The Blunt Years, They Were Very Good Years ... So Sings Matt Blunt in New Book

By Chad Garrison Wed., Feb. 4 2009 at 9:51 AM

Categories: Follow That Story, Politics

Missouri's recently ex-governor Matt Blunt got a job yesterday with the big Washington D.C. lobbying firm Cassidy & Associates.

In a press release, Cassidy CEO Marty Russo said the firm and its clients will benefit from "Governor Blunt's result-oriented and practical leadership." Russo also notes that Blunt "successfully worked across party lines in the Missouri legislature."

Really? Sounds like Russo has been reading Matt Blunt's new book, Leadership, Vision, Change: The Blunt Years, 2005-2009.

We here at Riverfront Times got our copy earlier this week. The book includes a foreword by former Missouri Senator John Danforth.

Back cover of Blunt's new book.

Not surprisingly, the publication paints Blunt as a reformer whose practical and results-oriented leadership tackled Missouri's runaway budget deficit.

But the tome is less about words than it is pictures. There dozens and dozens of photos of Blunt signing bills, reading to schoolchildren, glad-handing seniors, walking purposefully, shooting shotguns, and enjoying idle time with the family.

My favorite photo, though, fronts the chapter titled, "Energy Efficiency," in which Blunt stands at a podium holding a florescent light bulb. Now that's the kind of "leadership, vision and change" that can really electrify the public.