McCaskill Aide, Former Jackson Countian Appointed by Obama

The Obama administration has reached into Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill’s so-called “Show-Me” mafia for a White House appointment.

A White House news release says: Peggy E. Gustafson, Nominee for Inspector General, Small Business Administration Peggy Gustafson currently serves as General Counsel to Senator Claire McCaskill, where she advises the Senator on government oversight issues and helped write two bills that have significantly strengthened the federal offices of Inspectors General: the Inspector General Reform Act of 2008 and the legislation that created the office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

From 1999-2007 she served as General Counsel in the Missouri State Auditor’s Office. In that capacity she worked closely with the auditors on issues of the scope of the auditors’ duties, the auditors’ need to access records, and all other legal issues arising in the course of the audits. Ms. Gustafson also served as an assistant prosecuting attorney and as an assistant county counselor for Jackson County, Mo.

Brownback Express Gets More Crowded

Here’s some more locals jumping on GOP Governor candidate Sam Brownback campaign train that is now moving out of the station with little or no apparent opposition.
Seven Johnson County Mayors are now on board:
Carl Gerlach – Overland Park
Mike Copeland – Olathe
Michael Boehm – Lenexa
Peggy Dunn – Leawood
Ron Shaffer – Prairie Village
David Drovetta – Gardner
Laura McConwell – Mission

And there’s even more:

Barbara Allen – Former State Senator
Mary Birch – Former Chamber Executive
Dr. Ken Canfield – Author, Founder, National Center For Fathering
Terry Dunn – Pres. & CEO, Dunn Construction
Terry Goodman – Overland Park Councilman
Kathleen Huttman – Former Olathe Councilwoman
Nick Jordan – Former State Senator
David Lindstrom – Johnson County Commissioner
Susan Metsker – Shawnee Mission School Board
Lynn Mitchelson – Trustee, Johnson County Community College
Greg Musil – Former Overland Park Councilman
Dan E. Nugent – Business Executive
Ernie Straub – President, Straub Construction
Steve Wilkinson – President & CEO, Menorah Medical Center
Dennis Wilson – Former State Senator

Big Names Advertsised. But No Big Names Show

At an event Monday morning sposnored by the City Manager’s Youth office, 200 younf people were there.
But the new release anouncing the event said that Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill, Kansas City Congressman Emanuel Cleaver and Kansas City Mayor Mark Funkhouser were on the bill.
Never happened.
They never showed.
Representatives of all three officials say they never confirmed they were coming.
In the case of mayor Funkhouser, Chief of Staff Kendrick Blackwood, he says they were never contacted at all about appearing at the event.

Tiahrt Radio Goes after Stimulus Bill

Kansas Republican Senate Candidiate Todd Tiahrt started a small TV campaign against the federal stimulus bill last week. Now a radio spot has been produced.
According to a campaign statement Tiahrt thinks the stimulus plan is failing because “since the scheme was passed by Congress, more than two million Americans have lost their jobs, home foreclosures are at record highs, and the economy remains in recession.”
The radio ad can be heard at www.ToddTiahrt.com/stimulus

Also over the weekend, Tiahrts campaign says it won a straw poll in Olathe 165-46. It was a poll at an event that drew a fair amount of Tiahrt’s base supporters.

HHS Report on Status of Healthcare In Kansas and Missouri

The Dept of Health and Human Services is linking the administration’s call for healthcare reform to a new study profiling the status of healthcare in the states.

Here’s the link for a look at all 50 states http://www.healthreform.gov/healthcarestatus.htm:

Here’s the summaries for Kansas and Missouri: (Note; Subtitles have been removed by me. They were pretty biased. Most everyone agrees there’s a problem with healthcare.)

MISSOURI
1.Roughly 3.5 million people in Missouri get health insurance on the job
where family premiums average $12,925, about the annual earning of a full-time minimum wage job.
2.Since 2000 alone, average family premiums have increased by 92 percent in Missouri.
3.Household budgets are strained by high costs: 20 percent of middle-income Missouri families spend more than 10 percent of their income on health care.
4.High costs block access to care: 15 percent of people in Missouri report not visiting a doctor due to high costs.
5.Missouri businesses and families shoulder a hidden health tax of roughly $400 per year on premiums as a direct result of subsidizing the costs of the uninsured.
6.13 percent of people in Missouri are uninsured, and 72 percent of them are in families with at least one full-time worker.
7.The percent of Missourians with employer coverage is declining: from 69 to 61 percent between 2000 and 2007.
8.Much of the decline is among workers in small businesses. While small businesses make up 76 percent of Missouri businesses,9 only 42 percent of them offered health coverage benefits in 2006 — down 4 percent since 2000.
10.Choice of health insurance is limited in Missouri. WellPoint Inc. (BCBS) alone constitutes 68 percent of the health insurance market share in Missouri, with the top two insurance providers accounting for 79 percent.
11.Choice is even more limited for people with pre-existing conditions. In Missouri, premiums can vary based on demographic factors and health status, and coverage can exclude pre-existing conditions or even be denied completely.

The overall quality of care in Missouri is rated as “Average.”12
Preventative measures that could keep Missourians healthier and out of the hospital are deficient, leading to problems across the age spectrum:
14 percent of children in Missouri are obese.13
23 percent of women over the age of 50 in Missouri have not received a mammogram in the past two years.
39 percent of men over the age of 50 in Missouri have never had a colorectal cancer screening.
69 percent of adults over the age of 65 in Missouri have received a flu vaccine in the past year.14

KANSAS:
Roughly 1.6 million people in Kansas get health insurance on the job1, where family premiums average $12,783, about the annual earning of a full-time minimum wage job.
2.Since 2000 alone, average family premiums have increased by 105 percent in Kansas.
3.Household budgets are strained by high costs: 20 percent of middle-income Kansas families spend more than 10 percent of their income on health care.
4.High costs block access to care: 11 percent of people in Kansas report not visiting a doctor due to high costs.
5.Kansas businesses and families shoulder a hidden health tax of roughly $900 per year on premiums as a direct result of subsidizing the costs of the uninsured.
6.13 percent of people in Kansas are uninsured, and 71 percent of them are in families with at least one full-time worker.
7.The percent of Kansans with employer coverage is declining: from 65 to 59 percent between 2000 and 2007.
8.Much of the decline is among workers in small businesses. While small businesses make up 76 percent of Kansas businesses,9 only 40 percent of them offered health coverage benefits in 2006 — down 8 percent since 2000.
10.Choice of health insurance is limited in Kansas. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas alone constitutes a dominant health insurance market share in Kansas.
Choice is even more limited for people with pre-existing conditions. In Kansas, premiums can vary based on demographic factors and health status, and coverage can exclude pre-existing conditions or even be denied completely.

The overall quality of care in Kansas is rated as “Average.”11
Preventative measures that could keep Kansans healthier and out of the hospital are deficient, leading to problems across the age spectrum:
16 percent of children in Kansas are obese.12
22 percent of women over the age of 50 in Kansas have not received a mammogram in the past two years.
38 percent of men over the age of 50 in Kansas have never had a colorectal cancer screening.
73 percent of adults over the age of 65 in Kansas have received a flu vaccine in the past year.13