Star Politics: The hard-right MO firebrand in charge while Kehoe abroad
.jpg "Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe, center, signs into law legislation that allowed Attorney General Andrew Bailey to immediately appeal a ruling that cleared a path for abortions to resume. Rep. Ben Keathley, a Chesterfield Republican, left, and Sen. Rick Brattin, a Harrisonville Republican, right, stood behind him.")
Editor’s note: The following is from today’s Star Politics newsletter, published weekly on Wednesdays. You can sign up here.
Hello, Star readers.
Today, we’re looking into Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe’s decision to activate the National Guard before leaving the country — and the hard-right second in command who’s taking over in his stead.
Next, we’ll get into:
• JoCo domain fight: A former Jan. 6 defendant emerged victorious in a dispute with Johnson County over the ownership of www.jocokansas.com.
• Driver’s licenses: Transgender Kansans should be allowed to change the gender on their state identification cards while a lawsuit plays out, the Kansas Court of Appeals found.
This week in politics
Gov. Mike Kehoe activated the Missouri National Guard last week ahead of planned anti-Trump protests that turned out to be peaceful.
Kehoe declared a state of emergency that will remain in effect through the end of the month. Then he flew to France to talk trade and take in the Paris Air Show.
Until he returns on Friday, first-time officeholder Lt. Gov. David Wasinger will serve as acting governor, raising questions about who has the power to make key decisions related to the National Guard and the state of emergency.
“You can run into some problems when there’s an ambitious lieutenant governor who might be trying to assert more power than the governor would certainly want to exercise,” said Peverill Squire, a political science professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia.
But a slate of strict guidelines issued by Kehoe and signed by his lieutenant governor sharply curtails Wasinger’s ability to call the National Guard into active duty, issue executive orders and sign or veto legislation without Kehoe’s written consent.
Read the full story from my colleague Kacen Bayless.
More from this past week
• The Environmental Protection Agency temporarily closed its Kansas City-area facilities on Friday, citing a “threat of violence” that could jeopardize employee safety.
• Gov. Kehoe capped off a special session by signing a bill that will allow Missouri to offer millions of dollars of incentives to the Chiefs and Royals to stay in the state.
• Jackson County Legislator Manny Abarca’s wife alleged he “threw her to the ground” during an altercation. He denies it in a court filing.
Looking for more?
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That’s all for now! See you next week.
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