Welcome to the Missouri Monitor!
I am a red-state progressive from the small, conservative capital city of Jefferson City, a microcosm for thousands of other small towns across America.
The Missouri Monitor is not just a publication but a platform for our community to shape the narrative. We aim to deliver well-documented weekly articles about issues that significantly affect our lives and the well-being of our community and the state. Your feedback, ideas, and engagement will be crucial as we evolve and grow, and we encourage you to share your thoughts and experiences with us.
About Me
Politics has shaped my life in tangible ways, and the past nine years have triggered my ongoing passion for staying engaged and working for change.
· Coming of age during the Vietnam War, Watergate, and some of the best music ever played, I now realize that I was also on high alert regarding national political events. For you see, my life as a potential draftee depended on it.
· With the rise of deregulation, inflation, and the Moral Majority, my career path took me to Washington, D.C. As director of governmental affairs for a large telecommunications conglomerate, I directed federal advocacy, lobbying federal agencies and the U.S. Congress. I saw firsthand how things are done in our nation’s capital.
· Upon retirement and relocating to Missouri, I found the political scene utterly shocking. I quickly became involved in a wide range of advocacy work. I lobbied for voting rights legislation and education. I also served as the State Legislative Lead for Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. That experience underscored the need to bust the Republican supermajority in Missouri. I soon turned to local and state candidate campaign work, where I worked with candidates to develop their platforms and strategies for election.
Come for the news. Stay for the community.
I am launching the Missouri Monitor to provide more reporting on the local political scene and elevate issues that local media outlets often overlook. Through its reporting and advocacy, the Missouri Monitor aims to challenge the Republican supermajority's dominance and offer analysis of news, issues, and policies not included in local media to move toward a more balanced political landscape.
For my neighbors in the Mid-MO region, I invite you to join our community by subscribing. Your subscription is a sign of support and a crucial part of our collective effort to build a community committed to freedom and justice for all. The Missouri Monitor is your window into our community's public square, where we discuss and debate the issues that matter most. Your voice matters, and your subscription is a testament to that.
For those who live in bright red communities outside this region, I hope you will subscribe and chime in with your experiences and ideas. Your unique perspectives are not just welcomed; they are essential to this experiment in democracy, our collective effort to ensure that every voice is heard and every vote counts.
Subscribe by clicking the button below. The Missouri Monitor is a reader-supported publication. I am grateful for your contribution to our community and deeply value your support for our shared goal of a more informed and engaged electorate. If you can, paid subscriptions help keep us going and are appreciated more than you know.
My AI Policy
BRAINSTORMING: My wife, Susan, and I brainstorm all article ideas and approaches to the subject matter. No AI is used.
RESEARCH: I do most of the research, with some help from Susan. I attend or listen online to the hearings, debates, and council meetings, read the policies and bills, and give credit to the news articles that I have read. No AI is used.
DRAFTING: I write all of my posts. No AI is used.
MACRO EDITING/REVISION: Susan reviews my articles for me, makes edit suggestions. If I agree, I adopt those suggestions. No AI is used.
FACT-CHECKING: I do my own fact-checking. No AI is used.
MICRO EDITING/COPYEDITING/PROOFREADING: Grammarly installs all of the Oxford commas. I have learned that this app does not appreciate the art of Southern expression so, even though there may be a more succinct way of telling the story, it’s all me. No AI is used.
Graphics for articles – We use Canva for many graphics and personal photos, if we have them. Susan recently discovered Dall-E, an AI app for creating images. It is fun to use to try to capture the essence of our particular slant on a story.
To learn more about the tech platform that powers this publication, visit Substack.com.
