Nodler was not the only Southwest Missouri senator who did not bother to show up for the vote, according to Senate records. Of the five senators representing this corner of the state, two, Nodler and Delbert Scott, R-Lowry City, were absent.
Senators Jack Goodman, R-Mount Vernon, also a Seventh District candidate, Dan Clemons, R-Marshfield, and Norma Champion, R-Springfield, Of the three, only Clemons voted for the bill, which needed 18 votes to pass and barely reached that, with 20 senators voting in favor of it.
Nodler explained his absence to the Springfield News-Leader:
Bills pass in the state Senate if they get 18 yes votes, (Nodler) said. If he had wanted to vote yes, it would have been important for him to be there. A no vote or an absence have the same impact, he said.
"My absence or presence doesn't change the outcome because I wasn't in favor of either bill," Nodler said Wednesday. "The same results occurs whether I go or not."
In fact, said Nodler, he saved state taxpayers the cost of paying him a per diem and travel expenses.
Nodler told the News-Leader he also missed the special session on Tuesday -- as well as a candidate debate in Branson -- because he had two other events to attend. One was a meeting with a company that was bringing "several hundred" jobs to Springfield. The other was a fundraiser.
Nodler's absence was noted more than the other seven who failed to show up, primarily due to Wisdom, but he was one of seven senators who did not think the vote was important enough to command their presence. Others who were not present, in addition to Scott, were Sen. Matt Bartle, R-Lee's Summit, Sen. Joan Bray, D-St. Louis, Sen. Jane Cunningham, R-Chesterfield, Sen. Rita Days, D-St. Louis, and Sen. Jim Lembke, R-St. Louis.
It hasn't been mentioned as much, but when the Senate voted by a 23-5 margin the following day to weaken state pensions, four senators were no-shows, Nodler, Scott, Ms. Days, and Chuck Purgason.
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