We’re on TV! Watch to learn how Amendment 1 will clean up Missouri politics

By Claire in News Posted October 16, 2018

Today, the campaign for Amendment 1 began airing its first TV ad to inform Missouri voters of how it will clean up Missouri politics, as well as its broad, bipartisan support. Watch it here.

It features a politician in a booth labeled “Missouri politics,” with money flying around inside as he gleefully grabs for the cash.

The narrator reads, “With so much money in our elections, and gifts from lobbyists in Jefferson City, Missouri politicians can get a little carried away. Last year, they look a million dollars in gifts like concert tickets and fancy dinners.”

The narrator then unplugs the machine. The politician drops the money and takes a breath.

“But we can fix this. Amendment 1 lowers campaign contributions, requires fair districts, eliminates fancy gifts from lobbyists, and makes state government transparent.”

The screen says, “Endorsed by: AARP, League of Women Voters, Republicans, Democrats, and Independents. Yes on 1 to clean up Missouri politics”

The narrator concludes by saying, “Vote Yes on Amendment 1.”

A broad coalition of Republicans, Democrats, independents, and editorial boards across the state have publicly endorsed the full package of desperately needed reforms in the Clean Missouri initiative.

STL American: Yes on 1

By Claire in News Posted October 15, 2018

Originally in the St. Louis American on October 11, 2018

The November 6 ballot in Missouri has a number of exciting statewide initiatives that should lure progressive voters to the polls – if saving a Democratic U.S. Senate seat (held by Claire McCaskill) and keeping an amazingly diligent and competent Democratic state auditor (Nicole Galloway) on the job aren’t enough. We previously endorsed ballot initiatives to raise the minimum wage (Yes on Proposition B) and to prudently legalize and regulate medical marijuana (Yes on Amendment 2 as the best of three proposals, Yes on Proposition C as a back-up, and no on Amendment 3, which would install the highest medical marijuana tax in the nation and create a private government body to administer the revenues). We also endorse an ambitious initiative to improve many problematic aspects of Missouri politics, Amendment 1.

Here are the facts on what Amendment 1 will do to clean up state politics, according to St. Louis Treasurer Tishaura O. Jones (who also is a former assistant minority floor leader in the Missouri Legislature): “stop big money in the Legislature by lowering campaign contribution limits; require state government to be more transparent and stop any legislative fundraising on state property; eliminate fancy lobbyist gifts; stop the revolving door of legislators becoming lobbyists with a two-year waiting period; require fair state legislative maps to protect minorities’ political power and to ensure neither party is given an unfair advantage when new maps are drawn after the census.”

As Jones noted in her op-ed last week, Amendment 1 has been endorsed by the NAACP, Organization for Black Struggle (OBS), Rev. Starsky Wilson and Deaconess Foundation, Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, Metropolitan Congregations United, Rev. Dr. Cassandra Gould and Missouri Faith Voices, Rasheen Aldridge, Missouri Jobs with Justice and the League of Women Voters. “Amendment 1 incorporates the Voting Rights Act into the Missouri Constitution so that marginalized constituents, like African Americans, will be fairly represented in the political process,” said Jamala Rogers, executive director and a founding member of OBS.

Nimrod (Rod) Chapel Jr., president of the NAACP Missouri State Conference and an early proponent of Amendment 1, noted that opponents of Amendment 1 “are spewing lies to protect the broken status quo, because they know they can’t win on the merits.” Among other claims, those trying to defeat the initiative have tried to appeal to black voters – and, especially, elected officials – by saying a redistricting that made more legislative districts competitive would also make it harder for black candidates to get elected. While Chapel, Rogers, Jones and ourselves all dispute that claim, we consider it absolutely indisputable that a redistricting process that eliminated the Republican super-majority in the Legislature would be good for all but the wealthiest and most conservative of Missourians. Certainly, it would be good for African Americans and Missouri’s largest urban areas, especially St. Louis, which drive the state’s economy while being starved of a fair share of funding by out-state Republican legislators who, selfishly and shortsightedly control budget priorities.

“We’ve been kicked out of public hearings,” Treasurer Jones wrote. “Government meetings have been held in back rooms of country clubs. The Legislature keeps its records secret, yet expects others to follow open government laws. It’s time for Amendment 1 to bring it all into the open for the people to see.” We agree. We strongly endorse a vote of YES ON AMENDMENT 1.

