Home Page Biography Contact District Meetings Legislation Links
CAMPAIGN NEWS:
September 30, 2008... Ron Richard, Speaker Designate, and Steve Tilley, Majority Floor Leader will be at a fundraiser I will be holding at Moila for the House Republican Campaign Committee at 6 PM. The event is by invitation--if you would like to attend, call me at (816) 294-1409.
September 29, 2008... Convocation on Critical Issues dinner tonight.
September 28, 2008... After enjoying a wonderful pork chop dinner at the Cosby Lions Club (Debbie said it was the best pork she ever had), we drove to Fillmore to the Fire Station to support their effort to get a tornado siren for the town of Fillmore. We drove the back roads, and went through Happy Holler Wildlife Area, a very beautiful drive!
September 27, 2008... Continuing to put up signs here and there and to knock on doors. Most days some of these are getting done!
September 26, 2008... The photo of me in the paper today, taken at last night's event, was above the crease, which I proudly pointed out to daughter Renee, who said she was duly impressed, but with sarcasm! She pointed out that Senator Shields was the one speaking, not me! This afternoon, Debbie and I went to Rosendale and rode the Republican float in the North Andrew Parade. We threw quite a bit of candy, and talked to several people.
September 25, 2008... This evening I attended the Legislative Forum at the Holiday Inn, sponsored by the Missouri University Alumni Association and University Extension. It was an interesting evening, mostly geared to discussing the many good things the Extension does. While there were two Republicans and two Democrats, the event was pretty non-partisan.
September 24, 2008... This morning I drove to Jefferson City for a meeting of the Missouri Consolidated Health Care Plan. I am a board member, appointed by House Speaker Rod Jetton, and the meeting lasted until about 4:30 PM, after which I drove home. At our last session, the legislature changed the funding of MCHCP so that it could not automatically receive funds to cover any increased costs. Today, I suggested that we should ask for supplemental funding for this year's budget and get the legislature to pay for the care provided this year in this year's budget cycle. It looks as if we will have a fairly large cost increase next year. The board is committed to keeping cost increases down as much as possible for state employees, and to not reduce benefits.
September 23, 2008... Medical office hours today, broken by a noon visit to the downtown Rotary Club to speak. I was told that my opponent would not be there as his mother passed away. Upon receiving that news, I canceled print ads that were to start running this week.
September 22, 2008... This evening I spoke to the St. Joseph City Council about their sign ordinances, which I believe are unconstitutional. I told them that our freedoms are much too important for us to allow them to be trampled, and that we owe it to those who fought and died for them to fiercely guard them. I urged them to revise the sign ordinances on political signs. For more information on the sign issue, click here. KQ2 interviewed me at City Hall, and I heard the news piece was good.
September 21, 2008... After a family reunion dinner south of Faucett, and a visit to Bluffwoods for a meeting with the St. Joseph Medical Society Alliance (Debbie is their president this year), I went to the Northwest Missouri Republican Club Picnic, and then on to the Missouri University Extension picnic in Savannah.
September 20, 2008... 45 days left until the election!
September 18, 2008... This morning I drove to Springfield, and met with two groups, first the group "Missourians United for Choice in Healthcare", a group in support of an "any-willing-provider" law for Missouri. Springfield is dominated by two hospitals, each owning an insurance plan, and forcing physicians to work at only one hospital. Most doctors in Springfield are employed, and patients are thus forced to choose between the two health systems. Most private patients are insured by one or the other system, so must choose which set of doctors and which hospital to go with. When employers change insurances, the employees must all change providers. In the evening, I met with area mental health providers, many of whom are having problems with the claims they submit to MO HealthNet. The agency requires ten or even twenty pages of documentation in order to approve only five mental health visits. It was confirmed by many that Medicaid patients are being denied the mental health care they need, and that children especially are not getting care in a timely fashion. These providers, too, support an any-willing-provider law.
September 16, 2008... Ray Salva's letter to the editor this morning made me sad for him. He is so full of hate. Two years ago he wrote a letter to the St. Joseph paper criticizing me, and misquoting me. I obtained the audiotape of the floor debate, and went to him at his desk on the house floor. His desk was right next to Ed Wildberger's. I said "Ray, if you would step into my office, I would like to play for you the tape of our floor debate. You misquoted me in your letter." He said "So sue me!". I said "An honorable man would apologize for such a thing." He got up and stormed off in a rage. His letter today is also full of hate, and horribly false. Read it here.
