Matt Blunt Reveals Plan to Advance Anti-Choice Legislative Agenda
By James Goodwin
News-Leader
Matt Blunt is attentive and polite, a third-generation politician polished at the U.S. Naval Academy. He admires Thomas Jefferson, enjoys morning runs and is "nervous, excited and scared" about becoming a father in March.
Behind the buttoned-down persona is a warm and caring person, acquaintances say, who tends not to budge when he knows he's right.
"He reminded me of John Ashcroft ...," said state Rep. Peter Myers, who attended Thursday morning prayer meetings with Blunt during Blunt's only term in the Missouri House.
"He was a principled person. He stood up for what he believed. He wasn't obnoxious about it, but you could tell where he came from."
It's been a meteoric rise for the governor-elect, who has held public office only six years — the last four as secretary of state and the two years before as a state representative from Greene County.
Blunt has been helped by his father, congressman Roy Blunt, who passed on his name and political influence. But the relationship has also invited criticism from some who say the younger Blunt couldn't have done it — so quickly, anyway — without the family connection.
Leroy Blunt, Roy's father and Matt's grandpa, said he didn't intend to start a political dynasty of sorts when he served in the Missouri House from 1979-1986.
It just turned out that way.
"I got into politics when (Matt) was young, and he was always interested in politics, from day one," the retired dairy farmer said.
He remembers a young Matt going with him to Jefferson City for a few days at a time. The boy, who was 8 during his grandfather's first year in office, would watch floor debate from a side gallery in the House.
"He'd come right into the chamber there and sit on the side and listen to everything that was said, watch the way people did things," Leroy Blunt said.
Matt Blunt was a picture-perfect candidate for governor — blond hair, khaki slacks, a confident air — with an evangelical Christian background appreciated by an increasingly conservative electorate.
"He's young, energetic, smart, honest," said Kathleen Wilham, the GOP chairwoman in Shelby County, which voted for Blunt by a margin of more than 2 to 1.
"... He'll make a fine governor."
Good impressions
Those who know Blunt from different stages of his life describe him as a listener, engaged and responsive, but not one who talks just to hear himself speak.
He is energetic and competitive, they say, yet can separate politics from his interpersonal relationships.
"He's not somebody that I think is a burn-down-the-house, charismatic speaker," said Craig Hosmer, chairman of the Greene County Democrats. "But I think he's a genuine person. ... I think he has a good heart."
Hosmer, a former state representative who served with Blunt, said the two have shared philosophical disagreements. "But ... I've always liked Matt."
"He's a bright guy," Hosmer said. "I think he's reasonable on issues."
The incoming governor was born Nov. 20, 1970, in Strafford, where he also attended grade school and junior high.
Mary Schiman, his math teacher in the eighth grade, remembers Blunt as a popular kid who respected his teachers and classmates.
"He obviously had good raising, parents with good manners that passed those along," Schiman said. "... I can't say that he was particularly exceptional in any way except that he was slightly above average in everything that he did, and he was a very nice person. I remember that most about him."
Blunt's relative youth — he turned 34 last month — was painted as a weakness during the fall campaign. But it gives him energy and a willingness to try new solutions, friends and acquaintances said.
"His age will be a benefit," said former state Rep. Chuck Pryor, who chaired the House Republican caucus while Blunt served from 1999 to 2000.
"I think it gives him the opportunity to come in with a fresh look ... and say, 'You know what? I know we've been doing it this way, but why does that make it good?'"
Blunt's success in last month's election mimicked that of President Bush and other Republicans in Missouri and across the country.
The gubernatorial candidate beat Democrat Claire McCaskill, the state auditor, with 50.8 percent of the vote.
Come Jan. 10, when Blunt is sworn in, Missouri Republicans will control both the governor's office and the legislature for the first time in more than 80 years.
It's an opportunity party members will seize.
Guidance from god
Blunt's religious faith and his stances on business — ripped straight from the pages of the neoconservative playbook — are no secret.
Commerce and industry — aside from education — served as the cornerstone of his campaign; God guides this grandson of a Baptist deacon.
"I think (faith) will continue to play an important part of my daily life," Blunt said earlier this month.
The governor-elect hasn't completely unveiled his legislative agenda for next year. But he's vowed to pursue business-friendly changes — restrictions on medical malpractice suits and workers' compensation, for instance — aimed at improving Missouri's economy.
He's also said environmental concerns must be weighed against business efforts.
Environmentalists are taking a wait-and-see approach, said Ken Midkiff, conservation chairman of the state Sierra Club.
"We'll give him the benefit of the doubt," Midkiff said. "The citizens of Missouri did not elect someone to make our air dirty and our creeks foul, so if he tries to do that, then we'll react."
Blunt also anticipates supporting "pro-life" legislation, such as making it illegal to transport a minor across state lines to obtain an abortion without her parents' permission.
Carolyn Sullivan, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Missouri, said the abortion rights group would fight such measures. But, "we're going to keep an open mind about Gov. Blunt."
She said one of her biggest concerns is the reinstatement of state money for family planning services, including cancer screenings and contraception.
