To the editor:

As a freshman legislator, this past session was very interesting.

The budget was the hot topic for the year. The governor wanted us to approve a $700 million tax increase. I did not support this proposal, I think our state budget is al-ready too large.

The governor stated he wanted to work with the Republican-controlled Legisla-ture, however, I can assure you he never called me.

Gov. Bob Holden is sending me a message. He does not want to work with Re-publicans. Gov. Holden vetoed some im-portant bills.

Foster-care reform was a bipartisan bill that passed with overwhelming support. A child in Southwest Missouri lost his life last year in the foster-care system, however, Gov. Holden did not fire anyone. He also vetoed this important bill.

Tort reform was another important bill. This bill would have made malpractice in-surance more affordable for doctors. We are losing doctors on a daily basis who have to pay in excess of $130,000 a year for insurance. I guess the governor thinks it is more important to protect the trial at-torneys.

Gov. Holden even vetoed a bill that would have given vanity plates to disabled veterans, National Guard members like myself and even Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. Since you have to pay $15 to get personalized plates, these are all revenue generators.

The governor and his supporters also claim that we need to close corporate loopholes. This sounds great, however, I have two questions for the governor. First of all, why didn’t the Democrats close these “loopholes” since they had been in control for almost 50 years?

Secondly, if there are really so many “loopholes,” why did our state lose almost 80,000 jobs in the last 18 months?

Rep. Jim Avery

District 95

Crestwood