For years, Dr. Conant and I were the only doctors who took new Medicaid patients, so we got lots of referrals from the social welfare board. The times I struggled to get them the care they needed were too many to count, and heartbreaking--so much so that I decided to run for office and hopefully fix the problems at their roots. I took a huge pay cut running for office. I was able to pass the infection control bill in my second year, but it took three years before I was able to get an small increase in Medicaid pay for physicians. After I was elected, my medical practice was struggling, and the simple fact was that our costs of seeing a patient were far more than our pay under the Medicaid program. But the same patient, seen at the federally qualified health center, Northwest Health, generated them about three times as much for providing the same service as we would get in our office. We made the decision at that point to send our Medicaid patients over there--it was necessary if we were to avoid going broke. Since that time, I still have a few Medicaid patients, and it is still heartbreaking to try to get them in to see a specialist. The problem is that specialists limit the number of Medicaid slots to only one or two a day, in order to not lose too much money, and the waiting period can be months. During committee hearings across the state, we heard horror stories about the severe access problem of finding specialists to see Medicaid patients, and how the health of many suffer as a result. In the last few years, I have pushed for increases, and instead of paying less than half Medicare rates, they are now up to about 62.5% of Medicare. Studies show, however, that they must be 85% of Medicare before the access problem begins to resolve.
Ray Salva's letter today is so full of hate and lies I hardly know where to start. I wish the media would do a huge story and print the facts. While I know that most people can sense the truth, it's only natural for a candidate to wish that when lies are said, somebody would be there to right the wrong of it. I'm no different. The ironies are so deep here; the Missouri Hospital Association supported the pay increase for physicians but is using the issue to sway public opinion against me because I stopped their Insure Missouri taxpayer rip-off; Ray attacked my compassion but voted against the bill that would help Medicaid patients be able to see specialists; Ray said I care more about my income than about my patients, but the charity care I provide is enormous. Ray's letter today is a perfect example of the burden a person accepts when entering a life of public service. But I have a thick skin, and Ray only hurts himself by casting such insults and lies.
Ray's letter today is part of my opponent's effort to generate negative letters against me. I know the next 49 days will be more of the same, but I will do my best to remain upbeat and positive. ... Rob
September 15, 2008... At 11, in Jefferson City, I attended the Subcommittee on Comprehensive Entry Point for Long-Term Care Services. I had to leave the house at 7:30 to get there. The subcommittee is studying how best to improve care for those who need nursing care and long-term home care services. We are now in the final phase of drafting our report to the Medicaid Oversight Committee. We finished at 3:30, and after stopping by the capitol, I got home after a long drive at 8 PM.
During the day, KQ2 called me for details on the sign ordinance issue. Click here to read their news story. ... Rob
September 14, 2008... Today Jeff Swan and I put up about sixteen more 4X8 signs around the district and fixed up several others. We're getting really good at putting up signs! ... Rob
September 12, 2008... How nice to read the letter to the editor by Ryan McDowell in today's paper. Read it here. Thank you, Ryan, for helping fight my opponent's attempt to mislabel me as only working on medical issues!
I was called by KQ2 to discuss my signs which people are noticing look "vandalized". So I told the TV station the story and they filmed me cutting one of my signs down to size. See the news story on KQ2 by clicking here. At noon, I went to Kansas City Hospital to the meeting of the "Health Care Stabilization Fund Feasibility Board" on which I serve. The Board is studying whether or not creating a healthcare stabilization fund would be beneficial to the citizens of Missouri, by helping to keep physicians in Missouri by relieving the high cost of malpractice insurance. Read about the Board's work here. ... Rob
September 11, 2008... Mik Chester's letter to the editor today was great! Read it here. I had forgotten my opponent's quote about herd behavior! Thank you for the support, Mik!