Legislators abandoned the program two years ago, leaving at least 30,000 poor women without access to health care, Sullivan said.
She hopes Blunt — who has said there's a need to improve access to health care — will push for money for the program.
"We're going to take him at his word," Sullivan said. "We're going to remind him of those statements."
Disagreements are to be expected, even with Republican majorities in the Senate and House.
Blunt didn't support House Republican efforts last year to restrict Medicaid eligibility, for example. And he disagrees with legislators who would create a sunset for the state's ?-cent conservation sales tax or redirect the revenue.
Blunt said during the campaign, "I'm not running for governor to be a rubber stamp on the General Assembly. I'm running for governor to lead Missouri."
Family business
It's a job Roy Blunt wanted but never got.
The Greene County clerk for 12 years, he went on to two terms as secretary of state.
In 1992, Blunt lost the Republican primary for governor. In 1996, he ran for a congressional seat he's held ever since.
Matt Blunt is his father's son — undeniably a politician. But beneath the younger Blunt's polished appearance and readily available responses lies some of his dairy-farm roots.
"I think he's picked up some characteristics from both of us," Leroy Blunt said. "He's been very energetic; he gets a lot of that from his dad."
And from his grandfather? "I don't think he's ever been one to really contest anybody on things, really get down and dirty with them," Leroy Blunt said. "But now some people who listened to the campaign might not agree with me at all."
A new branch
Matt Blunt and wife, Melanie, will soon add to the seventh generation of Missouri Blunts.
Their son — his first and middle names will be William Branch, a family name on Blunt's mother's side — is due March 13.
The child will be a first for the Blunts, who met in Virginia, Melanie's home state, while Matt was in the Navy. They married in 1997.
William will be raised in two churches: his father's Baptist congregation and mother's Episcopal church.
The family will keep its home south of Springfield and return every other weekend or so, maybe more. Otherwise, they'll live in the governor's mansion.
"We're going to do the nursery in the mansion just like the one at home so the baby doesn't get confused," Melanie Blunt said.
Quick rise surprised many
The door to Matt Blunt's political future opened in 1998, after then-state Rep. Phil Wannenmacher chose not to run for re-election.
Blunt, who graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1993, also served more than five years on active duty. He was an officer in the service when Wannenmacher and others urged him to run.
The young candidate's work ethic impressed Wannenmacher the most.
"We all knew Matt Blunt just because we knew Roy. So I truly expected Matt to be somebody that would rest on the Blunt name ...," Wannenmacher said. "I guess what I was most surprised about was, my goodness, that man worked."
As secretary of state, Blunt appointed Wannenmacher, a Springfield securities broker, to a volunteer panel that advises Blunt's office on securities issues.
Wannenmacher expected Blunt would shoot higher than the House, even higher than the office of secretary of state — but not so quickly.
"I thought when he ran for secretary of state four years ago that was a pretty bold move," Wannenmacher said.
So did a fellow House Republican with whom Blunt served.
Rep. Brent Evans, a five-year lawmaker, announced his candidacy first in 1999. At the time, Blunt had served only two months in the House but said he also was "seriously considering" a run.
"I kind of laughed," the Associated Press quoted Evans as saying. "... This isn't an office you can inherit as a birthright because your name is Blunt. He wouldn't even be a candidate but for his last name."
Evans later dropped out of the race and ran instead in a Senate primary, an election he lost.
Despite Blunt's age and any questions about his qualifications, the 29-year-old secured the Republican nomination for secretary of state. He went on to beat Democrat Steve Gaw, speaker of the House, with 51.4 percent of the vote.
One of Blunt's biggest challenges as governor will be leading a legislature ransacked by term limits, especially through the difficulty of writing a new formula to distribute state aid to schools.
"All eyes are going to be on Matt Blunt," said George Connor, who teaches political science at Southwest Missouri State University.
Hosmer, who knew Blunt not only as a fellow legislator but also a fellow chess player, said the incoming governor tries to listen to both sides of an issue before he makes a decision.
His advice to Blunt — or any new governor, for that matter — would be to stand up against interests that have a narrow agenda to push.
"You have to be strong enough not only to lead where you want to go," Hosmer said, "but stop from going where you shouldn't."
Matt Blunt's life and career at a glance
1970: Born Nov. 20 in Strafford to Roy and Roseann Blunt.
1989: Graduates from high school in Jefferson City, where he moved with his family after Roy Blunt was elected secretary of state in 1984.
1993: Graduates from the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md., with a bachelor's degree in history.
1993-1998: Serves on active duty in the Navy, as an engineering officer aboard the USS Jack Williams and later as navigator and administrative officer on the USS Peterson. In the Navy, Blunt helps with the United Nations' blockade of Haiti and drug interdiction missions off the coast of South America.
1997: Marries Melanie Anderson, a Virginia woman he met when he was in the service.
1998: Elected to the Missouri House of Representatives from Greene County's 139th District.
2000: Elected secretary of state, a position Roy Blunt held for two terms.
2001: Called back to active duty in the Navy. He serves in support of Operation Enduring Freedom for six months near London.
2004: Elected Missouri governor, the second youngest in the state's history. He will be sworn in Jan. 10.
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