An open letter (response) to Eric Greitens:
I understand that this is in your past, and I understand that you “made a mistake.” I also believe you when you say, “that this personal mistake will not deter [you] from the mission [you] were sent here to do.” In fact, that is what scares me the most. Because if you asked me before I hear that you allegedly restrained, beat, and blackmailed a woman, I would have said that your mission is to destroy the last remnants of middle class rural Missouri.
Right To Work (aka Strike One)
We all know that RTW was branded just right so that it might work. Who does it work for? It works for Koch Industries, Walmart, and McDonalds. Fortunately, the remnant of the labor movement is just strong enough that the state bonded together in telling you NO, and now we will see what Missouri thinks about YOUR MISSION. I guess we will call this a foul-tip for now.
Cutting 9% from Higher Ed and $15M from K-12 (aka Strike Two)
As a resident of southeast Missouri and a southern Illinois transplant, I was just getting use to all of the jokes about property tax and the flood of faculty leaving SIU-C. Now, I’m assuming that you’re just trying to “one up” Illinois on this one. SEMO students are likely going to see a nearly 6% increase on tuition in 2018. I’d assume an additional increase in 2019 as well. I’m sure that the over 4,000 students requiring financial aid are happy about it. I could go on about the K-12 schools considering four-day school weeks and fighting to keep their doors open, but I figured that you stopped caring about other peoples’ children well before you decided to cheat on the mother of your own.
Forcing the Illegal Firing of Margie Vandeven (aka Strike Three)
I should clarify… the firing of Vandeven was technically legal assuming that the removals and appointments that you made before getting her fired WERE legal. So, what have you succeeded in doing besides firing a seasoned educational veteran? You have gotten one step closer to putting Missouri public schools into the hands of the private sector. This will be helpful for upper-middle-class suburbanites looking for a cheaper option to Chaminade or Whitfield, but how does this help rural Missourians? Oh yeah… that’s right, it doesn’t!
My recommendation for you, Eric? Be a good sport because it's time to go back to the bench.
