Do you think it’s okay for legislators to overturn legislation the people voted into law?
The people passed Clean Missouri Amendment passed in 2018 by 62% of the vote.
The Missouri Republican Party wants to overturn this amendment. The reason is power. This amendment will control the power the Republicans have.
In case you aren't completely familiar with what the Clean Missouri initiative is.
The proposed constitutional amendment would do what legislators have failed to do, imposing gift limits for legislators, lowering campaign contribution limits, changing the length of time required before becoming lobbyists, and change the model for drawing districts in order to prevent partisan gerrymandering.
The Clean Missouri Initiative proposes to clean up the Show-Me State’s ethics with the following actions:
- Require that lawmakers wait two years before they could turn around and lobby their colleagues. (Governor Eric Greitens called for a revolving door ban from the legislature, and established a lobbying ban for employees departing from the executive branch with his executive order signed on January 9, 2017.)
- Eliminate almost all lobbyist gifts worth more than $5 (As of publishing this article, Members of the General Assembly, along with their staff and families, have already accepted over $1 million in gifts from lobbyists this year. Sen. Mike Kehoe had put together a bill with similar language, calling it the “Cup of Coffee” bill, implying that lobbyists wouldn’t be able to spend more than they would on a cup of coffee. Rep. Justin Alferman had also filed a bill, the first one passed by the House in 2017, but neither bill advanced in the Senate.)
- Eliminate partisan gerrymandering when it comes to redrawing lines for legislative districts and make the races more fair and competitive. (To do this, the petition calls for an independent state demographer to lead on technical work in creating district maps, which would then be reviewed by a citizen commission.)
- Set campaign donation limits at $2,500 for the state Senate and $2,000 for the House. (The current state law, as set forth by Constitutional Amendment 2, which passed in the Nov. 2016 election, sets the mark at $2,600.)
- Limiting the ability of individuals and organizations to circumvent the contribution cap limits by counting the money from single-source committees toward the totals for the actual original donors.
- Put an end to legislative fundraising on state property
- Require legislative records and proceedings to be open to the public
How or why should any legislator or political party in our state be against any of the above?
With that, we ask that you please call or write Governor Mike Parson and tell him you want and we all need, deserve, a veto on this obvious power grab. His number is number (573) 751-3222.
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