By Jason Grill, on Thu Oct 11, 2012 at 10:00 AM ET
As the country — and particularly Danville, Kentucky — gets ready for tonight’s Vice-Presidential debate, contributing RP Jason Grill shares his insights on where we stand in this debate season:
Last week, GOP U.S. Senate candidate Todd Akin once again said that he is staying in the race, despite calls from his own party to drop out following his controversial statements about rape and pregnancy.
In the following clip, contributing RP Jason Grill and Republican Annie Pressley debate whether Akin still has any shot at winning in November:
The winners have been declared in Tuesday’s primary elections. On the heels of the results, a political analyst weighs in on how the results might have been different if the primary process was different.
Several states have blanket primaries or open primaries. Supporters say they could increase voter turnout and get the best two candidates to the general election regardless of the party. Opponents say there’s no proof of that.
Voters throughout the metro hit the polls for Tuesday night’s primary. Early Tuesday evening, Kansas City reported a disappointing turnout. Some say they’d like to say they would like to see the way primaries are held changed.
“Normally, these days there’s not one person that wants to vote straight ticket. It’s not the way it works anymore,” said analyst Jason Grill.
Grill’s answer is the blanket primary. Currently, in Missouri and Kansas, residents must vote on either the Republican or Democrat ballot containing only that party’s candidates. With a blanket primary, all candidates for each race would be on one ballot. People could vote for whomever they chose. Then the top two winners would advance to the general election. Even if they were of the same party.
“We’ve seen that primary elections have become so partisan with who gets elected,” Grill said. “Usually, the extremes of both parties get elected so you have extreme one, versus extreme two in the general election, and a lot of the general public more of the independent minded public doesn’t really feel a connection with each candidates.”
Both of the top two system isn’t without criticism. Opponents have been concerned about things like one party domination. Others say there’s simply no research proving these type of primaries bring out more voters.
Washington State, California and Louisiana have all used the Top 2 System for primaries. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled them constitutional in 2008.
Contributing RP, former Missouri State Representative Jason Grill, and Republican Annie Presley of the Bryan Cave Law Firm take on the Missouri U.S. Senate race between incumbent Democrat Claire McCaskill and GOP challenger Todd Akin:
Kickstarter has become a mainstream Internet mechanism where individuals can donate money in advance to help with funding an idea or platform and get a perk or product in return. Innovative recent Kickstarter projects such as the Pebble Smart Watch, Elevation Dockand Brydge have blown away expectations and proven that the crowdfunding concept works. A simple, but innovative platform for creative projects.
A group of high-tech entrepreneurs in Kansas City, Mo., witnessed the success of Kickstarter and websites like the Million Dollar Homepage and decided — why can’t we do this with civic projects? At a time where funding from local, state or federal government is a big if and taxpayers are burnt out on funding major infrastructure projects, Neighbor.ly was born.
Neighbor.ly creates a system where everyone wins through crowdfunding. Capital improvement projects under the transportation, sports, entertainment, education and public amenities umbrella are Neighbor.ly’s focus. The first major endeavor is the proposed streetcar line in downtown Kansas City, Mo. So how does everyone win with civic crowdfunding? Lets take a look at the example of a streetcar plan. Neighbor.ly creator and CEO Jase Wilson believes:
The city wins because it pays less for financing the project. Citizens win because they get a new streetcar. The local economy wins because it limits the impact on taxpayers, and because the streetcar creates jobs. Basically it’s a win engine. Our mission is to transform the streetcar starter line from an obligation affecting a small number of Kansas Citians into an opportunity open to anyone in the world.
Read the rest of… Jason Gril: Crowdfunding Civic Infrastructure? The Next Big Thing
By Patrick Derocher, on Fri Jul 6, 2012 at 3:00 PM ET
Former Missouri State Representative Jason Grill appeared on WDAF-4 in Kansas City to discuss the political implications of the Supreme Court’s ruling on President Obama’s healthcare law.
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