(Missourinet) – Saying that “insiders, special interests and lobbyists have made a mess” of our budget, Missouri Governor Eric Greitens (R) has proposed a $27 billion state operating budget, which includes $572 million in cuts.

While Greitens’ proposed budget reduces the state workforce by 188 positions, Acting State Budget Director Dan Haug does not expect anyone to actually lose their jobs.

“The positions that we reduced in this budget are through vacancies and attrition and those kind of things,” Haug told the Capitol Press Corps Thursday in Jefferson City.

Missouri has about 55,000 state employees, including more than 14,000 who work in the Jefferson City area.

Greitens’ proposed budget does not include a pay raise for state employees, but keeps health care costs to the employees flat.

Greitens says Missouri’s budget is “suffering from reduced revenue due to poor economic growth”, and says “Obamacare” (The Affordable Care Act) has caused the state’s health care expenses to soar.

For example, Missouri’s fringe benefits for state employees will cost about $1 billion, under the Governor’s proposed budget. That’s up from about $947 million last year.

Fringe benefits include employee retirement, health care and other benefits.

Despite agriculture being Missouri’s largest industry, Greitens’ proposed budget would reduce funding for the state Department of Agriculture.

His proposed budget reduces the Missouri Department of Agriculture’s budget from about $53 million to about $40.4 million. Reporters questioned Haug about those proposed reductions.

“I think the biggest part of that would be a reduction in the payments for the biodiesel producers,” Haug says. “I think that makes up a significant part of it, and then a lot of it is also some of the (budget) restrictions that were put in place this year just carried forward.”

Greitens also proposes cutting the Missouri State Fair’s budget by about $500,000, from $5.2 million to about $4.7 million.

MDA Director Chris Chinn testified last week at the Capitol that agriculture is an $88 billion industry in Missouri, employing about 400,000 people statewide.

Governor Greitens’ proposed budget also includes increases in several key areas, including for vulnerable children and public safety.

Additional funding for programs that support children with special needs is contained in Greitens’ proposed budget.

“$13 million to cover the costs of providing special education services to students with disabilities through the High Need Fund,” says Haug. “$12.4 million to serve additional children and reduce the caseload standard for special education teachers.”

Missouri’s High Need Fund provides instruction, tuition, technology and transportation to students who have disabilities.

Greitens’ proposed budget also includes $11 million in additional funding to care for children who have been abused or neglected and removed from their homes.

Greitens says he wants Missouri to be a state where every citizen feels that they are safe and protected.

Haug says Greitens’ budget includes several key public safety initiatives.

“Additional funding in public safety is $250,000 to establish a Blue Alert system,” Haug says. “$1 million to the state Crime Lab to decrease backload there.”

A Blue Alert system is designed to help the state locate anyone who assaults a law enforcement officer.

Haug says the proposed budget also includes $1 million to equip the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s Drug and Crime Control Division, and $690,000 to provide TASERs and body armor to Missouri state troopers.

The Legislature must approve a balanced budget by early May, according to the Missouri Constitution.

(Missourinet) – Acting Missouri Public Safety director Andrew Juden wants to increase the number of people choosing a law enforcement career, especially among minorities.

“We have to really work on our diversity recruitment. We are so weak in that area and it’s something that we really have to take a good look at it and think outside of the box,” says Juden.

He says recruiting people to serve in law enforcement is declining in Missouri and nationwide.

“Law enforcement is not something that’s ever going to go away. You look at the medical fields. You look at law enforcement. Those are careers that are here to stay. They’re not going to move on,” says Juden.

A state Senate committee is expected to vote next week on Governor Greitens’ pick of Juden to serve as the head of Public Safety. The full Senate must also vote on the nomination.

Juden was the director of the Sikeston Department of Public Safety for 15 years, which he has been a member of since 1978, and served on the board of directors for the SEMO Major Case Squad and the SEMO Drug Task Force. He has also served as the President of the Missouri Police Chiefs Association.

(Missourinet) – Lt. Col. Sandra Karsten has been chosen to lead the Missouri State Highway Patrol – the first woman to hold the position in the agency’s 81-year history.

Governor Greitens (R) announced his leadership choice Wednesday at the Highway Patrol headquarters in Jefferson City, addressing the 104th class of recruits.

“Lt. Col. Karsten started out as a trooper working on the roads in Callaway and Audrain counties,” Greitens said. “She has a distinguished 30 years in service, during which time she was recognized numerous times for her work on DWI enforcement and drug interdiction.”

He said Karsten has led at every level with courage and commitment.

“Today’s a proud day for the Missouri State Highway Patrol and for the state of Missouri,” Greitens said. “Leaders, like Lt. Col. Karsten, are going to keep our streets safe and our citizens safe.”

Karsten will oversee more than 1,000 officers.

“The Patrol is a great organization and I’ve had a passion for it since I was 17 years old,” Karsten said. “We have great people who are dedicated to providing service to the citizens we serve… As your colonel, I will listen first and then lead. I will work in such a way that is worthy of your trust and your confidence.”