Tishaura O. Jones: “Amendment 1 will make our voices matter more in Jefferson City”

By Claire in News Posted September 28, 2018

This op-ed originally appeared in the St. Louis American, September 28, 2018

You’ve heard me say it before: We have been disenfranchised and flat-out ignored for way too long. The rich and well-connected call the shots in Jefferson City. Meanwhile, regular folks and families in our neighborhoods struggle to pay the bills. But this November, we have a chance to take power away from the big money forces who run Jefferson City, and take it back for regular folks, by voting YES for Amendment 1.

Here are the facts on what Amendment 1 will do to clean up state politics: stop big money in the legislature by lowering campaign contribution limits; require state government be more transparent and stop any legislative fundraising on state property; eliminate fancy lobbyist gifts; stop the revolving door of legislators becoming lobbyists with a two year waiting period; require fair state legislative maps to protect minorities’ political power and to ensure neither party is given an unfair advantage when new maps  are drawn after the census.

Amendment 1 enshrines the Voting Rights Act into the Missouri Constitution to protect our right to vote in majority-minority districts. Amendment 1 puts working families first, instead of lobbyists and big money.

The strong, commonsense policy is why it’s been endorsed by the NAACP, Organization for Black Struggle, Rev. Starsky Wilson and Deaconess Foundation, Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, Metropolitan Congregations United, Rev. Dr. Cassandra Gould and Missouri Faith Voices, Rasheen Aldridge, and Missouri Jobs with Justice. It’s also been endorsed by the League of Women Voters, former U.S. Sen. John Danforth, and many others because it will increase integrity, transparency, and accountability in state government.

Don’t be duped by the lobbyists and a small group of politicians in Jefferson City opposing Amendment 1. They are the same people who took away the wage increases the people of this city won fair and square. They are backed by the same forces who pushed SB43 to legalize discrimination. They have tried every way they know how to make it harder to vote. When is the last time they cared about our families and our communities?

Amendment 1 will make our voices matter more in Jefferson City. And that’s exactly what they’re afraid of.

We’ve been kicked out of public hearings. Government meetings have been held in back rooms of country clubs. The legislature keeps their records secret, yet expects others to follow open government laws. It’s time for Amendment 1 to bring it all into the open for the people to see.

Getting big money out of politics means legislators have to listen to the folks back home, who have been left out of the conversation in the Capitol. Ensuring fair legislative districts means our voices cannot be diminished in Jefferson City.

It’s time to give every community a seat at the table. To learn more, visit CleanMissouri.org. And then join me in voting YES for Amendment 1 this November to clean up Missouri politics.

Tishaura O. Jones is the treasurer of the City of St. Louis and former assistant minority floor leader in the Missouri Legislature.

Republican Support for Amendment 1 Continues to Grow

By Claire in News Posted September 27, 2018

The Clean Missouri campaign today announced that former State Senator Marvin Singleton (R-Joplin) and Union Mayor Mike Livengood formally endorsed Amendment 1, joining the broad, bipartisan coalition working to clean up Missouri politics.

Singleton is a Republican who represented the Joplin area. He said:

“As a sixth generation Missourian and former Republican State Senator, I have dedicated my life to public service. So I know firsthand that we need to clean up Jefferson City. Amendment 1 will empower the voters and change how business is done at the Capitol. Please join me in supporting Clean Missouri—Amendment 1.”

Sen. Singleton is past president of the Missouri Republican Association and is a Life Member of the National Rifle Association. He is retired from practicing medicine as a doctor in Joplin. He has been the local coordinator for several VIP visits to Joplin, including past presidents and vice presidents.

Mike Livengood is the Mayor of Union, in Franklin County. He said:

“I’m a conservative in favor of Amendment 1 because the General Assembly should have to follow the same transparency laws as other parts of government. As a local elected official with over 20 years in office, I know that public service is about listening to the voters, not collecting giveaways from special interests and lobbyists. It’s time to clean up Missouri politics.”

Mayor Livengood is a lifelong Union resident who founded, owned, and ran his own company, Livengood’s Transmissions, for 30 years.

Singleton and Livengood are joined in the public support for Amendment 1 by many fellow Republicans, including former U.S. Senator John Danforth, State Senator Rob Schaaf, former State Senator Bob Johnson, former State Senator Jim Lembke, and Representative Nick Marshall.

