A bill proposed by Rep. Ted Hoskins, D-St. Louis, which would make it more difficult for independent candidates to challenge Democrats and Republicans has cleared another hurdle.
The House Rules Committee recommended the bill be passed and it will be taken up by the House on Monday.
HB 1310 would force independent candidates, who already face far more obstacles than Democrats and Republicans, to declare their candidacy months earlier to keep them from catching the entrenched party candidates off guard and forcing them to have to raise more money and inconvenience them.
The first bill of this sort was proposed last year by Sen. Gary Nodler, R-Joplin, who had to spend thousands of dollars to fend off the independent candidacy of Kim Wright of Joplin in 2006. Nodler's bill was co-sponsored by Sen. Delbert Scott, R-Lowry City, who also faced a stiff challenge from independent Michael Holzknecht in 2006.
The Hoskins bill was initially assigned to the Special Committee on Urban Education Reform, which would seem to be an unusual place to assign a bill having to do with elections, but the committee chairman is Hoskins.
1 comment:
It's clear to any thinking person that partisan priorities are not with the citizens but with their own re-elections or the maintaining or gaining of power. Both Democrats and Republicans should be ashamed of themselves that the only things they can agree on are those which broaden their power base without regard to the citizens they are suppose to represent. This issue was ruled unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court and the passage of HB1310 will surely be challenged by Missouri independents thus placing an undue financial burden on Missouri taxpayers.
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