St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 30
Few things are more important to Missouri’s democracy than keeping its Sunshine Law robust and ensuring government transparency. But a lawsuit filed by a conservative nonprofit with ties to Gov. Eric Greitens, accusing Missouri Auditor Nicole Galloway and Sen. Rob Schaaf of violating the open-records law, smacks of political shenanigans. It does nothing to uphold the intent or spirit of the law.
Filing frivolous lawsuits against state officeholders for political payback is reprehensible. Schaaf and Galloway have been at loggerheads with Greitens for months, and he has publicly berated them. To get even, Greitens’ team would abuse a good law intended to help citizens gain access to government records. Such ploys cost taxpayers money, clog the courts and do nothing to assure government transparency.
The nonprofit Missouri Alliance for Freedom, founded in 2013, filed the lawsuits in Cole County Circuit Court. Kristen Blanchard Ansley, former acting executive director of the Missouri Republican Party, is the alliance’s president. The secretary is James Thomas III, an attorney tied to various campaign committees used over the years by Jeff Roe, who ran Ted Cruz’s campaign for president and is infamous as a ruthless Republican political operative.
The alliance is represented by the Kansas City-based Graves Garret law firm, run by Todd Graves, a close Greitens ally and chairman of the Missouri GOP. Roe helped steer Graves’ brother, U.S. Rep. Sam Graves, R-Tarkio, to Congress, and then served as his chief of staff.
Greitens’ feud with Galloway, a Democrat, goes back to at least March, when she asked the Missouri Department of Revenue to turn over information on the administration’s management of income tax refunds. Six weeks later, when she had not received the information, Galloway angered the governor by issuing a subpoena for the records.
Schaaf, a Republican from St. Joseph who is term-limited, has been an outspoken critic of Greitens. He complained about Greitens’ lack of progress on ethics reform, criticized his use of dark money campaign donations and questioned the governor’s ties to Centene Corp., a managed care company headquartered in Clayton.
The Missouri Alliance for Freedom is suing Schaaf because the senator denied its request for records of his communications with staff and outsiders. Schaaf is correct that the open records law does not apply to individual legislators and their staffs.
We disagree with the law and think lawmakers should have to open their records so citizens know who has influence over them and their votes. But the law stands as is.
The suit against Galloway seeks emails related to an audit underway of the state revenue department. Galloway says she is following the law.
The Sunshine Law is designed to promote government transparency, not political harassment. Greitens and his team have more than ample other tools to carry out their tawdry vendettas.
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Kansas City Star, July 28
Kansas City’s new police chief, Rick Smith, has work to do.
The Board of Police Commissioners chose Smith Friday, wrapping up a summer-long search to replace former Chief Darryl Forté, who retired.
The choice wasn’t a surprise. The other finalist, Chief Keith Humphrey, came from Oklahoma. Kansas City hasn’t hired an outsider to run the department since the 1970s.
Smith, on the other hand, has been with the Kansas City police force since 1988.
That means he ascends to this post with a thorough knowledge of the department he inherits - its structure, habits, methods, quirks, shortcomings.
We hope he uses that information to good effect. The shelves groan with studies and reports detailing ways the Kansas City police could spend money more efficiently and put more officers on the street.
Civilians could do more jobs now performed by uniformed police. Consolidating with city functions could save money. Divisions could be redrawn. Patrol cars could do with one officer, not two.
Yet bureaucratic resistance has made it difficult to implement those changes. Kansas Citians should encourage Smith to overcome those obstacles and make needed adjustments.
But let’s be realistic: Smith’s only real job today is to figure out a way to reduce the city’s horrific homicide and violent crime rates.
Some have argued that the chief alone isn’t responsible for reducing the bloodshed. We agree. But he isn’t blameless, either. And fairly or not, Smith will be judged on how effectively he addresses the rolling gun battle on our streets.
That means he must quickly decide if more officers are needed in high-crime areas and determine how those officers work with the community to find and arrest killers.
This is a civil rights issue. Three out of every four victims of homicide this year have been African-American, a shocking statistic.
Community outreach will be especially critical for Smith, who succeeds the city’s first African-American chief of police. We hope Smith is as visible as Forté was at crime scenes, community forums and the like.
Not everyone will be pleased with the selection. There is word some prosecutors are concerned about the choice, for example. Some rank-and-file officers may be upset.
That kind of discontent is probably unavoidable in a police department as large as Kansas City’s. Still, it’s incumbent on the chief to reach out to all stakeholders in an effort to improve the department and make this city a safer place.