When passed, Amendment 1 will:

Keep the ‘Clean Missouri’ initiative alive for November

By Ally in News Posted September 17, 2018

Originally posted on September 17 by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

Think of political corruption in Missouri government as a jigsaw puzzle, composed of interlocking pieces: State legislators have freewheeling power to raise money from lobbyists. Those lobbyists can give personal gifts to those lawmakers, while urging them to pass laws that serve their high-paying clients.

Gerrymandered districts keep incumbents comfortably in office, letting them take care of the lobbyists without fear of genuine election challenges. When they finally do leave office, the lobbyists get them cushy lobbying jobs, where they can influence their former legislative colleagues, beginning the cycle all over again.

It all fits together to form the broader picture of the ethics (or lack of it) of Jefferson City. They are all part of the same problem — so it makes sense to reform them all at once. A judge’s ruling last week failed to recognize the need for sweeping change, throwing a comprehensive reform package off the November ballot on grounds that it addresses more than one topic. But reform is the topic. The effort should be upheld on appeal.

Amendment 1 on the Nov. 6 Missouri ballot — the “Clean Missouri” initiative — would take the power to redraw legislative districts away from politicians and give it to a nonpartisan expert and a citizen commission, with the goal of un-gerrymandering the system. It would also lower campaign-contribution limits, eliminate most lobbyist gifts to legislators, impose a two-year waiting period on ex-lawmakers becoming lobbyists and would open legislative records.

Opponents allege it’s a power play by Democrats to undermine Republican control of state government, but that’s never made sense. The measure is supported by former U.S. Sen. Jack Danforth and other prominent Republicans; the ballot language was certified by Missouri Republican Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft. The redistricting and ethics provisions equally affect incumbents of both parties — which is their real problem with it.

As three current or former Republican legislators put it in today’s accompanying op-ed piece in defense of the ballot measure: “This isn’t about one party versus another. This is about voters versus corruption, secrecy, and special interests.”

So it’s no wonder the politician-lobbyist cartel is desperate to stop this from getting in front of the voters. A Republican voter and the head of the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry sued, alleging it violates the requirement that ballot initiatives address only one topic at a time. Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green agreed Friday.

Proponents vowed to appeal, arguing the measure is indeed about just one topic: the rules governing the Legislature. They’re right, and they should move aggressively to keep it on the ballot. More than 300,000 Missourians put it there with their signatures; the rest of us should have the chance to finish what they’ve started.

 

Amendment 1: Missourians versus lobbyists

By Ally in News Posted September 17, 2018

Op-Ed by state Senator Rob Schaaf and former Senators Jim Lembke and Bob Johnson originally posted on September 17 by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

This week should bring an important victory for voters over Missouri’s corrupted politics, as an appellate court is poised to keep Amendment 1 on the statewide ballot to clean up Jefferson City.

We’ve served in the Missouri House and Senate and watched as powerful lobbyists, big money and partisan insiders steamroll the will of Missourians. That’s why we filed an amicus brief in support of Amendment 1 because it will force legislators to pay more attention to their constituents, not special interests.

You may have heard that three lobbyists are suing to stop Missourians from voting for Amendment 1 to clean up state politics. These lobbyists want legislators to be able to keep taking an average of nearly $900,000 in gifts from lobbyists every year — while ignoring voters back home.

The lobbyists are throwing the kitchen sink at the initiative to stop it, including a “single-subject” challenge, but we have good news: They are wrong. When it comes to Amendment 1, the law is on Missourians’ side.

We agree with Attorney General Josh Hawley’s legal brief on Amendment 1: “The measure, if enacted by the voters, would promote transparency and accountability in the General Assembly.” He wrote that Amendment 1’s “single subject, and central purpose, is to regulate limited aspects of the Missouri General Assembly and its members.”

Of course, it’s no wonder that these lobbyists are out of touch with the people and laws of Missouri. Their lawsuit is being funded by a secretive group in Virginia, registered by a law firm that specializes in “untraceable pressure groups.” Amendment 1, on the other hand, was signed by over 300,000 Missourians, from every county in Missouri, gathered by over 1,500 volunteers.

Here are the facts:

• The single subject, “regulating the legislature,” was certified by Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft.

• The initiative is in line with other initiatives and bills that have withstood frivolous single-subject challenges, and the judgment should be reversed.

