Two Proposals That Could Eliminate 85% Of Mdc Funding If Passed

[Phil Lilley]

latest: 89% against all bills.

[ness]

Do you guys subscribe to the Star? I don't anymore, so I can never get further than the front page of their website. I miss Gusewelle and Frazee, and they have some good reporting now and then (like the UMKC story). They want $142 for a year of digital, and I can't justify that for info that is usually available elsewhere for free.

[Flysmallie]

They want $142 for a year of digital, and I can't justify that for info that is usually available elsewhere for free.

That's crazy. And they wonder why these models are failing. Most of these papers are so poorly ran its astonishing.

We used to subscribe to the Springfield News Leader. And we did this for years. But it got to the point that it was just a waste. My wife would grab the coupons and the rest would go into a pile that I use to start charcoal. Over the summer I told my wife that I had enough charcoal starter to last a lifetime and we needed to cancel. She called and cancelled and they quit billing us but we still get the paper. 9 months later it still comes every Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. She has made numerous calls to let them know. It still comes. We get calls all the time asking us to subscribe again. We tell them we cancelled but still get it and we don't want it. It still comes. I've told the person that throws it. It still comes. Maybe if I send them a bill for cleaning their waste off my lawn they will get the hint.

[ness]

Yeah, we took it daily for years. The only other option the Star offers is a Thu/Fri/Sat/Sun option. We did that for a while but at least two of them would go straight into recycling. We cancelled and they immediately stopped throuwing it, but they called for months, leaving messages on the machine about re-subscribing. No special deal, just the full price. I finally picked up one time and told them we were done. They kept calling for a while longer, then I picked up and told them again and it finally stopped.

Business-wise we used to be a fairly frequent newspaper advertiser. We never do it anymore.

Now that I think about it, I can get to the Star through their app on an iPad. But it's pretty stripped down content.

Ahyhoo -- good to see the poll results, but I wonder how much weight they have.

[bs1827]

I wonder what he was paid to withdraw it?

I read somewhere that after he withdrew it he stated that the main goal of his actions was to bring forth debate and question over MDC funding and that he feels like he was successful in that aspect. However, this could be a reporter filling in the blanks.

[Flysmallie]

He's a politician. I've got a bazillion dollars that says he was lying.

[rFisherk]

I read somewhere that after he withdrew it he stated that the main goal of his actions was to bring forth debate and question over MDC funding and that he feels like he was successful in that aspect. However, this could be a reporter filling in the blanks.

No, that is exactly what he said. But I suspect he was starting to feel political pressure from the growing public outrage.

What about all the other bills on the docket? Do you think they just want to talk, too?

[ness]

I think 'I wanted to start a dialogue' is code for 'turns out that was a pretty stupid idea'. Maybe this signals there isn't much of an appetite in Jeff City for taking on these kinda things when there are so many bigger problems to tackle?