She replaces Bret Johnson, who retired this week.

(Missourinet) – Instead of the old-fashioned Missouri State of the State address with the governor’s fiscal year state budget proposal, Governor Greitens will release his spending plan in southwest Missouri’s Nixa on Thursday at a public school for special needs students.

His first State of the State address was held in January among state lawmakers without the traditional release of the next proposed budget.

Members of the Missouri legislature have been chomping at the bit to get started on the next budget, but have been waiting to hear from the governor on his appropriations priorities. In a press release today from Greitens’ office, he says his spending plan protects his top priorities of increasing jobs, higher pay, safer streets and better schools.

“This address in Nixa is a reminder of who we’re fighting for. We’re fighting for the kids in towns and cities across our state who don’t have a lobbyist. Children with special needs, whose parents need jobs to provide for them,” says Greitens. “Families that need to know that the men and women of law enforcement have the tools and training to protect them. That’s who we’re fighting for every day.”

Greitens is number crunching his first state budget and it’s a challenging one. Earlier this month, he withheld about $146 million in the current fiscal year’s budget with roughly $80 million affecting higher education. Greitens says about $700 million in cuts are necessary over the next 18 months in order to balance the budget.

“Our state’s budget affects real people. And we take that responsibility seriously. It’s our job to decide how to distribute the money that comes in, and the truth is, less money is coming in. More and more of it is automatically put towards things like insider tax credits and costly health care spending,” says Greitens.

Missouri’s current fiscal year budget is about $27 billion.

(Missourinet/AP) – BONNE TERRE, Mo- The state of Missouri executed convicted triple killer Mark Christeson Tuesday evening at the maximum-security prison in Bonne Terre.

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene and Governor Eric Greitens (R) rejected a clemency request.

Christeson was convicted of three counts of first degree murder and was under three death sentences, for killing Susan Brouk and her two children near Vichy in central Missouri’s Maries County in 1998.

Christeson appeared to say “I love you” twice to his brother and sister-in-law, before his eyes closed.

Christeson was pronounced dead at 7:05 Tuesday night.

The U.S. Supreme Court blocked Christeson’s execution in 2014. Christeson’s attorneys filed another appeal recently, alleging that Christeson’s trial lawyers were inept and essentially abandoned him.

Maries County Sheriff Chris Heitman says justice has been served, with Christeson’s execution. Heitman served as an official state witness to the execution. He tells Missourinet he wrote a letter to Christeson before the execution, requesting an interview.

“I wanted to speak to him (Christeson) to see what type of a person he actually was, see if he had any remorse because of the crime,” says Heitman. “He never responded back, but obviously we know what type of person he is, you know he’s a murderer and he’s a rapist.”

Heitman says Christeson “went to sleep”.

“People can’t argue this is inhumane for lethal injection,” Heitman says. “The person just goes to sleep. There was no movement, it’s not torturous at all. So I don’t see how any courts could ever say that lethal injection is inhumane.”

Governor Greitens describes the 1998 triple murders as “unspeakably cruel”.

Christeson was sentenced to death for the gruesome murders of 36-year-old Susan Brouk and her children Adrian and Kyle near Vichy. Adrian was 12 and Kyle was nine.

Christeson’s cousin, Jessie Carter, was also convicted for the murders. Carter, who later testified against Christeson, is now serving a life prison sentence, without the possibility of parole.

Prosecutors say Ms. Brouk was raped, stabbed and thrown into a pond and drowned. Kyle was stabbed and held under water, to drown. Adrian died from suffocation, and her body was also dumped in the pond.

Harley Brouk, who is the half-sister of Adrian and Kyle Brouk, cried Tuesday night as she told reporters Adrian and Kyle never got to fully live out their lives.

“But now that they are above us, and watching over us, I know that I have the world’s greatest guardian angels anybody could ask for,” Harley Brouk said, crying. “This is a sad day, a happy day and a day that I will never forget.”

Harley Brouk then read a poem to reporters after the execution. She says Adrian wrote it when she was in the sixth grade. It was called “Our Love”.

Our love will always be there

Even when fate is not fair

Sometimes our love may be lost

But that’s not always the ultimate cost

Love is when you meet the unique

the one your heart is out to seek

Love is soaring to the sky

But not everyone can tell you why

Love is when your heart has a voice

What will happen is not your choice

Harley Brouk sobbed when she finished reading the poem, telling reporters in Bonne Terre that she will “never forget” her brother or sister.

Missouri Department of Corrections Director Anne Precythe read a statement from Governor Greitens to reporters. The statement notes Susan Brouk was a single mother whose life revolved around her children.

“Adrian was a seventh grader who did well in school and played volleyball. She hoped to one day be a veterinarian or a teacher. Kyle was only nine. He played soccer and dreamed of being an Army officer.”

The state of Missouri executed one convicted killer last year, six in 2015 and ten in 2014.

