By Susan Redden
sredden@joplinglobe.com
U.S. Rep. Kenny Hulshof will cast his second “no” vote on the Wall Street bailout plan today, he told a Joplin crowd Thursday.
The stance got support from some of the about 140 women who attended a luncheon in support of Hulshof’s campaign for Missouri governor. The Republican congressman took an informal poll during the event. Most didn’t vote either way, but there were more “no” votes when Hulshof asked for a show of hands on the proposal.
The candidate said he’s gotten similar reactions at stops in other parts of the state.
“This is the first time I’ve taken an actual poll, but most people don’t like it,” he said.
He called the bailout “a $700 billion blank check.” Taxpayers should not be forced to reward bad behavior, he added, and help for liquidity challenges in the market should come from private sources.
Hulshof said he believes the plan will pass. He said the measure has been improved through the work of U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt, of Missouri, who is House minority whip, and other House Republicans brought to the table by GOP presidential candidate John McCain.
Speaking to a Women for Hulshof gathering at Twin Hills Golf and Country Club, the candidate criticized the national media’s treatment of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, McCain’s vice presidential running mate.
“It’s a double standard when they ask her how she’ll balance career and family, and they don’t ask men the same question,” he said.
He said his campaign is working to address concerns about family finances, health, education and jobs for Missouri residents, adding, “All issues are women’s issues.”
He said that if elected, he would support a funding formula for higher education that would reduce the need for tuition increases, funding to add 1,500 new math and science teachers in Missouri high schools, and funding for health savings accounts that would help poor and hard-to-insure people pay for medical insurance.
He said Missouri cannot afford the health-care plan advanced by Attorney General Jay Nixon, his Democratic opponent, who favors reinstating those cut from state-funded health plans in 2005.
Hulshof said more choice is needed to address school deficiencies in Kansas City and St. Louis. He has outlined a plan to encourage the formation of more charter schools in the two school districts, and to provide tax credits for donations to a scholarship fund to pay for tutoring or private-school tuition.
He said he is independent enough to make the changes that are needed, noting that he, as a member of the House Ethics Committee, wrote the report that led to the censure for ethics violations of former GOP Majority Leader Tom DeLay. He was later voted off the committee.
Child support
Kenny Hulshof said the office of Attorney General Jay Nixon, his Democratic opponent in the governor’s race, has done a bad job collecting child support on behalf of single mothers in the state, and that the amount owed by fathers has doubled since Nixon got involved. Oren Shur, communications director for the Nixon campaign, said Hulshof “knows the attorney general’s office is not primarily responsible for child-support collections,” and called the characterization “nothing more than a political attack from a candidate who is down in the polls.”
