While Missouri's divided government - a Democratic governor with a Republican Legislature - can at times be contentious, this years session began with some hope of movement on the issue of Missouri Ethics laws. In his State of the State speech, Governor Jay Nixon (D) pointed out that Missouri is home to some of the weakest election and lobbying laws in the country:
"We have the weakest ethics laws in the nation," Nixon said. "It's not fair. It's not right. And you and I know it."It didn't take long before some of those weaknesses became apparent. In a long standing practice that occurs in Missouri, an official meeting of the telecommunication committee was held outside of the state capital at the Jefferson City Country Club. The meeting, attended by as many lobbyists as legislators was streamed online, as legislators downed alcohol and discussed the impact of legislation that had nothing to do with their committee.
The Missouri country club event that went wrong may have been the tipping point for at least superficial policy changes. Leading Missouri Republican John Diehl, Speaker of the House from St. Louis subburbs to make a change in the policy:
Diehl, a Republican from the St. Louis suburbs, said that while there has been no formal change to House rules, he has instructed committee chairman that there is to be no more free food provided during meetings.Missouri's current ethical and campaign system though still faces a long uphill climb.“The committee chairmen serve at my pleasure,” he said, “so I have a feeling it will be followed.”
The move comes amid renewed debate in both the state House and Senate regarding legislative ethics. Missouri is the only state with both no caps on campaign contributions and no limits on lobbyist gifts to elected officials.