Push for real ethics reform in Jefferson City

What use is “ethics reform” if it’s not presented to voters in an ethical way?

That’s the question voters should be asking after some members of the Missouri state Senate tried to pressure the state House into gutting term limits as part of a so-called ethics package. Thankfully, the measure did not make it to a vote as time ran out. Leaders such as Rep. Rob Vescovo, the Republican Majority Floor Leader from Jefferson County, saw through the ruse and stood up for the people’s term limits.

Missouri’s term limit of eight years per chamber passed in 1992, with 75 percent voter support. Polls taken since have shown that the eight-year limit has only gotten more popular with time. After all, voters reckon, it makes little sense to give state legislators more tenure in office than the leader of the free world.

Still, that didn’t stop state Sen. Jason Holsman, a Jackson County Democrat, from trying to double the term limits to 16 years in a single seat under the guise of “ethics reform.” Holsman packaged longer term limits and a ban on gifts from lobbyists into one constitutional amendment, which he wanted to foist on voters this November. The measure passed the Senate and moved over to the House.

Surely every legislator, whether Republican or Democrat, recognized the wolf in sheep’s clothing. Luckily, time ran out before Holsman’s bill was brought to a vote.

On a superficial level, this looked like a bunch of politicians thumbing their noses at ethics in government. But in reality, Vescovo’s decision not to move the bill forward stopped corruption by saving the existing term limits.

Despite popular myths, term limits have always been lobbyists’ worst nightmare. Jack Abramoff, America’s most notorious lobbyist, once said that his profession hates term limits because a politician who stayed in office “for decades, and was a friend, was worth his weight in gold.”

When looking at donor records for the hundreds of term limit campaigns that have been instigated in statehouses across America, one finds that lobbyists and their well-heeled clients donate exclusively to whichever side wants to prevent, weaken or abolish term limits. Abramoff says this is because lobbyists wants a lifetime subscription to a single politician, as opposed to having to build new relationships on a regular basis.

While Holsman’s bill contained one good thing — a ban on gifts from lobbyists — it would have had the unintended consequence of making lobbyists more powerful than ever. This is an idea that has no traction outside of a few steakhouses and cigar lounges in Jefferson City. It would have taken one step forward but two steps back.

Besides, why should voters be forced to decide between a gift ban and term limits? It’s ridiculous to make voters hold their noses and endorse something they find terrible in order to get what they really want. They deserve the opportunity to vote on clean ethics reform.

That’s exactly what Vescovo and former state Rep. Justin Alferman (now Gov. Mike Parson’s legislative director) think. And that’s why they helped move a standalone gift ban through the House back in January. The Senate didn’t care for the idea of a gift ban until realizing it might be the tow truck that hauls longer term limits over the finish line.

Their aim wasn’t to ban gifts. It was to give themselves the gift of more time in office.

This story was originally published June 18, 2018 at 11:26 AM with the headline "Push for real ethics reform in Jefferson City."