There is much going on. We don’t post it until we are done or the papers beat us to it.
Since I was not in Rep Dougherty’s office or even in Jefferson City this day. I do not know what actually transpired.
I do know that Rep Daugherty has been very helpful in the past , and single handed I believe, in fighting off licensure and stopping it from leaving committee.
This seems like a stab in Rep. Daugherty’s back. It sounds like he was trying to educate, direct and advise this group of inspectors that do not care to have rules passed on them directed from the MAR.
I think you men or should I say Mr. Bushart should have taken Rep Dougherty’s advice to develop a plan to stop licensing instead of one to embarrass this gentleman.
Jim;
Some points:
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Legislators know nothing except about getting re-elected. Fact.
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Lobbyists provide money for the legislators to get re-elected, therefore they get heard and have influence. Fact.
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Many times, especially during election years, legislators (or their staff, read: handelers) start bills to “license” various trades and occupations. They expect the members of those trades or occupations to contribute funds that they use ti get re-elected. Legislative extortion. Fact.
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If you expect the political process to be “fair” you are living in a fantacy land. THERE IS NO FAIR! GROW UP!
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Once you have lived through this (as we, In Illinois have) you will realize that you can a) keep yacking about fair and honest and what things SHOULD be like, or b) learn about reality and adapt.
Hope this helps;
As usual, it doesn’t…but thanks anyway, Will.
David,
As you said, you were not there. Let me help you to fill in the gaps of what you mistakenly believe as “helpful” advice from the outgoing representative.
As you know, in the past, Rep. Dougherty has supported us in our fight against the MAR and this bill…the bill that has had the same wording in the last three sessions.
With no change at all to the wording of the bill, Rep. Dougherty let it be known that this year…he is in support of it.
We did not go to his office to seek his advice. We went to his office for an explanation as to why, suddenly, what he has opposed in the past as being a poorly written bill with no demonstrated need…was worthy of his support.
What he told us is what is in the article. Money.
As he stated when I asked him about the consumer he was elected to represent, he explained to me that “It is not about what is right or wrong…it is about who has the money.”
Dougherty helped us in the past and now this, his last year, decides to (apparently, from his explanation) sell his vote in exchange for something else.
Who does it serve, David, to keep this information silent?
Does it serve the home inspectors that he has sold out? Does it serve the industry? The consumer?
I disagree with the philosophy of fighting a bill…until it looks like you might lose…and then running to the table and ask to be a “player”. That’s what happened in Kansas and the results of that are in…and distasteful to everyone.
We will have to agree to disagree on this one.
Jim.
Believe or not, I consider you to be my friend. We disagree, sometimes, very much, but that is what friends do,.
Sure, the legislative process is flawed and stacked against the “common man”, but if you look back in history, this has always been the case.
Money talks, sadly so.
But, you have done a GREAT JOB, on a financial show-string, trying to get the media behind you and leverage their voice to compinsate for your lack of financial resourses (i.e., the “bastards” have more money and you have a LOUD voice through the various news media". GOOD FOR YOU. BRO!).
Keep it up.
But,. Realize, David going up against Goliath, was pissing his pants, even though G-d was on his side.
Just do what you can do, and let G-d sort it out. Give Him the authority. He has always had it. He just want you to aknowledge it.
Be well, my friend.
I apologize for the abruptness in my post, Will, and I do appreciate your support…but…
The reporter who wrote the article only used about 95% of the information that I gave him and really mentioned nothing that I wanted him to target.
This article appeared in the Sunday/Weekend edition of the Kansas City Star…right along with the pages and pages of paid ads from the various real estate offices. Thus, the references to the Missouri Association of Realtors and it being their lobbyists who are paying for this legislation was completely omitted.
I am not, nor was I, as naive as the reporter depicted me. I think he used me as a foil…a Doctor Watson to his Sherlock Holmes…as he unraveled for the readers his story…related to his ongoing series…concerning the fraud, deceit and money exchanges that the FBI and federal grand jury are presently investigating in the Missouri House of Representatives.
He printed nothing false. He sought and obtained individual verification of my account from three others…but while his story is accurate, it is just a small tip of the iceberg.
So the job is not done.
It has only started. This barely puts a dent in the armor of the foe and our Goliath is NOT the legislature. It is the Missouri Association of Realtors who has purchased a large number of representatives.
The KC Star stories are always picked up later in the week by other Missouri and Kansas papers. This story will put a little bit of our fight on the map, but is barely a start.
