by Jason Rosenbaum
Missouri Lawyer’s Weekly

ST. LOUIS, MO — This month, numerous lawmakers have proposed bills that they say would fix ethical inadequacies in state government. Several lawmakers said their efforts are also a response to the forced resignations of three lawmakers this year.

On Tuesday, House Majority Leader Steve Tilley became the latest lawmaker to introduce alterations to regulations on campaign finances, lobbyist reporting requirements and internal house rules.

Among other things, Tilley’s proposals that he announced this week would:

Ban lawmakers from taking meals or gifts from lobbyists;

Bar lawmakers from serving as political consultants during a General Assembly term;

Force lawmakers to wait a certain amount of time before becoming a lobbyist or taking an executive appointment;

Restrict donations that a person can make to an elected official who appoints that person to a board or committee; and

Prohibit any entity that has a pending decision before an executive agency or board from donating to the governor.

Lobbyists provide tens of thousands of dollars worth of meals, trips and entertainment to public officials every year. While a few Democratic lawmakers proposed lobbyist gift bans in the past, those bills have gone nowhere in the GOP-controlled General Assembly.

Several lawmakers also proposed banning legislators from serving as political consultants during the last legislative session. Democrats and some Republicans criticized then-House Speaker Rod Jetton for his dual role as the top Republican in the Missouri House and as a political consultant.

When asked why he didn’t publicly support or push for those initiatives, Tilley said in a telephone interview that his position on those issues has “been a process.” In particular, he said he became convinced that lobbyist gifts needed to be reigned in after showing articles about his own intake of freebies to his parents.

He also said the resignations of former Sen. Jeff Smith and former Reps. Steve Brown and Talibdin El-Amin influenced his decision.

“Certainly the spotlight has grown greater on Jeff City,” Tilley said.

Smith and Brown resigned after pleading guilty to federal charges related to lying to federal investigators about illegal campaign activities during the former’s 2004 congressional campaign. El-Amin stepped down after pleading guilty to bribery charges.

Earlier this month, Jetton was charged with felony assault on a Sikeston woman. Before the arrest, Jetton – who proclaimed his innocence through an attorney to numerous news outlets – was the subject of a Kansas City Star series about his continued influence as a political consultant after leaving electoral politics.

Tilley’s ethics package came a day after two other state representatives publicized wide-ranging legislation on the subject. State Reps. Tim Flook, R-Liberty, and Jason Kander, D-Kansas City, proposed a package on Monday that would:

Make it a felony to obstruct an investigation from the Missouri Ethics Commission;

Force political party committees and political action committees to donate only to candidate committees. The bill would also make it a felony to transfer money through committees as a way of concealing the original donor;

Encompass the promising of legislative action for campaign contribution under state prohibitions against “pay to play” laws;

Prompt political consultants who do work for corporations to register as lobbyists; and

Prohibit individuals from being treasurers or deputy treasurers for multiple committees.

“It’s been my personal experience that most of the people you deal with are very honest and work very hard to follow the rules,” said Flook, who is an attorney. “But there [are] a few who will at times bend the rules. Or there may be conduct that looks bad, even though it doesn’t necessarily violate the rules.”

In a statement, House Minority Leader Paul LeVota, D-Independence, said instituting campaign finance limits was a “key omission” from Tilley’s proposal. LeVota and several other lawmakers have sponsored legislation this session to place limits on donations.

Tilley said that LeVota’s statement lacked credibility, because he didn’t criticize Flook or Kander for not including campaign finance limits in their bill.

Earlier this month, Senate President Pro Tem Charlie Shields, R-St. Joseph, proposed a legislative package that would, among other things, outlaw campaign donations from lobbyists during the legislative session.

Kander, Flook and Tilley said they had questions about whether the lobbyist donation ban was constitutional. A judge struck down an in-session fundraising ban in 2007, noting that the measure failed to address free speech issues.

Ultimately, Kander said that the legislation put forward this session would need to be continually tweaked in the coming General Assembly sessions. “Ethics reform,” said Kander, “is an ever-evolving process.”