Kansas Citians should thank the police board for its hard work. And Smith deserves a hearty congratulations.
Now the hard work begins.
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St. Joseph News-Press, July 31
An educational philosophy that should be supported by both liberals and conservatives recognizes this: Parents really are our children’s first teachers.
Nearly 40 years ago, Missouri pioneered Parents as Teachers and the concept of using research-based practices to help parents embrace their role as their child’s first and most influential teacher.
Nearly 20 years ago, as part of a national movement, United Way of Greater St. Joseph launched the Success By 6 initiative that emphasizes the years birth through age 6 are the most important for building a foundation for future success in school and in life.
Success By 6 works to educate parents about their role, raise the quality of childcare centers and inform community leaders about the importance of the early years.
It’s important to not lose sight of this work as we count down to the return of professional educators to the classroom. Their skills are critical to the equation but their impact is diluted every time a child arrives at class without important life preparation, especially in developing early reading skills.
As research has found, the years from birth through age 6 are when 90 percent of the brain’s growth occurs and children develop language, motor and social skills needed to thrive. In recent years, screenings continue to indicate a large number of St. Joseph’s incoming kindergartners lack the skills needed to get off to a good start in their schooling.
This is such a missed opportunity.
When children receive the right nurturing in the first six years, they are far less likely to exhibit poor classroom behaviors, have health problems, drop out of school, abuse drugs or become involved in crime. Instead, when new concepts are introduced in class, they are able to keep up, enjoy success and experience the rewards that come from good performance.
The research details the benefits to the larger society for when these young people reach adulthood: less money spent on prisons, less reliance on programs such as Medicaid and social services, and greater likelihood they will become productive citizens.
One part of our community’s efforts in this regard is support for family literacy - involving parents and children together in teaching reading skills and developing a love of reading. This includes an Early Literacy Celebration planned for 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 1, at Washington Park Library, 1821 N. Third St.
A fun evening of games and activities both inside and outside the library is planned. Every child age 6 and younger will receive a free book to take home and the first 300 participants will receive a free hot dog dinner. Families are invited to bring a picnic blanket to enjoy a meal on the lawn.
This event is important to reinforcing the message that learning starts well before school does, and parents must lead the way.
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Springfield News-Leader, July 24
The folks at Harmony House are not surprised that their new facility is nearly full just five months after opening.
The organization, which offers shelter to domestic violence victims, was turning away thousands before it moved to a larger building this year. Meanwhile, leaders of the nonprofit have been seeing instances of violence increase.
“We knew it was coming,” Director of Development Esther Munch said. “The problem is still growing in Greene County. We’ve got this beautiful new building and we’ve doubled in size. However, it’s not getting better. We are continuing to be that Band-Aid. But I’m afraid the day will come when we have to turn away a single woman or man.”
Thus far, the new center has been forced to turn away only families, which require specific living spaces.
This community has done a good job supporting Harmony House in recent years, and that support should continue. Thousands of people - mostly women and children - have to flee their homes each year because they are in danger. We should do all we can to give those folks a safe place to go.
But it’s clear our efforts can’t be focused only on the results of domestic violence.
We must get further upstream in addressing domestic violence, both because it’s difficult and expensive to handle it on the tail end, and because we don’t want anyone to have to face that violence in the first place.
In recent years, Springfield has seen awareness campaigns to bring the issue to public dialogue and to teach ways to intervene in dangerous situations.
According to some research by the Centers for Disease Control, our best opportunity to intervene may be even earlier.
This may seem simple, but the organization has discovered the best strategy is to promote respectful, nonviolent relationships.
For most who are already respectful and nonviolent in their relationships, that solution may seem absurd, but we know domestic violence tends to be cyclical, and young people may need training on the right way to behave in a relationship.
The CDC calls it “disrupting developmental pathways,” and the center says it’s seen that programs that teach young people communication and problem-solving skills in relationships can prevent violence.
The organization has also started the program “Dating Matters,” which is designed to reduce sexual violence and domestic violence in teen relationships.
Their programs have also focused on environmental issues by looking at economic and social policies in communities and building strategies around education, employment, and reducing gender bias.
The CDC says it’s still gathering data so it can better learn which strategies can best prevent domestic violence. All the answers likely aren’t clear yet.
What is clear is that it will require significant cultural changes. There are already several communitywide efforts to improve the economic and health environments in the area.
Our next step may be working with organizations like Harmony House, the Victim Center and others to build youth education programs that go beyond what the nonprofits already do to help young people in crisis situations.
Harmony House is doing hard, important work for victims in our community. Let’s do what we can to ease the burden.
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