This morning I received a phone call from Steve Hofferber of the City of St. Joseph, informing me that a complaint was received regarding my four by eight foot signs, that they are too big, and that I will have to address the problem. (I wonder who complained????) I went to City Hall, and spoke to the staff and retrieved the pertinent city ordinances and studied them. To read the ordinances regarding signs, click here and go to page 88. Ordinance 31-111 states that "All signs not expressly permitted by this sign code or exempt hereunder are prohibited." Political signs in commercial areas are neither expressly permitted in the ordinance nor exempted, so they are prohibited! Under the ordinances, those in residential areas cannot be larger than 12 square feet, and there can be only one political sign per lot!!!. The ordinances are patently unconstitutional (for an explanation, click here.) But to spare the property owners who are supporting me by displaying my signs, I decided to simply reduce the size of the signs in residential areas. So I went and cut down those signs to make sure they were not in "violation". ... Rob
September 10, 2008... Veto session, pretty uneventful, at the capitol . We did not override any vetoes. I was told by friends that the rumor is that the Missouri Hospital Association is going to raise $100,000 for my opponent. In the early morning, I attended a session with Gary Grebe of "Capitol Scout" in which he gave his predictions for the election. Gary is a political "watcher". His booklet predicts that I will win my race. ... Rob
September 9, 2008... Another letter to the editor, part of my opponent's coordinated letter-writing campaign, all from committed Democrats, this time from Dorathea Polsky. She says she admires me, my wife and children, but says "However, I do feel that he is standing on a political platform and is supporting programs that do not fairly provide equal opportunities for all American people." I appreciate that she admires me, but to what programs are you referring, Dorothea? She never tells what they are! I'd sure like to know. Then she praises my opponent because he educated his children in the public school system and because his writing was humorous. Although we home-schooled Robert and Renee through eighth grade, both went to Central High School (as Debbie and I did). Doesn't the commitment shown to the education of our own children reflect on my commitment to education? Would it show a higher commitment to education had we NOT home-schooled Robert and Renee through eighth grade? As far as my opponent's humor, it was often at the expense of someone else (me for example), and I hope voters don't see that as reason to vote for him instead of me.
This evening was a candidate forum hosted by the Region I Council on Developmental Disabilities and MERIL. My opponent actually complained that Republicans gave Lamar Hunt, Chiefs owner, tax credits in the same year we "cut Medicaid". I could not believe it! (He vilified me for signing the letter stating that we should not put 12 million dollars yearly from taxes to the stadiums, given that we were forced to reduce Medicaid eligibility.) I do not believe all tax credits are good, nor are all bad. Some generate activity that would not happen without the tax credit being available. Some increase revenue to the state, and some cost the state money. Each must be evaluated on its merits. But the irony of my opponent's attack on me for opposing taxes for stadiums during tough times requiring Medicaid reductions, then complaining about tax credits for football the same year is just too much! ... Rob
September 8, 2008... 57 days until the election. This morning I attended the start of the Tour of Missouri cycling race, a big event for St. Joseph. The race brings several million dollars of economic benefit to Missouri. This evening I was interviewed by the local MSTA (Missouri State Teachers Association) interview committee. I explained why I supported the tuition tax credit bill, but MSTA always opposes any tuition tax credits, and my opponent says he opposes them, so an endorsement is unlikely, but we did have a good talk. I told them that education is one of my highest priorities, and can be seen in my life in several ways. I took education courses at MWSC, taught several pre-med students through my medical office, and taught a semester night course of beginning algebra at MWSC in the 1990's. Debbie and I home-schooled our children through eighth grade only because our commitment to their education was paramount. But we must do something to fix the severe failure of education in certain school districts in Missouri, from which areas many of our prison inmates come--the Wellston school district reports only 4% proficiency of its students in some areas. The tuition tax credit bill would have applied only to failing kids in failing school districts, and would have allowed kids in those areas to escape the certainty of a bad education. Doing nothing is not an option for me... but what does my opponent propose to fix the problem? ... Rob
September 7, 2008... Got horribly stuck in the mud putting up yard signs with Jeff Swan and my son, Robert, but Jeff's wife, Theresa, brought the pickup and pulled us out! ... Rob
September 6, 2008... I was very disappointed in the letter to the editor signed by Ed Wildberger in today's News-Press (to see it, click here). The worst thing about serving in public office is dealing with mean-spirited and untrue comments such as those in today's paper. I have written what I would like to say to Ed on another page in this website (click here to read), but I doubt the News-Press would print another letter from me, since I recently wrote one on August 31st (click here to read). Ironically, in that letter, I said that the half-truths and even bald-faced lies would be starting... I was right! ...Rob
September 5, 2008... At least the letter to the editor from my opponent in today's paper did not attack me! The article on campaign finance reports listed the several contributions he received from hospital CEO's across the state. Obviously, these were received as a result of the letter sent out by Marc Smith, president of the Missouri Hospital Association (read the letter here). MHA is desperate to see me defeated, and I certainly understand why... I stopped the hospital industry in Missouri from scoring a hundred million dollar windfall at taxpayer expense! (Read about it here.) ...Rob
September 3, 2008... I appreciated Dr. Mike DePriest's letter to the editor today. It explained the truth about Medicaid and the severe access problem and the need to increase reimbursements. Thanks, Mike! ... Rob