Did you have one of THOSE teachers in your elementary school days, one who wanted everybody to display “perfect posture” at their desks when there were visitors or on other occasions?
We don’t recall the specifics, but we did have a teacher who would from time to time demand, “Perfect Posture, Please.”
The phrase came to mind last night with the State of the State speech and the Republican responses.
Governor Nixon knows a lot of what he said fell on an un-moved Republican majority that is not likely to appropriate as much as he wants; the governor and the legislature could not agree on a consensus revenue estimate and the Governor wants about $140 million dollars more than the Republican leadership thinks will be available.
Speaker Tim Jones’ response to the State of the State message was recorded before the message was delivered so it was mostly a restatement of the Republican philosophy.
The governor delivered a few slaps at the GOP in his message and Jones was in pretty good attack mode in his response. In fact, his response sounded more like a campaign speech against candidate Nixon.
And that set us off on a wild mental ride for a few minutes.
Jones is running for Attorney General in 2016. Governor Nixon cannot run for Governor again.
Nixon said a while ago that he wasn’t going to challenge Roy Blunt for the U. S. Senate. So what’s he going to do? It’s hard to think Jay Nixon, one of Missouri’s biggest political animals for three decades, would retire to a political veldt where he can lie in the weeds and occasionally growl.
Think of this: While Jones and Senate Appropriations Chairman Kurt Schaefer already are accumulating campaign money for Attorney General, potential Democratic candidates for the job have been pretty quiet.
Hmmmmmm……
Y’know, we’ve never had a Governor who became Attorney General after being Governor. And Jay Nixon certainly knows where the Attorney General’s parking space is at the Supreme Court building. Chris Koster won’t be needing it for one reason or another after January, 2017.
Do Tim Jones’ attacks on Jay Nixon in his State of the State response remarks last night indicate Jones knows something you and I don’t know?
Most Governors go back to private life or get into a federal office after their terms. Lilburn Boggs was elected to the Missouri Senate after his controversial term (which included the Honey War , the Mormon War, and the infamous Mormon extermination order). Betty Hearnes was elected to the Missouri House after serving as First Lady. While state law says Jay Nixon can no longer be the leading man in the drama called “Missouri Government,” nothing forces him to leave the stage.
Nixon vs. Jones. Nixon vs. Shaefer. That could be fun. Could be. Or it could be like last night.
Last night was a night for perfect posture on both sides.
We ran into some folks in the halls after the speech and the response who said, in effect, that it is now time to shut up and work. They didn’t say “work together.” They’d just be satisfied with work.