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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• Governor Matt Blunt official state site
• Governor Matt Blunt official campaign site
• National Governors Association - Missouri Governor Matt Blunt biography
• Follow the Money - Matt Blunt 2004 campaign contributions
• On the Issues - Matt Blunt issue positions and quotes
• Project Vote Smart - Governor Matthew R. 'Matt' Blunt (MO) profile
• Legislation sponsored by Representative Matt Blunt in 1999 in 2000

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