• Amendment 1 is supported by a bipartisan coalition of reformers, including former U.S. Sen. John Danforth, the League of Women Voters and the NAACP.

• Amendment 1 would eliminate expensive lobbyist gifts, require legislative records be open to the public, lower campaign contribution limits, stop legislators from becoming lobbyists for two years after leaving the Legislature, and add independence, transparency, fairness and competitiveness to our redistricting process.

In our brief co-signed by watchdog Common Cause, we wrote: “The will of the voters should determine who legislates and what influences legislative decisions. The Clean Missouri initiative seeks to enact this fundamental principle. … The voters of Missouri rather than the courts should decide the fate of this important initiative.”

We have a bipartisan problem. While legislators take unlimited gifts from lobbyists, 90 percent of Democrats and Republicans coast to re-election in uncompetitive districts. President Ronald Reagan called gerrymandering a “national scandal” and an “anti-democratic and un-American practice.” Indeed, year after year, Missouri legislators of both parties are re-elected in safe districts drawn by lobbyists, politicians and partisan insiders, evading accountability for their actions in the Legislature.

Amendment 1 is a bipartisan solution to ensure politicians are accountable to the people. It incorporates important redistricting principles of fairness and competitiveness advocated for at the national level by leading members of our party, including former Sen. Danforth, Gov. John Kasich, former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, former Sen. Bob Dole and the late Sen. John McCain, who jointly signed an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in another lawsuit.

Amendment 1 also maintains requirements for compact and contiguous districts, and would add new requirements for following city and county lines, ensuring no party gets an unfair advantage, and protecting minority representation. It would have an independent expert draw maps to be reviewed and voted on by a citizen commission, after taking public testimony.

This isn’t about one party versus another. This is about voters versus corruption, secrecy, and special interests.

Seeing the desperation of these three lobbyists to keep their stranglehold on Missouri politics makes it more important than ever to put the Legislature back in the hands of its intended rulers: the people of Missouri.

We expect a favorable ruling for voters, and we’ll be voting yes on Amendment 1 this November to clean up Missouri politics.

Voters deserve a say. Clean Missouri ethics initiative belongs on the November ballot

By Ally in News Posted September 17, 2018

Originally posted on September 17 by the Kansas City Star:

On Thursday, judges on a Missouri appeals court could prevent serious damage to the state’s petition process, and the people’s right to vote.

They should seize that opportunity by restoring the so-called Clean Missouri ethics initiative to the November ballot.

Last week, Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green ordered the state to strike the initiative. The proposal — Amendment 1 — offers several changes to the state’s constitution, all involving the state legislature.

The amendment includes lobbying restrictions and a limit on lobbyist gifts, redistricting reform, campaign finance reform and changes to make state government more transparent. Green decided the measure contained too many different subjects, a process he called “logrolling.”

“The Court’s review of this Bunyanesque initiative leaves this Court with an abiding conviction that it is the quintessential logroll,” Green wrote.

His ruling leaves us with an abiding conviction that he removed the measure from the ballot for partisan reasons.

Judge Green is a Republican. The plaintiffs’ case was argued by Edward Greim, who is the law partner of Todd Graves, the chairman of the Missouri Republican Party. Other Republican lawmakers have opposed the Clean Missouri proposal.

It isn’t clear why the GOP is so resistant to needed ethics reforms in Jefferson City or why the party is so afraid of letting the people decide this issue. Limits on lobbying and drawing legislative districts more fairly should be supported by every Missourian who wants open, honest government.

It’s true that Democrats are involved in the Clean Missouri project. But they aren’t trying to impose ethics reforms on Missouri; they’re simply seeking a statewide vote. Republicans should support that, too.

Some Republicans understand this. Former Sen. Jack Danforth has endorsed Amendment 1, and a trio of current and former GOP state lawmakers has filed a friend-of-the-court brief arguing that the measure is ballot-worthy.

Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley, a Republican, says the Clean Missouri initiative involves a single subject and should go to voters. Clean Missouri submitted more than 340,000 signatures asking that the proposal go on the November ballot.

They all understand what Green does not: In Missouri, ballot initiatives must be interpreted broadly, with every close call going to the people — not legislators, lobbyists or judges.

“The trial court’s judgment must be reversed because it misapplied the law,” Clean Missouri supporters told the appeals court in a brief filed over the weekend. “The people should be allowed to vote on the wisdom of the measure.”