I have gotten emails and calls from other media outlets as a result of it and I hope to get them to convey more of what we need the public to know so that they can help us…in the absence of money and lobbyists in our pockets…to influence their representatives.
But this fight will not be won by a “David”…but by a bunch of David’s. Individual home inspectors using letters, email, phone calls…letters to the editor…other media contacts…making noise throughout the entire state and letting the lawmakers know that…unlike what we were told by Rep. Dougherty, it really is about what is right and what is wrong. Next year, Dougherty will be back to being an electrician…wiring somebody’s house…and he better care more, then, about doing it right than collecting the money. If not…there will be a home inspector telling him how it should be done then, too.
Mr Moriconi was NOT at this specific meeting, BUT he has been at several other meetings in the Kansas City area over the past 3 years that included Representative Dougherty / As have 4 of the 5 other inspectors that were present in Jefferson City for this SPECIFIC meeting.
Curt Dougherty has always been upfront with us about the Bills and what was going on with them AND who the players were; and where it looked like it was going OR not going. He was that way again this year. This WAS the last year he could help us AND you’ve given him a real GREAT reason to NOT do that.
The group consensus from ALL of us 5 inspectors was that once more Curt was just telling it like it is AND not sugar coating the facts. ALSO please remember that we were down there NOT to simply meet with Representative Dougherty BUT to smooze with other Representatives, Senators, etc AND get a feeling of what was going on THIS YEAR.
Jim Bushart had apparently called Rep Dougherty, had a time set up to go to Curts office and discuss the Bill with him. Jim you also told us Curt might be thinking of supporting the Bill this year which was news to us.
In Curts office, among other things he told us was that he was UNDECIDED about the Bill (more and more legislators leaning toward it), NOT that he SUPPORTED it. He ALSO indicated that MAYBE a simple registration Bill to JUST register home inspectors and see how many, where they are, etc might be appropriate without all the fancy BS of the licensing Bill.
Curt Dougherty said ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about selling his vote, etc.
So my statement is:
WHO exactly does it serve, to **DEMEAN **someone telling us to get our heads out of the sand, open our eyes, and SEE the real world? WHO specifically is gaining from this media piece. It sure as crap ain’t US.
That tact certainly DID NOT serve the individual home inspectors that he has helped and supported; IT most certainly DOES NOT serve our industry OR the consumer because it slurs a good guy?
We will have to agree to disagree.
There is much more work to do. Nothing to share on the message board.
The truth hurts don’t it Bushart. You cannot argue with reason.
Call me or email me, Braun.
There is nothing to share on the message board.
And as far as to what degree the truth hurts, that would be a good question to ask Rep Dougherty.
Call me or email me, Braun.
There is nothing to share on the message board.
And as far as to what degree the “truth hurts”, that would be a good question to ask Rep Dougherty.
I am still waiting for the response from my last email. There is no defense on what really went on and you know I have emails to prove you are a lying BASTARD.
As far a Dougherty goes, I will reply using the words of another inspector in the article who emailed me and who feels betrayed also, “It serves me right for being to (too) trusting”.
We will simply have to agree to disagree.
We have a licensing bill to fight, individually or separately. You have forever to throw darts at me…but we have until the end of May to fight HB 1714, and that is where I am concentrating my efforts.
It seems that everyone here has discovered what it means to become involved in politics at any level.
If you are not willing to lie, or misrepresent your position in order to gain support, then how are you supposed to fight against those who would lie, and misrepresent their position in order to gain support?
I do not always agree with Mr. Bushart’s message or methods, but at least he is doing SOMETHING, which is more than what 95% of the Inspectors in MO will do to fight this.
Politicians and newspaper reporters don’t have feelings or souls, so I think that your concern for them is misguided.
No one cares anymore, I had another inspector the other day tell me that he’d rather be rich than right.
That sentiment has been reflected by others in this thread.
“Just don’t worry about it, it’s going to happen anyway” seems to be the attitude of everyone, and those who choose to take a different route, or fight for what they believe in are looked down upon.
Because of that, we will most likely end up with a licensing law in MO, like KS, we are fighting against a long established, organized group that speaks with one voice (even though most of the members have no idea what that voice is saying, nor do they care. Kinda like the US in general…).
I see a future where we are forced to have ONE State organization for each State, and ONE National organization to ‘represent’ us after all the States have licensing.
Who knows? We may even have to have local organizations like Brokerages to keep the local politicians out of our business.
It also serves to reduce insurance rates etc. when you are organized.
