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| 3/29/2009 9:22:00 PM | Email this article • Print this article |
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| Denny Hoskins
Works on lobbyist-related senior meals legislation |
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| Rep. Jason Kander
Says constituent services will suffer |
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Lawmakers clash on floor
over Meals at Home funds
Jack Miles
Editor
Jefferson City - Legislation regarding feeding the elderly caused a clash between Rep. Jason Kander, a Kansas City Democrat, and Rep. Denny Hoskins, a Warrensburg Republican.
They are at odds over a plan Hoskins pushed through the House last week.
Hoskins said his legislation redirects money from lobbyists to support Meals at Home, the new name for Meals on Wheels.
Kander called the Star-Journal to say the legislation is political. He said the Republican majority voted to fire Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon's legislative liaisons - people who helped everyday citizens get help from government agencies. Kander also alleged Hoskins voted to cut more from Meals at Home than the firings restored.
Hoskins, a CPA, said when checking the math, Meals at Home would come out ahead financially this year, partly a result of firing lobbyists.
LOBBYISTS
During the debate with Hoskins on the House floor Wednesday, Kander said, he explained Nixon's legislative liaisons assist the public when dealing with the Office of Administration and the departments of Revenue, Agriculture, Social Service and Mental Health.
Hoskins, reached Saturday, said the liaisons - who are registered lobbyists - did other work, too: "In my opinion, they try to lobby for their departments. I've not used them for constituent services."
Hoskins does not dispute that the liaisons might help people, but said the greater concern in tough economic times is funding Meals at Home fully.
"We've got to make decisions," Hoskins said.
Kander said Hoskins should appreciate lobbyists.
"I read off to him (on the floor) some of the meals that had been paid for by lobbyists for him this session - $27 lunches, $30 lunches, things like that - and asked him if he had discussed decreasing lobbyists' influence at those lunches. He indicated that he had not discussed that," Kander said.
Democrats and Republicans alike take free meals from lobbyists regularly - a practice that has existed in Jefferson City for decades regardless of which party holds power. In the 1990s, then-Rep. Greg Canuteson, D-Liberty, made national headlines when, without his knowledge, lobbyists catered a meeting he called to stop free lunches from lobbyists.
Kander said losing the legislative liaisons hurts public service.
"What will be lost is when (Hoskins') constituents and all of our constituents across the state ... have issues with particular problems in state government," they will find getting help harder, Kander said.
Kander gave the example of one of his constituents getting state tax invoices for her deceased husband. She could not get the Department of Revenue to stop sending the invoice, but the legislative liaison accomplished the goal.
"If times were better," Hoskins said, "maybe having these legislative lobbyists or liaisons would be a good idea, but it came down to either using the taxpayers' money to try to fund these positions or put this money somewhere else."
DOING THE MATH
The idea of cutting state-funded lobbyists arose after the House Budget Committee, to which Hoskins and Kander belong, reduced Meals at Home funding.
Area Agencies on Aging, which provides Meals at Home funding, lost $2 million, Kander said, which Democrats opposed.
"He's restoring a tiny amount of funding for Meals at Home and he voted in the budget committee for a budget that cut an enormous amount of funding out of Meals at Home," Kander said.
Hoskins explained how cutting lobbyists and other measures means more Meals at Home funding.
"Over spring break, looking at all those budget books that are about a mile high, I came up with the idea of, OK, why couldn't I eliminate those legislative lobbyist positions and use that to fund Meals at Home? So, if the House budget is approved as passed we will have more money in the Meals at Home program this year than last year."
The Budget Committee at first cut the $2.5 million meals program, but restored $500,000. This left the program short by $2 million.
Hoskins' effort to cut lobbyists meant another $500,000 for the program, though Kander put the restoration at no more than $350,000.
If Hoskins' figures are correct, the program remained short by $1.5 million.
Federal stimulus funds could make up that shortfall. The Missouri House had for a time rejected using the funds, but that position changed last week.
"From talking with (Budget) Chairman Allen Icet, he is accepting the stimulus money and is putting $1.5 to $1.6 million toward that At-Homes Meals program," Hoskins said.
If the numbers hold, the amount means a bit more for Meals at Home this year than last, Hoskins said.
"It comes down to priorities. ... These legislative lobbyists that are funded through taxpayers' dollars are good people; however, I just think our money could be better spent on funding at-homes meals program," Hoskins said.
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