Matt Blunt

Matt Blunt

Matthew Roy "Matt" Blunt (born  November 20, 1970 in Strafford , Greene County , Missouri ) is an American politician . He is a member of the Republican Party and was governor of Missouri from 2005 to 2009 .

Life

Matt Blunt comes from a family of politicians, his father Roy Blunt was a member of the US House of Representatives and has been a US Senator since January 2011 . He studied history at the United States Naval Academy , where he graduated in 1993. Blunt was elected governor of Missouri on November 2, 2004. At the time, at just 33, he was the second youngest ever elected state governor. He took over from Bob Holden in January 2005 .

Blunt is a board member of the National Rifle Association (NRA).

military service

As an officer in the United States Navy , he served on the USS Jack Williams and the USS Peterson . During his career in the Navy he has received several awards, including a. with the Navy Achievement Medal .

After September 11, 2001 , Blunt was returned to active military service. After a six-month deployment in the UK as part of Operation Enduring Freedom , he finally returned and completed his term as Missouri's Secretary of State . He continues to serve in the Navy Reserve with the rank of Lieutenant Commander .

politics

In 1998, Blunt was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives for two years . In 2000 he became Secretary of State of Missouri and eventually defeated future Senator Claire McCaskill in the 2004 gubernatorial election.

When Blunt took office in January 2005, the situation arose for the first time since 1921 that the Republicans both appointed the governor and had majorities in both houses of the Missouri Parliament. Blunt wanted to use this favorable constellation to implement various controversial reforms, including a. enforce the legal system of the state and the payment of civil servants.

The further cuts in government spending that he called for were particularly controversial. To avoid tax increases, he thought it was necessary, e.g. Take, for example, drastic cuts in Medicaid and the Missouri First Steps program. As a result, approximately 100,000 Missouri residents lost their Medicaid health insurance coverage. The savings in the First Steps program, a support program for toddlers who were lagging behind in their development, were partially reversed after massive protests.

Blunt is an open opponent of abortion and speaks out against stem cell research . The latter issue is not without controversy even within the Republicans.

In his first year in office, Blunt came under pressure not only from his political opponents; even within the party, he had to endure some headwinds. A survey conducted by SurveyUSA found that only 33% of respondents were satisfied with Blunt's administration, making him one of the five worst-rated governors in the United States.

In the 2006 legislature, one of Blunt's primary goals was to pass a version of Jessica's Law that imposes a minimum 25-year sentence for child sexual abuse.

On January 22, 2008, Blunt announced that he would not run for a second term as governor. He was succeeded by the Democrat Jay Nixon , who took office on January 12, 2009.

Web links

• Matt Blunt in nndb (English)
• Homepage (English)
• Matt Blunt at the National Governors Association (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Meet the NRA's Board of Directors on motherjones.com (accessed November 26, 2014).
2. ↑ Governor Approval Ratings on surveyusa.com (accessed November 26, 2014).