Amid week of distractions, Missouri lawmakers move to isolate embattled governor
The Missouri House passed a massive tax cut, and the Senate voted to amend the Constitution to ban lobbyist gifts and rework term limits.
A hazmat crew shut down Capitol offices because of a letter containing a mysterious green substance.
A legislative aide to a state representative was arrested for allegedly attempting to entice an underage girl online.
All this happened in the last week, and any one of these occurrences would dominate discussion during a normal legislative session.
But as much as lawmakers are trying to keep up a veneer of normalcy, beneath the surface is a surreal undercurrent that’s dominating the 2018 legislative session.
Gov. Eric Greitens now faces two felony charges in St. Louis — one for invasion of privacy and another for computer tampering. He’s accused of sexual coercion, physical violence and blackmail by a woman with whom he had an affair in 2015. He’s being sued for possibly violating the state’s open records laws.
Yet he has steadfastly rejected calls that he resign.
His fate now hangs over the last four weeks of the 2018 legislative session like a dark cloud, and lawmakers are beginning to take steps to isolate the embattled governor and potentially to remove him from office.
Signatures are being gathered to call a special session to consider potential impeachment next month. And Senate President Pro Tem Ron Richard, R-Joplin, says he may hold onto any bills approved by the legislature as long as he can to delay allowing Greitens the chance to sign or veto them until his future in office is decided.
Meanwhile, Democrats continue to insist the House should immediately begin impeachment proceedings.
“We have serious concerns about Eric Greitens having the power to sign or veto legislation,” said Senate Minority Leader Gina Walsh, D-St. Louis County. “We know that Eric Greitens likes to threaten people, so it is not out of the realm of possibility that he would leverage his signature or veto over lawmakers considering his impeachment.”
The last few days are indicative of how unusual things have become in the statehouse.
The legislative week began on Tuesday, and it was immediately upended when Attorney General Josh Hawley accused the governor of committing a felony over his use of a veterans charity’s donor list for his 2016 campaign. That led to Republican leaders of both the House and Senate publicly calling for Greitens to resign.
The same day, Carter Ballmann, 24, a legislative aide to Rep. Mark Matthiesen, R-Maryland Heights, was arrested on a sex-crime charge of attempting to entice a 14-year-old girl online. The "girl" was an undercover officer. Ballmann has been fired from Matthiesen's office.
On Wednesday, Sen. Jamilah Nasheed, D-St. Louis, sent a letter to the director of the state Department of Public Safety asking for heightened Capitol security. She said allegations of physical violence by the governor during his 2015 affair, along with his past use of "violent rhetoric, verbal threats and reliance on firearms and explosives in his commercials," left her feeling "personally in danger.”
Lawmakers ended their workweek on Thursday with a hazmat crew and Jefferson City firefighters sealing off several Capitol offices because of the letter with the green substance — which turned out to be a bacteria that’s commonly found in pesticides.
It was sent to Sen. Maria Chappelle Nadal, D-University City, who said she has received many death threats since she was censured by the Legislature last year for a Facebook post hoping for President Donald Trump’s assassination.
Lawmakers tried to shrug off the various distractions. They even held their annual charity softball tournament on Wednesday.
Despite their best efforts, the governor's scandals could not be avoided.
House Speaker Todd Richardson, R-Poplar Bluff, said Thursday that a “substantial” number of House Republicans have signed a petition to schedule a special session to consider the governor's impeachment.
He declined to specify how many of the 114 GOP lawmakers have signed, but said he planned to turn over the petition to Democrats for their signatures next week.
Three-fourths of House members — 123 of 163 — must sign to call a special session.
Richardson pumped the brakes on calls for immediate impeachment, saying he wants to allow a committee currently investigating the governor to continue its work before making any decisions.
That could mean taking action during the session, he said, but he wanted to ensure that a special session was possible in case the committee needs more time.
“Any time you’re talking about exercising one of the most consequential of legislative powers, you shouldn’t act rashly,” Richardson said, later adding: “I’m not going to put any artificial deadline on the committee. When the committee is finished with their work and makes their recommendations, the House will be in a position to take it up. The overriding message is that this committee is going to have the time it needs to finish its work."
The ranking Democrat on the investigative committee, Rep. Gina Mitten of St. Louis County, said she couldn’t say with any certainty when the committee could finish its work.
"When our investigation is complete, it will be complete,” she said. “Whether or not that occurs tomorrow, next week, next month, or some other time remains to be seen. I don't think anyone has a crystal ball to predict how that's going to go."
House Minority Leader Gail McCann Beatty, D-Kansas City, said there is already enough evidence to immediately impeach.
“I think the speaker is being cautious,” she said. “But from my perspective, I have seen enough. This is a cloud over our state. It is embarrassing. And we need to be moving forward to resolve this sooner than later."
Richard, who became the highest-ranking legislator to call for Greitens’ immediate impeachment earlier THIS/LAST week, said he has confidence in Richardson’s handling of the situation.
He also said he understands the stakes of the decision before them.
“I recognize what we do here is going to set a precedent for years and generations to come,” Richard said. “It’s a situation that’s for the ages, for sure."
This story was originally published April 20, 2018 at 5:52 PM with the headline "Amid week of distractions, Missouri lawmakers move to isolate embattled governor."