Editorial: Good riddance, Luetkemeyer (we hope)
Published April 15, 2011
Under the redistricting proposal currently moving through Missouri’s state legislature, the City of Columbia stands to lose its staunchly Republican Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer. Considering the bill was successfully pushed through Missouri’s House of Representatives, we can only hope the Senate passes the proposal so Columbia can bid farewell to Congressman Luetkemeyer indefinitely.
As a media outlet at MU, The Maneater seeks to act as a voice for an expansive student body ("The Student Voice of MU," if you will). The student population in Columbia comprises a large portion of Luetkemeyer’s constituency, yet the lines of communication between Luetkemeyer and MU students are blurry, at best, and the representative seems to care very little about communicating with or hearing feedback from his college-aged constituents.
The last time we see record of Luetkemeyer publicly addressing his constituency in Columbia was in August 2009 at a Nissan dealership during a townhall-esque meeting intended to raise awareness about government regulation of small businesses.
Since then, repeated attempts to contact Luetkemeyer about his policies or methodology have been met by unnecessarily abrasive, entirely too brief and completely uninformative statements from his spokesman Paul Sloca. Whether specific questions are posed or if a request for a mere statement is made, Sloca is apt to hang up after giving a one-word response and Luetkemeyer consistently remains an unavailable political phantom.
Because we are a voice of the student body for Missouri's flagship university and because Luetkemeyer inexplicably separates himself from student inquirers as well as the community, we believe Luetkemeyer has failed at fulfilling his political duties. Luetkemeyer is currently positioned as a Missouri representative, yet excommunicates himself from MU students, thereby failing to adequately provide for his constituency.
But the issue of lacking, if not nonexistent, communication between Luetkemeyer and the student body extends further. Luetkemeyer loudly denounces the theory of global warming, publicly declares science a farce and remains hell-bent on defunding the Environmental Protection Agency. We believe his political agenda is not conducive to the values of the MU student constituency.
Such observed contradictions would be tolerable if Luetkemeyer offered an explanation for his political rationale, as opposed to either a dead phone line or a snarky Sloca.
That being said, Missouri senators should know we fully support the redistricting proposal. Good riddance, Luetkemeyer (we hope).
Comments (5)
7:50 a.m., April 15, 2011
Mike said:
Just out of curiosity, what percentage of the student population are actually his constituents? When I was a student here I continued to vote absentee as my official residence wast my parent's house.
4:54 p.m., April 15, 2011
John E. A. said:
Wow. Looks like the Maneater editorial staff has a beef with Paul Sloca, and that is a terrible reason to celebrate being redistricted into the 4th Congressional, Vicki "I hate gays" Hartzler presiding. Yeah, Luetkemeyer is a terrible representative for Columbia, but you're leaving him, he's not leaving Congress. Boone County will lose its regional political clout by being lumped into a western Missouri district that has two military bases. Do you think the university can compete for attention against the sacred cow defense budget? And what about the bigger picture? The GOP dominated redistricting committees are drawing a GOP dominated Congressional map that will ensure six Republicans and only two Democrats get elected every two years. Seventy-five percent of the delegation will be GOP in a swing state that averages about a 50-50 partisan split! Does that seem like fair representation to the students and university? Don't celebrate this because it will change nothing. You're trading a load of crap for a pile of manure.
8:24 a.m., April 19, 2011
John E. A. said:
To Mike and Bruce, Constituents are anyone who lives in the district. The Census counts everyone regardless of their hometown or citizenship status. The lines are drawn based on those numbers, not registered voters. Only about 60% of all adults are registered, so is 40% of the 9th also not constituents?
2:13 p.m., April 21, 2011
Nick said:
Personally, anyday you can remove a Luetkemeyer from your life is a good day and worth celebration.
7:08 a.m., April 15, 2011
Bruce Noble said:
First of all I take issue with the fact that you students even consider yourself constituents of Mr. luetkmeyers in the first place. Consider the fact that better than three quarter of your students are not even regestered voters in the 9th district. Second of all I suspect that better than half could also care less about local issues. So please do not say you speak for all students as their defender when you are tuly just tooting your own liberal views.