There was tight security in and around the Bonne Terre prison Tuesday night.

Missouri Department of Public Safety spokesman Mike O’Connell says there were also 14 death penalty opponents demonstrating outside the institution.

(Missourinet) – A convicted triple killer from mid-Missouri is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to block his execution, which is scheduled for Tuesday evening in eastern Missouri’s Bonne Terre.

Mark Christeson, 37, has been convicted of three counts of first degree murder and is under three death sentences.

In October, the Missouri Supreme Court scheduled Christeson’s execution for January 31 at 6 p.m. at the maximum-security prison in Bonne Terre.

Christeson and his cousin, Jessie Carter, were convicted of killing 36-year-old Susan Brouk and her two children near Vichy in central Missouri’s Maries County in January 1998. The children were Adrian, 12, and Kyle, who was nine.

Carter later testified against Christeson. Carter, 36, is now serving a life prison sentence, without the possibility of parole.

The U.S. Supreme Court blocked Christeson’s execution in 2014. The newest appeal alleges that Christeson’s trial lawyers were inept and essentially abandoned him.

Christeson can also ask Missouri Governor Eric Greitens (R) for clemency. Missourinet asked Greitens spokesman Parker Briden on Friday if the Governor has made a decision on clemency. Briden said he could not comment.

 

(Missourinet) – A Missouri House Committee voted Monday in Jefferson City to approve a Senate right-to-work version, which includes a key clause labor supports.

The Missouri House Economic Development Committee heard more than an hour of testimony Monday, before voting 7-4 to approve State Sen. Dan Brown’s (R-Rolla) right-to-work bill. Brown’s legislation includes a “grandfather clause” to protect existing union contracts.

State Rep. Holly Rehder (R-Sikeston) chairs the House committee. She notes while the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry says the “grandfather clause” isn’t necessary, they still testified for Brown’s bill.

“And you know, I feel the same way. I don’t think that it’s (grandfather clause) necessary, but this is what Senator Brown had gotten through the Senate, and so I’m going to honor it in the House,” says Rehder.

Brown testified that since Oklahoma passed right-to-work, every state that’s gone right-to-work has included a “grandfather clause”.

“And I would like to point out that that language is probably the toughest grandfathering language that’s in the United States on any of the right-to-work bills to date,” says Brown.

Brown testifies that right-to-work is “pro-worker” and “pro-taxpayer”.

Rehder says Brown’s legislation will go to the House Rules Committee Tuesday, and she expects the bill to hit the Missouri House floor on Thursday.

Chairwoman Rehder predicts union and non-union jobs will increase in Missouri, if right-to-work legislation passes.

Rehder’s committee heard testimony Monday from a Painters Union representative, who says unions help lift the “working poor” out of poverty. Rehder tells Missourinet that Republicans are also “working families,” adding that she’s experienced multiple job losses and that her husband lost his job once.

“I think that many times, the union members are uninformed when they just assume that they’re the only ones that are working families,” says Rehder. “We are all working families.”

The United Steelworkers Union spoke Monday against right-to-work, and former State Rep. Shannon Cooper (R-Clinton), who represents the Carpenters Union, testifies that Alabama and Mississippi have not done well economically, under right-to-work.

State Rep. Doug Beck (D-St. Louis) says right-to-work will cost Missouri about $120 to $160 million in lost revenue. Beck, a union pipefitter, spoke to Senator Brown during the hearing.

“So do you think that’s (passing right-to-work) a prudent decision to make when we’re going to facing such severe cuts as it is?” Beck asked Brown.

“I’m not sure where you got your information or your numbers,” Brown told Beck. “Our fiscal note did not show anywhere near that kind of loss.”

Senate Minority Leader Gina Walsh (D-Bellefontaine Neighbors) has led the fight against right-to-work. Walsh says right-to-work hurts middle-class families that drive the economy.

The NFIB, Americans for Prosperity and the Missouri Chamber were among the groups supporting right-to-work on Monday.

(Missourinet) – The St. Louis Board of Aldermen has voted to advance a measure for a proposed Major League soccer stadium in downtown St. Louis.

Bill sponsor Christine Ingrassia says negotiations on how Governor Greitens is willing to help are ongoing. Greitens has called state taxpayer money for stadiums “Welfare for millionaires.”

“His administration is not interested in allocating tax credits, but they are amenable to a low cost or no cost lease or purchase of the property, certain infrastructure improvements and land clearance,” says Ingrassia.

Ingrassia says without Governor Greitens’ blessing of a land deal, the proposal is dead.

“One of the restrictions, we’re not able to move forward if we do not have confirmation of state participation,” says Ingrassia.

If the $200 million deal passes the full board again Friday, it will go to a public vote of city residents in April. The measure calls for about $60 million of city taxes to finance construction of the stadium.

Meanwhile, a bill to pay for upgrades to the Scottrade Center has been defeated, but is still being negotiated and could be revived later this week. The Scottrade Center is where the St. Louis Blues hockey team plays.