This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Nov. 2, 2011 - Just back from China, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon has sought to play up the positive: $4.6 billion in trade deals, and play down the negative: two weeks of cancelled Chinese cargo flights, as he refocuses on domestic and state matters.
The common element from overseas to local: Everything is about jobs.
Even Tuesday's call for fellow deer hunters to donate meat to the poor.
Nixon, who is running for re-election in 2012, stopped by the St. Louis Area Foodbank on Tuesday to announce that the state's six regional foodbanks will share an additional $1 million to help hundreds of local pantries feed the rising number of families seeking food assistance.
The governor lauded the St. Louis Area Foodbank, which he said distributed 23 million pounds of food last year. That aid included venison received and distributed under the state's Share the Harvest program, in which hunters donate part or all of the deer they have killed.
"During the last hunting season, approximately 6,100 deer were processed through Share the Harvest, resulting in more than 350,000 pounds of venison for needy families," the governor said. That's an increase of almost 50 percent, he added, from the 4,600 deer donated in 2009 and the 4,200 in 2008.
Nixon renewed his call for hunters to participate in the Share the Harvest program. He noted that he bagged a buck and a doe in 2010, and that he hopes to get back in the hunt shortly. Deer hunting season officially gets underway Nov. 12.
Dave Murphy, executive director of the Conservation Federation of Missouri, praised Nixon as a governor who, even when compared to supportive predecessors, is very, very, very special'' when it comes to his interest in conservation and hunting.
Hunting, by the way, also was linked to the governor's prime focus. Murphy said that "deer season in Missouri has become big business,'' and creates thousands of jobs.
The governor declined to respond to questions about this summer's expiration of state tax credits for food banks, and its possible impact on the St. Louis Area Food Bank and its counterparts. Nixon said that the tax credit -- one of the casualties of the economic development package that died during the special session -- was not a topic that he wanted to discuss at the moment.
Ditto for a question as to whether Nixon, as head of the state Democratic Party, was ready to discuss his role in hunting up candidates. He pointedly said he was not.
But Nixon was open to talk about his China trip, in general, as he emphasized what he hoped would be agreements that open up more markets for Missouri products. That means jobs.
The governor played down any impact from the recent cancelled cargo flights from China to Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. The weekly flights had been announced with fanfare about six weeks ago. An airport spokesman said that two flights had arrived on schedule, and two have been cancelled, since the flights formally began. Lambert won't know about the prospect of next Monday's flight until later this week, the spokesman said.
Nixon said Tuesday that he had talked to Chinese aviation officials during his trip and that he remained optimistic about the future of Missouri's trade with China and other countries. "Missourians make and grow what the Chinese need,'' he said.
As for the special session's demise of proposed state tax credits to encourage such trade, Nixon said only, "We'll see what happens the next session."
Afterward, the governor's office announced that Nixon will be back in the region on Thursday to join General Motors officials and workers at the Wentzville plant for an official announcement of plans to expand production.
The expansion at Wentzville comes just weeks after Ford Motor Co. announced similar good news for its facility near Kansas City.