I don’t agree with any of it, but I see it coming.
**“Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.” - William Pitt
**
It will be a system simular to what the appraisers are putting up with now. It is coming. Guaranteed. Inspectors will be hired by third party providers, just like the appraisers, and most inspectors will be out of business when it happens. Homes selling in AS IS condition will not need to be inspected, which will amout to 100% of all homes that will be on the market.
Get your resumes ready.
When I got into this business about 15 yrs ago I figured then it would probably be a 20 or so year run before Home Inspectors screwed the whole thing up. So far it is right on track for that. I can’t speak for other States but here it has been other home inspectors who have perpetuated the HI laws going back a decade or more all in an effort to eliminate their competition and get a larger share of the pie. They have aided other organizations who had more money and clout to get bill introduced year after year until they finally got one passed 3 years ago. Up until then smarter people prevailed and the bills never got signed into law until Charlie Crist came along. He signed it in in spite of a mountain of evidence it was not needed nor particularly wanted by the general public but by special interests groups who stood to make a ****load of money. There is not any real money to be had in doing HI but plenty in peripheral businesses like education, tests, CEU (iNachi has scuttled some of that with all the free CEUs) but still big bucks if you are one of the ones who can cash in on the frenzy that is soon to start.
The same thing happened here. A lot of HI talked about doing something but many just sat on their butts and let someone else carry the water. Few would pony up any money to fight the legislations and spent most of the time wringing their hands and wondering if anyone knew anything, while they went merrily along the way doing a couple inspections a week. I predict FL will be overrun by HI soon and the lowballers and contractors are already wrecking havoc on the prices for every kind of inspection. Some are doing the inspections for free so they can get construction work after closing. If it really gets to the point of where the cost benefit trade off isn’t worth all the work, time, effort and money many will just close up shop and go fishing if they can find a spot on the pier for all the other out of work home inspectors and Realtors.
Good post.
If it were not for the harm I see for the profession in general and the consumer, in particular, I would play “nicey nicey” and limit my interests to “what’s in it for me”, too. Hell, I’ve been grandfathered by every bill proposed.
But it is wrong. I oppose what is wrong. I make a living out of observing and reporting defects so that they can be corrected. Licensing bills written by, lobbied for, and designed to enrich special interests…whether it be a used house salesman or an inspector wanting to get off the roofs and start a school…is wrong when there is an absence of a demonstrated need.
I will continue to oppose what I feel is wrong and if I lose, I will pay my licensing fee and know that I did my part…and laugh loudly in the faces of the complainers in Missouri like there are, today, in Kansas…who didn’t fight at all, or played both sides…and have/will become victims of their own silence.
“In any moment of decision, the best thing that you can do is the right thing. the worst thing you can do is nothing.” Theodore Roosevelt.
Let me remind you why HB 1714 is wrong. While pretending to “protect the consumer” it does nothing but provide for the creation of an autonomous licensing board manned by your competitors who were recommended to the Governor by the Missouri Association of Realtors. When you kill a deal for a real estate that agent, that agent will have someone to complain to. Under the guise of investigating the complaint, your competitors who make up the licensing board have the right to pull every contract, every inspection report, and every inspection related record (letter, email, or other) that you have. An investigation can take place going through all of your records until something is found “wrong” for which you can be sanctioned, up to and including the loss of your ability to perform home inspections in the state of Missouri. This will teach all of us from “killing a deal” and is what makes sense of the many, many thousands of dollars spent by the MAR lobbyists to purchase this bill over these many years.
Do I particularly care if hurt a legislator’s feelings for not accepting his diatribe as to how I need to spend money on a lobbyist for him to continue to do the right thing and stop this conflict of interest from becoming law? What do you think?
When I was in St. Louis, I talked with the ASHI inspectors who supported this bill at that time (voicing approval from their counterparts in Kansas City and Columbia, as well) and bragged at the number of people that this bill would put out of business. The rural inspectors who operated with fewer annual inspections would have difficulty keeping up with the increased expenses that the law would require. The big city Part timer would fall to the same fate. For these reasons, the bill appealed to them and they supported it. Is it the objective of the Missouri legislature to put people out of work during such times as these? All for the interests of greed on the parts of real estate salesmen and under informed home inspectors who are unaware as to how the schools that the bill will create will replace the losses with brand new inspectors every six weeks…selling $149 inspections…so that they, too, will soon be back to flipping burgers?
How far will I go to fight this bill? As far as I have to.
Why? Because it is the right thing to do.
