Missouri ethics reform initiative hangs in the balance until appeals court rules | The Kansas City Star

The fate of a wide-ranging ballot initiative called Clean Missouri was undecided Thursday as an appeals court contemplated whether the initiative was constitutional.

A three-judge panel of the Western District of the Missouri Court of Appeals, which heard arguments Thursday, is expected to rule soon on whether the initiative should be allowed. A lower court had ordered it off the November ballot.

Clean Missouri, or Amendment One, would make several ethics reforms and overhaul the state’s redistricting system.

Opponents of the measure argue it is too far-reaching, violating the Missouri Constitution, and misleads voters by bundling redistricting changes with more popular ethics reform measures.

Proponents argue the ballot measure deals with regulation of the Missouri General Assembly and sticks to one topic.

It’s possible either side could appeal the decision to the Missouri Supreme Court after the ruling.

“We’re going to fight for the 340,000 signatures that got Amendment One on the ballot, and we’re going to stand with all of those Missourians and we’re going to fight and we’re going to win in November,” said Sean Soendker Nicholson, campaign manager for Clean Missouri.

If passed, Clean Missouri would lower campaign donation limits, eliminate nearly all lobbyist gifts, require legislators and staffers to wait two years before becoming lobbyists, open legislative records and overhaul the state’s redistricting system.

The redistricting proposal — the most controversial component of Clean Missouri — would require districts be drawn by a nonpartisan expert and then reviewed by a citizen commission to ensure competition. An independent demographer would help create the maps.

Supporters argue it would make legislative races competitive. Opponents call it gerrymandering.

Todd Graves, an attorney representing those seeking to boot Clean Missouri off the ballot and chairman of the Missouri GOP, argued the state should avoid “logrolling,” or combining multiple issues into a single ballot initiative.

He said Missouri should “avoid the dangers of fundamentally changing a foundational aspect of our democracy by putting several things that I would call vote candy — that are very popular that people want to vote for — with something that’s very substantive, very dense and has an extreme impact on how districts are drawn.”

In an interview, Graves called the lowering of campaign contribution limits the “most cynical thing of all,” noting contribution limits for Senate candidates would drop from $2,600 to $2,500.

“I mean that’s hardly — that’s a rounding error in these elections,” Graves said. “My contention is that’s because they want that on the ballot and for people to see that and not to see the back end, which is changing the way that they’re represented.”

Chuck Hatfield, an attorney for Clean Missouri, urged the court to keep the initiative on the ballot, arguing it governed the actions of legislators, maintaining a single topic. Even the redistricting proposal, he argued, stuck to the purpose of reforming the legislature, though the initiative petition would involve the executive branch to achieve that.

“It’s not a game of ‘Operation’ where we’re trying to reach in and grab a single purpose and if we touch the sides the buzzer goes off and the game’s over,” Hatfield said.

Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green ordered Clean Missouri off the ballot last week and proponents of the measure appealed. Green ruled the measure did violate the portion of the constitution that limits initiative petitions to amending only one article of the constitution or proposing a new article covering only one subject.

Assistant Attorney General Jason Lewis told the panel some local election authorities could be sending ballots to voters in the military overseas as early as 12:01 a.m. Friday.