Anti Cloning Advocate Enters Missouri GOP Givernor’Ptimary March 26, 2012

St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

ST. LOUIS • Anti-cloning activistFred Sauer may be looking to convert his legal victory into a political win.

Or, perhaps he’s hoping to use the 2012 campaign as a platform to bring visibility to his signature issue.

Either way, Sauer — a chief antagonist of Missouri’s biotech community — will be on the ballot for governor this year.

Although Sauer is no stranger to generating publicity for his causes, he added his name to the Republican contenders for governor with little fanfare Monday morning.

According to the state Ethics Commission, he does not yet have a campaign committee established.

Sauer has made his mark in the public arena fighting what he perceives are rules that could pave the way for human cloning.

In 2006, he help found Missouri Roundtable for Life, which fought a constitutional amendment that protects most forms of stem cell research.

Sauer and his wife personally donated at least $400,000 to the unsuccessful fight against the measure.

This year, however, Sauer won a round in court, convincing a judge to rule against Gov. Jay Nixon’s signature bio-tech initiative, MOSIRA, which seeks to help tech start-ups in the state.

MOSIRA Bill Struck Down By Courts February 21, 2012

A science and technology bill pushed hard by Governor Jay Nixon and Kansas City leaders has been thrown out.
The Missouri Science and Research Innovation Act, known by its initials, MOSIRA, was ruled unconstitutional by a Cole County Circuit Judge Tuesday.
Judge Donald Green ruled the bill was illegally attached to a another bill bill during the Special session last fall.
Green ruled that illegal.
Gov. Nixon and other research leaders in Kansas City were hoping the measure could lead to an expansion of high tech industries in the state.
The Roundtable for Life fought the
measure The Roundtable fears it could lead to more research into embryonic stem cell research. The Roundtable and other abortion opponents worry that could lead to human cloning.
"Missouri Roundtable For Life is gratified that Judge Green has upheld the rule of law and protected the taxpayers and citizens of Missouri from state officials implementing an unconstitutional law," said Fred Sauer of Missouri Roundtable

Special Session, A Burial at Sea? October 26, 2011

Kansas City Democratic Minority leader Mike Talboy calls the just-ended special session, “the Lost Legislative Session”.

The effort to pass a major economic development bill died quietly Tuesday. It was the political version of an anonymous burial at sea.

The AP reports it took about 40 seconds for Senate leader Rob Mayer to call the State Senate into Session. He then called on Republican Leader Senator Tom Dempsey, the only other senator present. Dempsey moved to adjourn. They both voted to adjourn, that was it.

The session’s major effort was to draw up and approve a jobs bill for the state. Kansas City officials and some local law makers were pushing for a jobs retention bill. They hoped that would provide enough extra tax incentives to keep existing Missouri companies from being lured across the state line into Kansas. Locally, it was referred to as ’business poaching’.

The economic development measures were caught in a battle between House and Senate Republicans over whether or not some reforms on tax credits should be permanent or limited to a certain amount of time.

The legislature did manage to pass a bills reforming Missouri’s ‘Facebook Law’. That will clear up language that will allow educators to use social media more freely in the classroom. Another measure, aimed at attracting more life science and high-tech companies into Missouri also passed. But that measure, the Missouri Science and Innovation Reinvestment Act, (MOSIRA), is linked to the dead jobs bill. Governor Jay Nixon’s office says it is looking at signing the measure despite the connection to the jobs bill.

The legislature also failed to move the Missouri presidential primary from February 7 back until March 6. Republican National Committee rules insisted the date be moved back, or the Missouri GOP would risk losing delegates to the national convention next summer.

Instead, the state GOP will hold a non-binding “beauty contest” primary on Feb.7. The delegate selection process will start with a statewide St. Patrick’s Day caucus on March 17.

According to the state, the session, that started September 6 and died Tuesday costs taxpayers about $280,000.

Nixon Signs Life Sciences Bill, But Doubts Exists About Its Survival October 22, 2011

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon signed a bill to expand the life sciences industry in Missouri. But it is not clear the bill will ever be used.

That’s because the Missouri Sciences and Innovation Reinvestment Act (MOSIRA) has a clause in it tying it to another bill, the jobs bill, that has been stalled in the special session. And there are signs are the bill linked to MOSIRA will not survive.

The Governor’s office, however, says other bills that have been linked together have made it into law. But to get that done, the new law maybe have to survive a court challenge first.

The MOSIRA bill is designed to encourage life science and high-tech companies to come to Missouri. The state would use some of the tax money it gets from existing Missouri companies in those fields to recruit more of them to come to the state.

The bill has the potential to expand life science research at places like the Stowers Institute and the KU Medical Center in Kansas City.

“Many of the jobs and careers of the future will be created by emerging high-tech companies, and we need to encourage investment by these businesses here in Missouri,” Gov. Nixon said in a news release. “The MOSIRA bill will be a valuable tool to encourage more start-up companies in science and technology to join what is an already growing area for the Show-Me State and our economy. Through MOSIRA, that continued growth will generate even more expansion in research and technology.”

Special Session Update: Nixon Grumbles Legislature Missed a Chance to Create Jobs September 23, 2011

(AP) – Gov. Jay Nixon says Missouri lawmakers have missed an opportunity to create jobs and reform the state’s tax credits by failing to send him the marquee bill of a special legislative session.

The House and Senate each quit Friday without agreeing on a proposal that would scale back some of Missouri’s existing tax breaks and create new incentives for businesses and international exports.

Although there seems to be little chance of resolving the stalemate, the two chambers did agree to keep the special session open in case a compromise can be reached later.

Kansas City was hop[ing the jobs bill passed. The believed it held elements that could help them  compete against job recruiters from the state of Kansas. For more than a year, Kansas City has complained that the Kansas economic package is so much better Kansas can ‘poach’ Missouri business near the state line.

The latest example came recently. The AMC Theater chain announce it moving its corporate offices out of downtown Kansas City and into Kansas. It is believed the  Kansas incentive package included millions in cash for the company.

Lawmakers also sent Nixon a bill creating a new incentive fund for science-based companies. But it may never take effect, because it  contains wording making it contingent upon the enactment of the other business incentive bill.