Questions Posed at West County Legislative Forum

On Friday, a group of 70 attendees exchanged ideas about federal, state and local issues at the annual Legislative Forum hosted by the West St. Louis County Chamber of Commerce at Forest Hills Country Club in Clarkson Valley, MO. See related article:

Nearly 10 speakers addressed specific topics, which will be covered in future, separate Patch articles. However general questions from the crowd Friday included these four items:

1. What's the best way to cut national (federal) spending and balance the budget? This question was answered by Congressman Todd Akin (R-Wildwood).
   "We've been in a series of what I call 'radical deficit spending,'" he said. "I believe a common sense approach, such as what Missouri has been applying, is also the answer for D.C. In Washington, the order is all wrong." Akin referenced the Hancock Amendment, which indexes the state government and the size of the state as being a good way to place a freeze on federal spending, compared to federal government funding as a ratio of GDP. He also said the budget should not be balanced all by itself in a vaccuum, because it "that would give government an excuse to crank taxes through the roof."
   Akin quoted former U.S. President Ronald Reagan regarding the federal budget:  "It's simple. It just isn't easy."
   He said politicians have to get to the entitlement piece. "Democrats don't want to touch it. Republicans don't have enough control to touch it."
2. What's going to happen with the state's pooled sales tax situation? This question was addressed by Rep. Don Gosen, District 84.
   Gosen said all variances should be addressed in the open, instead of an "backroom discussions." He said he believed more developments about this issue would surface in the next week or two. "Will anything happen after it's all put out there, that's hard to say. I don't want to throw anyone under the bus with how it might be changed in the future," he said. "It's a concern that's been developing over a number of years. We do need to tweak the system."
3. How will future transportation liabilities be met in the next 15 to 20 years?
   Akin again addressed this matter, immediately reminding attendees that Interstate 70 is 50 years old. "It was not designed to have the traffic and weight it does," he said. He outlined that financing options for transportation could come from at least four areas:  a new sales tax; a fuel sales tax; tolls; and funding from general revenue. "We will have to soon decide what we can and cannot pay for," he said. "When the governor's race is over, I would predict that transportation will become the No. 1 agenda item in Missouri during 2013." He said he currently favored user fee-related options, saying it was better to keep money collected for Missouri's transportation needs within the state so it could be used in that manner. "We first need to ensure that all federal dollars go toward roads and bridges," he said.
4. Is Missouri considering modifications to the No Child Left Behind Law?
   Akin said he thought the D.C.-based department of beaucrats should be eliminated, because "you locally could run your schools better than people away in Washington."
   Working toward a fix for the Turner Lawsuit regarding student transfers from unaccredited schools was mentioned as a priority in Missouri.
   State Sen. John Lamping (R-Ladue), District 24, said "right sized government" should be the goal and that he wished more legislators would have voted the way Akin voted because the "majority of current problems would not have come to be otherwise."