We agree. If opponents of Clean Missouri want to argue against it, or claim Missouri’s legislature is a model of ethical behavior now, they should do so in a campaign.

They should not be allowed to use the courts to circumvent the judgment of Missourians.

The Missouri Court of Appeals in Kansas City will hear arguments in the case Thursday, and may rule that day. All Missourians who believe in clean, open government will be watching.

 

The Campaign Legal Center: “If enacted, the initiative will institute practical methods for ensuring that each vote matters as much as the next.”

By Ally in News Posted September 10, 2018

Originally posted on September 10 by the Campaign Legal Center:

New Ballot Initiative Promises to Minimize Republican and Democratic Gerrymanders in Missouri

Clean Missouri has proposed a new ballot initiative that promises to make Missouri elections fairer and more transparent. This plan will minimize the gerrymanders by either party by having a nonpartisan state demographer draw the redistricting map. A bipartisan citizen’s commission, composed of an equal number of Republicans and Democrats from around the state, may make minor changes to the map if seven-tenths of the commissioners approve.

Currently, a bipartisan commission selected by the Governor and the majority and minority party leaders in the Missouri legislature draw Missouri’s House of Representatives maps. State Senate maps are also drawn by a bipartisan commission selected by the state committee for the two largest parties and the Governor. While the bipartisan nature of these commissions are appealing, the members of the commissions tend to have extreme conflicts of interest as they are often lobbyists and political consultants.

Clean Missouri’s ballot initiative prevents this sort of malfeasance by mandating that the nonpartisan demographer not have served in a partisan elected position for four years prior to appointment. The proposal also excludes the nonpartisan demographer from holding office as a member of the general assembly for four years thereafter.

According to Wendy Underhill, a redistricting expert with the non-partisan National Conference of State Legislatures, “There has been more interest this year than in the last few years, and perhaps ever, on changing how redistricting is conducted. Some reformers—inside legislatures and outside—are seeking to move to commissions, and specifically commissions that are at arm’s length from politics, if that is possible. Most reform proposals, like the one in Missouri, include a change in the criteria used for drawing maps as well. This year, for instance, legislators in Colorado and Ohio have sent measures to the voters with overwhelming bipartisan support to change the methodology to increase the level of bipartisanship in mapdrawing, and citizens in Utah and Michigan gathered signatures to put citizens initiatives on November’s statewide ballots as well.”

Missouri’s current maps were drawn in 2012 and exhibit signs of gerrymandering. In the 2016 state house elections, Republicans in Missouri received 59% of the vote and yet were able to control 72% of the seats in the Missouri House. This indicates that Republicans were able to turn their votes into seats more efficiently than Democrats, which is a telltale sign of rampant gerrymandering and a lack of partisan fairness.

Political scientists quantify the difference in each party’s ability to turn votes into seats by using a measure called the efficiency gap. Minority parties in states with high efficiency gaps often won’t be able to gain a majority of the seats in future elections, even if they receive a majority of votes in future elections.

Democratic and Republican incumbents are similarly guilty of manipulating the redistricting process to their benefit by drawing districts to ensure that they get reelected, with minimal concern for fairness criteria such as contiguity, compactness, preservation of communities of interest, and respect for political subdivisions. In fact, scholars have drawn maps of Missouri with lower efficiency gaps than the current map and that meet more of the fairness criteria than the current map.

A lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of this initiative is pending. However, it is premised on ideas that are demonstrably false. In the lawsuit, the Plaintiff assumes that the state demographer “will be forced either to draw noncontiguous districts (say, mixing a district of rural Missouri in with a slice of St. Louis or Kansas City) or conical districts that link slivers of traditional urban communities with swaths of rural Missouri.”

Fair maps that maintain communities of interest and adhere to other fairness criteria have already been drawn for Missouri. Maps like these have not yet been implemented because the people currently in charge of drawing maps have other priorities, such as keeping their seat and winning more seats for their party by any means, including diluting the votes of the opposing party.

This mentality is incredibly dangerous. Due to recent technological advancements and the wealth of personal information available to the public, partisan map drawers are able to gerrymander a map with surgical precision, carefully cracking and packing a map so that their party of choice will have more seats than votes.

The proponents of the Clean Missouri ballot initiative believe that voters should choose politicians, not the other way around. If enacted, the initiative will institute practical methods for ensuring that each vote matters as much as the next.