The recent attempt to spend millions of dollars of the taxpayers’ money on projects for the Ohio billionaires who own the St. Louis Cardinals, while our highways continue to crumble, shows how recklessly those in government are willing to be with state finances. We need a Lt. Governor who is willing to stand up against corporate welfare and stand up for Missouri’s taxpayers, even when that means taking on both special interests and wasteful spenders in the State Legislature.

This is your money and my money we are talking about. It does not belong to appointed bureaucrats, legislators and special interests that make back-room deals that put our money at risk. Big businesses and sports franchises should take their own risks for one simple reason: they can!

We’ve created a system that caters to wealthy, giant corporations and is stacked against small business and the self-employed. Large businesses are certainly beneficial to the state, to local communities and to those who are employed by them. However, we cannot allow government to favor one type of business over another.

It’s no secret that government wastes money at a rate that would never be tolerated in the private sector. This is among the problems in government that are directly responsible for our tax burden.

I propose a "Zero Budget" system of budgeting. I believe that all state government departments, agencies and offices should begin each fiscal year with a budget of $0.00. Each fiscal year, they should have to justify every dollar they request in their budget, as opposed to having a budget set simply based on a percentage of last year’s funding.

This will allow us to more easily spot wasteful spending before the Legislature approves a spending plan and will force our state government to be more careful in the way it spends our money. I understand that this plan would add to the effort each state office must undertake when preparing its request for your money; that is the point of this proposal.