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Capitol Perspectives: The value of tolerance to college protests
This column is a suggestion to both college student protesters and higher education officials to find a better approach to the pro-Palestinian student protests. Those protests and university reaction are so different from the 1970 student demonstrations on the University of Missouri’s Columbia campus in protest to the Vietnam War and the deaths of four […]
Capitol Perspectives: Recognizing when it’s time to go
The House Ethics Committee investigation of Speaker Dean Plocher reminds me of the recent history of speakers who ended their time in office under a legal or ethical cloud. As The Independent has reported, Plocher sought House reimbursement for travel that had been covered by campaign funds. And he pressured House staff to go around the normal contract bidding process in […]
Capitol Perspectives: An uncharted path for Missouri’s legislature
Missouri’s Senate is heading into uncharted territory that could disrupt the legislative process for the remaining months of this year’s session. It involves a deep split among Senate Republicans by members of a new national conservative organization who are challenging Missouri GOP Senate leaders. That national organization, State Freedom Caucus, proclaims on its website: “We […]
Capitol Perspectives: Ignoring Missouri’s Constitution
As Missouri legislators begin their 2024 session, they might want to consider a recent Missouri Supreme Court decision striking down a significant bill lawmakers passed in 2022. The decision, issued just days before the 2024 legislative session, invalidated the 2022 law because state lawmakers and the governor violated a pretty simple restriction in the state’s […]
Capitol Perspectives: Legislative estimates of tax cut losses
As Missouri lawmakers face state budget proposals in the 2024 legislative session, they might want to consider what their staff had reported about the financial impact of tax cuts passed in prior years. In 2023, the legislature approved tax reductions for government employee pensions and Social Security benefits. A year earlier, the legislature passed a […]
Capitol Perspectives: Does power corrupt in the Missouri House?
This column is prompted by the problems plaguing Missouri House Speaker Dean Plocher who is facing calls by his colleagues to resign because of financial double-dipping by seeking reimbursement from the House for travel expenses that had been paid by his campaign. His troubles continue a pattern of House speakers who have run into trouble […]
Capitol Perspectives: The legacy of Missouri’s 2023 legislative session
As Missouri lawmakers prepare for the 2024 legislative session, they should consider how many of their major 2023 accomplishments received limited public attention. The 2023 legislative session focused on divisive issues like restricting transgender medical procedures for minors and restricting students from participating on school sports teams designated for a sex different than the student’s […]
Capitol Perspective: There must be a better way to do ballot descriptions
Recent disputes and lawsuits about how abortion-rights initiative petitions would be summarized on the ballot demonstrates a serious problem with the process required in Missouri before signatures can be collected. Under the current process, the top of the proposal contains an estimated cost written by the state auditor and a short description written by the […]
Capitol Perspectives: Missouri courage in holding officials accountable
Missouri’s history offers a stark contrast to the limited criticism by Republican members of Congress to Donald Trump’s criminal charges. The defenses by Republican officials to Trump’s indictments are quite different from Missouri’s legislature during the last several decades when there was strong support for removal of officials from the same party who faced charges […]
Capitol Perspectives: A dysfunctional Missouri Senate
The closing days of Missouri’s legislature were among the most dysfunctional I’ve covered in more than one half century. Filibusters by Senate Republican conservatives blocked action on a number of issues. Ironically, the issues killed included conservative issues to allow firearms on public transportation and to increase the vote percentage required for approval of a […]
Capitol Perspectives: Missourians’ right to change their constitution
Missouri’s Republican legislators might want to give a second thought to their party’s push to impose higher vote requirements to amend the state constitution. If some of these requirements had been in effect in 1980, it likely would have led to voter defeat of a major issue for Republicans. The 1980 “Hancock” constitutional amendment requires […]
Capitol Perspectives: Dealing with government disruptions
Missouri represents an interesting perspective for the vote of Tennessee’s House to expel two of its members for disrupting a legislative session trying to highlight firearm issues. As far as I can discover, Missouri has expelled just two House members in the state’s long history. The first was in 1865 when Rep. John Sampson was […]