The Kansas City Star, May 29
Gov. Eric Greitens’ attorneys are crossing the line
Last week, Catherine Hanaway - one of the battalion of lawyers involved in the Eric Greitens scandals - issued a press release critical of state Rep. Jay Barnes, the chair of the House committee investigating the Missouri governor.
Barnes’ transgression? Talking about the case with the FBI.
“Chairman Barnes - entrusted with the sacred responsibility of finding facts, not prosecuting a case - shared information with law enforcement before a full review of the matter,” Hanaway’s statement said.
What? Greitens hasn’t testified under oath about any of the allegations he faces. That’s hardly the posture of someone who wants a “full review” of the matter.
But Hanaway’s statement is troubling for another reason: Apparently, she thinks it’s wrong for Barnes to be talking with federal law enforcement agents.
That’s outrageous. Hanaway was once the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri. She depended on people talking with the FBI.
Now, to protect Greitens, she discredits the very process she used. As a former prosecutor, she should know better.
She isn’t alone.
Ed Dowd, a Greitens lawyer, has bitterly attacked the prosecutor’s office in St. Louis. He’s filed a police report against her office. Last week, he compared the impeachment effort to a “coup.”
Dowd’s legal efforts have angered Barnes, who accused the lawyer of lying to his committee last week.
Like Hanaway, Dowd was a U.S. attorney. So was Jim Martin, another Greitens lawyer. So was Todd Graves, whose law firm is involved in representing the governor’s interests.
Greitens deserves to have the lawyers he wants. But Hanaway, Dowd, Martin and Graves surely know the importance of finding facts. Attacking investigators and those who talk with them reflects poorly on their prior public service. It also could lead to wider distrust of law enforcement, including the FBI.
Greitens’ legal team should stick to defending their client’s behavior.
While we’re at it, the governor should come clean about the cost of his defense and the sources of money to pay all of his legal and public relations expenses.
Attorney General Josh Hawley thinks some taxpayer funding for lawyers defending the governor is improper. State Auditor Nicole Galloway has similar concerns.
We’re worried private interests with business before the state could defray some of the governor’s legal costs.
Missourians are owed an accounting of the money spent defending Greitens.
They’re also owed the facts about the governor’s behavior. They’re getting those facts, despite the unfortunate obfuscation by his lawyers.
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The St. Joseph News-Press, May 26
Big merger was best option
Great Plains Energy and Westar Energy will be allowed to merge - a big change that brings with it the promise of continued regional control over our electric utilities and cost-savings that can be passed on to customers.
Whether ratepayers like all the details of the agreement formally approved last week is a side issue. The merger is happening now, and it is far better deal than first proposed two years ago.
Back then, Great Plains, the Kansas City-based parent company of Kansas City Power & Light, was proposing to acquire Westar, headquartered in Topeka, for $8.6 billion and the assumption of $3.6 billion in debt.
Regulators rightly feared Great Plains was paying too much and taking on too much debt, while at the same time unjustifiably enriching Westar shareholders. Still, the urgency to do something was understood by many.
The utility business has been going through a consolidation phase in recent years. It has become a given that utilities must seek efficiencies and financial strength by getting bigger. Great Plains and Westar, with about 600,000 customers in Missouri and about 1 million in Kansas, were big by regional standards but still in need of greater economies of scale.
That’s why it took less than a year for the two utilities to return to regulators with the revised plan approved Thursday. This proposal called for a traditional merger that creates a combined company valued at about $15 billion and employing 5,000 workers.
The combined utility will be renamed “Evergy” - a blend of the words “ever” and “energy.” The KCP&L and Westar brand names will continue to be used “for the immediate future.” The new entity will pride itself on meeting nearly half of its energy needs from zero-emission sources and nearly one-third from renewable energy, making it one of the largest wind energy providers in the country.
In accepting this merger as the best available path forward, the companies and regulators in both states aligned with the Missouri Public Service Commission’s assessment:
“The merger will create a stronger combined company, with more customers, more geographic diversification, no transaction debt to complete the merger, and the prospect for higher earnings growth than either GPE (Great Plains / KCP&L) or Westar would be able to achieve on a stand-alone basis.”
Customers in both states will benefit from modest bill credits negotiated as part of the deal. In addition, base rates in Kansas will be held steady for up to five years.
The important subtext here is ratepayers and our regional communities are heavily dependent on financially sound, well-run utilities.
We should expect highly competitive rates, well-maintained distribution systems and the ability to serve our needs for economic expansion. This merger makes these things more possible than if the two utilities had tried to navigate the future alone.
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The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 28
Missouri falls behind as employers complain of a skills gap schools aren’t filling
Employers aren’t getting what they need from Missouri in terms of an educated, adequately skilled workforce. No matter how many times this is stated, the complaints persist. Frustrated employers can keep tolerating the state’s low level of preparedness and keep losing money from lagging productivity, or they can pull up stakes and move elsewhere.
Elected state leaders who fail to heed these warning signs probably should consider pulling up stakes themselves.
Workforce 2030, a new study by the Missouri Chamber of Commerce, finds widespread dissatisfaction among employers about inadequate workforce preparedness. The study calls for deeper state investment to ensure that middle school and high school students receive training to meet employers’ needs. The Legislature has, instead, worked to weaken the very education system that business leaders say needs shoring up.
The miscommunication between the two sides is glaringly obvious. When the business community calls for improvements to schools, the Legislature responds with tax breaks for business without a corresponding investment in workforce development. The lax attention to education then results in more complaints from business. The Legislature responds with more business tax cuts.
“We cannot find enough workers with the right skills. There is a mismatch, and unless somebody does something soon, we won’t be able to grow in Missouri,” one corporate chief executive warns. Nowhere in the chamber’s 37-page report is there a call for more tax cuts.
Accompanying the report is a Gallup survey of 1,000 Missouri employers, which found that only 44 percent are satisfied with the availability of skilled workers, and only 15 percent believe that high schools are preparing students adequately. Only 30 percent of employers believe Missouri attracts or retains top talent.
From 2006 to 2016, the United States experienced 6 percent job growth, but Missouri realized only 2 percent growth. Only 19 of 114 counties grew beyond the U.S. average, while the vast majority are losing jobs - a major reason why rural areas are emptying out. Projections for the next decade are equally bleak.
The warning signs are everywhere that Missouri is falling behind. The trend won’t reverse itself unless lawmakers, educators and the business world start coordinating more effectively.
The state does a lousy job of marketing its low cost of living and availability of reasonably priced housing. Other states, such as Iowa and Colorado, are leading the way with innovative apprenticeship programs to help students gain valuable workplace experience.
Most Missouri jobs qualify as “mid-skill,” which require more than a high school education but less than a four-year degree. Currently, only 46 percent of Missouri workers have that skill level. These are the gaps that hold Missouri back while other states surge ahead.
Policymakers can keep watching those states with envy or start making the smart investment decisions that prioritize what really matters.
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