Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Kansas City Republican caught up in Copygate scandal

Missouri Speaker of the House Tim Jones has more company in the scandal I am labeling Copygate.

The latest newsletter submitted by Rep. Ronald Schieber, R-Kansas City, features commentary on the photo voter ID legislation passed by the House last week that is nearly word for word the same as what Speaker Jones and four other Republican representatives sent to their constituents last week, with all of them passing it off as their own personal reports to their constituents.

Scheiber writes (or someone wrote for him) the following:


On Thursday, February 14th, the House Third Read and Passed HCS HB 48 & 216 and HCS HJRs 5 & 12, sponsored by Rep. Tony Dugger (R-Hartsville). This legislation requires a person to submit a specified form of photo identification in order to vote in a public election. HCS HJRs 5 & 12, creates a Voter ID ballot measure for approval of the people that would add language identical to that in HCS HBs 48 & 216 to the Missouri Constitution.
 The goal of these bills is to protect the sanctity and integrity of the election process, not to restrict anyone from voting.   Acceptable forms of identification under these measures include: non-expired Missouri driver’s or non-driver’s license; a document issued by the federal or state government that contains the individual’s name, signature, photograph and expiration date; or a photo ID issued by the National Guard, US Armed Forces or US Department of Veterans Affairs. There are also provisions in the bills that would help Missourians who might not have or be able to afford an ID to obtain a proper form of identification at no cost to the voter or vote by provisional ballot, thus allowing everyone to partake in the democratic process while safeguarding against voter fraud.
 Government should serve to protect the people from external and internal threats.  Providing measures that ensure our most sacred right to vote is good government policy.


In the Feb. 17 Turner Report, I detailed how Tim Jones, Rep. Chuck Gatschenberger, R-Lake St. Louis: Rep. Chrissy Sommer, R-St. Charles; Rep. Paul Wieand, R-Imperial; and Mike Kelley, R-Lamar submitted the same detailed explanation of the voter ID legislation.

The idea behind these capital reports is that the legislators are offering their own assessments of what is happening in Jefferson City in an effort to keep their constituents informed. Constituents do not want to read what Speaker of the House Jones (or perhaps some very personal constituent of his) thinks.

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