Sleepless in the Senate: Five moments from inside the Missouri legislative gridlock

A standstill in the Missouri Senate, largely between hardline conservatives and the rest of the Republican caucus, dragged on for nearly two months this year.

Lawmakers employed creative readings to prevent debate on bills — including a rendition of the Eminem lyric “mom’s spaghetti” on the Missouri Senate floor. They debated at a granular level the legitimacy of overalls as Senate attire.

Some highlights from the morass:

An overall mess

Sen. Mike Moon, an Ash Grove Republican and Conservative Caucus member, held up Senate business this week over an alleged dress code violation.

He had been stripped of most of his committee assignments by Senate President Dave Schatz, a Sullivan Republican, because he had worn overalls on the Senate floor this month. Schatz considered it a violation of the chamber’s rules of decorum; Moon refused to back down, finding no written rule covering the question.

In a filibuster of more than two hours on Tuesday, Moon and Schatz debated the details of the perceived slight. Moon said he wore the overalls to cook breakfast. Schatz suggested he donned them on purpose to make a mockery of the Senate.

Didn’t he have time to change after leaving a committee hearing that morning? Schatz asked. The Senate leader had staff review timestamps of when Moon entered the floor, and determined he didn’t “believe there was any rush.”

And hadn’t Moon conversed with another Senator beforehand about what would happen if he stepped onto the floor in overalls, making the unwritten rule violation a “conscious decision?”

“It was not a bad look,” Schatz conceded at one point, explaining he, too, had a pair of overalls in his truck.

A ‘premeditated assault,’ and a near-one?

While introducing special guests, usually a routine part of Senate business, Sen. Mike Cierpiot, a Lee’s Summit Republican, instead attacked a former state senator seen as aiding the Conservative Caucus.

Jim Lembke, a former Republican state senator, is now a political consultant. A St. Louis Republican who left the Senate in 2013, Lembke has been aligned with the Conservative Caucus and is a frequent presence at the Capitol.

“Showing his flexibility on ethics, he’s now leading the charge as puppet master of the 7-1 congressional district,” Cierpiot said.

He noted Lembke’s penchant for accepting lobbyist gifts as a senator, and reminded members that he supported the 6-2 status quo following the 2010 Census — even though he’s now pushing the Senate to go further.

Lembke has called the idea that he is a Conservative Caucus puppet master insulting. “I can’t believe that another senator would get up there and say that about his colleagues,” Lembke said.

Sen. Bill Eigel, a Weldon Springs Republican and Conservative Caucus member, called it “a premeditated assault.” He was so enraged that he later confronted Cierpiot in a near-physical altercation in Schatz’s office, the Missouri Independent reported.

Reading material

To pass the time and hold the floor during filibusters, Conservative Caucus members have read from a variety of texts, some more relevant to Senate business than others.

A non-exhaustive sampling:

• “The Conservative Heart” by American Enterprise Institute president Arthur C. Brooks

• “The Tyranny of Big Tech” by U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley

• Stories about two famous historical canine Missourians, Jim the Wonder Dog and Old Drum

• Emails of support from hard-right activists

• Song lyrics covering numerous genres, from Garth Brooks to Twisted Sister to Carly Rae Jepsen

• “Survivor” by John Playter, a Joplin native’s World War II memoir

• Shakespeare, Thomas Paine, and Lincoln’s second inaugural address

• Articles from the conservative satirical news site The Babylon Bee

Quorum calls

Most Senators don’t stay in the chamber through long filibusters, using the time to take meetings in their offices or negotiate bills behind closed doors. As Conservative Caucus members held a 31-hour filibuster over the congressional map this month, they began making frequent quorum calls, summoning sleep-deprived colleagues to the floor.

That frustrated Schatz, who berated Sen. Bob Onder of the Conservative Caucus for the moves, saying it was interrupting negotiations.

“We’re behind those doors and we are being constantly called for a quorum … when we’re actively trying to find a solution,” Schatz said. “It’s complete and total ridiculous nonsense.”

He also vented about the apparent filibuster “schedule” the caucus had put together and scoffed that other Senators had come in “making comments about how refreshed they are and how showered they are” through the sleepless nights.

“I don’t see an issue,” said Onder, who had complained of being shut out from map talks.

Women get their word in

About halfway through the six-day standstill on the congressional map, the chamber’s 11 female Senators tried to put their foot down.

The bipartisan group wrestled control of the floor away from the all-male Conservative Caucus for a little over an hour during the filibuster to decry the chamber’s descent into gridlock and personal animosity. Some said they felt they hadn’t yet gotten a chance to weigh in.

They were cheered on by some of their male colleagues, and by Gov. Mike Parson’s spokeswoman Kelli Jones, who wrote on Twitter, “Once again, it’s the Missouri Senate’s women who restore common sense. It’s about time we stop tip-toeing around a few mens’ fragile egos.”

But the caucus members were rankled by the accusations.

“Everyone has a voice and a right to be heard,” said Sen. Denny Hoskins, a Warrensburg Republican. “Some of their statements… were unfortunately not correct.”

Sen. Holly Rehder, a Sikeston Republican, later rose to the floor to “fix the record.”

“I don’t know that I’ve ever asked permission or sought permission before opening my mouth,” she said icily to the caucus members. “We were in no way saying we had been silenced. I do not feel any of us felt that we could be silenced.”

This story was originally published February 27, 2022 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Sleepless in the Senate: Five moments from inside the Missouri legislative gridlock."