I don’t care what Dougherty did for us in previous years…when he has decided that this year he will do what he knows is wrong, and support HB 1714. I didn’t visit his office for advice as to how to participate in the purchase of legislators.
I have since been encouraged after speaking to many of Dougherty’s counterparts in the Missouri House and several in the Senate who say he is full of s h i t and have promised to support our efforts to kill HB 1714. One particular State Senator shared with me her disdain for Sam Licklider, the lobbyist for the Missouri Association of Realtors, and commented that he does not simply lobby for the MAR…he runs it. She said most of what comes through him is his agenda that he…in turn…tries to sell to them when he gets someone to write a bill. We have seen this with HI licensing when he puts out his bulletins asking real estate salesmen to call their representatives in support of the legislation.
Every home inspector in Missouri has a stake in this. Many of them are involved and are engaged at various levels…and need to continue. It is not only important to our profession…it is the right thing to do.
Good post.
If it were not for the harm I see for the profession in general and the consumer, in particular, I would play “nicey nicey” and limit my interests to “what’s in it for me”, too. Hell, I’ve been grandfathered by every bill proposed.
But it is wrong. I oppose what is wrong. I make a living out of observing and reporting defects so that they can be corrected. Licensing bills written by, lobbied for, and designed to enrich special interests…whether it be a used house salesman or an inspector wanting to get off the roofs and start a school…is wrong when there is an absence of a demonstrated need.
I will continue to oppose what I feel is wrong and if I lose, I will pay my licensing fee and know that I did my part…and laugh loudly in the faces of the complainers in Missouri like there are, today, in Kansas…who didn’t fight at all, or played both sides…and have/will become victims of their own silence.
“In any moment of decision, the best thing that you can do is the right thing. the worst thing you can do is nothing.” Theodore Roosevelt.
Let me remind you why HB 1714 is wrong. While pretending to “protect the consumer” it does nothing but provide for the creation of an autonomous licensing board manned by your competitors who were recommended to the Governor by the Missouri Association of Realtors. When you kill a deal for a real estate that agent, that agent will have someone to complain to. Under the guise of investigating the complaint, your competitors who make up the licensing board have the right to pull every contract, every inspection report, and every inspection related record (letter, email, or other) that you have. An investigation can take place going through all of your records until something is found “wrong” for which you can be sanctioned, up to and including the loss of your ability to perform home inspections in the state of Missouri. This will teach all of us from “killing a deal” and is what makes sense of the many, many thousands of dollars spent by the MAR lobbyists to purchase this bill over these many years.
Do I particularly care if hurt a legislator’s feelings for not accepting his diatribe as to how I need to spend money on a lobbyist for him to continue to do the right thing and stop this conflict of interest from becoming law? What do you think?
When I was in St. Louis, the ASHI inspectors who supported this bill at that time (voicing approval from their counterparts in Kansas City and Columbia, as well) bragged at the number of people that this bill would put out of business. The rural inspectors who operated with fewer annual inspections would have difficulty keeping up with the increased expenses that the law would require. The big city Part timer would fall to the same fate. For these reasons, the bill appealed to them and they supported it. Is it the objective of the Missouri legislature to put people out of work during such times as these? All for the interests of greed on the parts of real estate salesmen and under informed home inspectors who are unaware as to how the schools that the bill will create will replace the losses with brand new inspectors every six weeks…selling $149 inspections…so that they, too, will soon be back to flipping burgers?
How far will I go to fight this bill? As far as I have to.
Why? Because it is the right thing to do.
I don’t care what Dougherty did for us in previous years…when he has decided that this year he will do what he knows is wrong, and support HB 1714. I didn’t visit his office for advice as to how to participate in the purchase of legislators.
I have since been encouraged after speaking to many of Dougherty’s counterparts in the Missouri House and several in the Senate who say he is full of s h i t and have promised to support our efforts to kill HB 1714. One particular State Senator shared with me her disdain for Sam Licklider, the lobbyist for the Missouri Association of Realtors, and commented that he does not simply lobby for the MAR…he runs it. She said most of what comes through him is his agenda that he…in turn…tries to sell to them when he gets someone to write a bill. We have seen this with HI licensing when he puts out his bulletins asking real estate salesmen to call their representatives in support of the legislation.
Every home inspector in Missouri has a stake in this. Many of them are involved and are engaged at various levels…and need to continue. It is not only important to our profession…it is the right thing to do.
Jim,
Do you own a YATCH!! Down there at the lake.