Why are Missouri lawmakers cashing out for lucrative, taxpayer-funded state jobs?
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson has appointed yet another lawmaker to a lucrative, taxpayer-supported state job.
If he’s confirmed, state Sen. Gary Romine, a Republican from Farmington, will take a seat on the Missouri Tax Commission. He’ll join former Kansas City-area lawmakers Kiki Curls and Jason Holsman on the increasingly well-worn path from the legislature to full-time state work.
The trend is clear and disturbing.
Last year, Parson named former state Sen. Brian Munzliger to the state Board of Probation and Parole, which pays roughly $86,000 a year. Three other members of the probation board once served in the legislative branch, a part-time job paying about $36,000 annually.
In 2018, Parson appointed outgoing Missouri Rep. Lyndall Fraker to run the state’s medical marijuana program, despite Fraker’s lack of a background in medicine. That job pays around $95,000.
Ryan Silvey, a former state senator from Kansas City, took a six-figure state job in 2018. So did former Missouri Sen. Will Kraus in 2017. One-time state Sen. Victor Callahan did so in 2012. Gov. Jay Nixon moved then-state Sen. Ryan McKenna to the state Department of Transportation in 2013.
These appointments and others reflect a misunderstanding of how government is supposed to work.
Let’s state the obvious first: Romine’s departure will leave nearly 9% of all Missourians unrepresented in the state Senate this year. It’s anti-democratic and unfair to thousands of voters whose ballots have now been rendered meaningless by the appointments.
More fundamentally, the parade of former lawmakers into state jobs distorts the meaning of public service. It turns elective office into a mere stepping stone to a full-time government career, which can cheat the public of effective representation.
We have no quarrel with politicians in elected office running for other offices. Moving from the county commission, for example, to a statehouse seat and then to Congress or other elected office is common. Experience in politics should count for something.
Elected officials who take seats on unpaid advisory commissions or oversight boards are also to be applauded and encouraged.
And of course, lawmakers need to make a living. No one would argue that Sens. Romine, Curls and Holsman must forsake full-time employment once their terms are over.
But elected office is not the same as a private-sector job. A state legislative seat, or a city council position, or any such office, is a public trust to be occupied by someone whose primary duty is to the people, not himself or herself.
The pursuit of a governor-appointed state job taints the service of other elected senators or representatives. Is an officeholder voting today in the best interests of his or her constituents, or with an eye to a six-figure public job tomorrow?
When state lawmakers are repeatedly named to state jobs, it’s hard to know for sure.
Yes, the problem of conflicts of interest in part-time elected jobs is complicated. Lawyers, farmers, physicians and others serve on city councils and in the legislature, then return to the private sector. Separating all personal interests from public service can be difficult.
But the goal of a conflict-free legislature still matters. Public offices belong to the public — not the person who holds them. Elected officials should never consider their service as a resume-builder to land a taxpayer-supported job someday.
Both politicians and Gov. Parson should remember that fact and act accordingly.