Monday, September 25, 2006
Contact: Spence Jackson, 573-751-0290
Blunt Supports MOHELA Board’s Right to Vote for Students and Working Families
JEFFERSON CITY–Gov. Matt Blunt said he supported Missouri Department of Economic Development Director Greg Steinhoff’s call to protect members of the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority (MOHELA) Board from legal threats from Attorney General Jay Nixon and secret third parties his office apparently has said may take action.
“I am pleased with the bipartisan support this forward-thinking initiative has received and with the sound legal analysis performed by attorneys for MOHELA and the Missouri Development Finance Board,” Blunt said. “Legal authority already exists to move forward with this initiative as we have proposed; however in response to the attorney general’s reckless and irresponsible conduct, I support Director Steinhoff’s call for the Board to include legislative approval as protection for MOHELA board members against frivolous lawsuits that could be filed by the attorney general or his secret third parties who have aligned with him to diminish opportunities for students and destroy jobs for working families.
“It is unfortunate that this action is necessary and I had hoped that the attorney general would have put aside his political objections to this initiative by now out of concern for improving higher education and strengthening our state’s economy but he has chosen politics over sound public policy and it is incumbent on reasonable policymakers to provide protection from such overzealousness for individuals seeking to vote without the looming threat of a bogus lawsuit to contend with.”
The MOHELA Board is scheduled to vote on Blunt’s initiative which would provide $350 million to colleges and universities across the state for capital improvement projects and to commercialize innovative research that has the potential to create good paying jobs on Wednesday. The initiative has already received the unanimous support of the Missouri Development Finance Board.
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