Columnist: Don't underestimate Ron Richard

A columnist for CBS St. Louis says the rapid elevation of Sen. Ron Richard, R-Joplin, to Majority Leader could signal a major change in the way business is conducted in the Senate:

Richard is one of the legislature’s leading advocates for economic development and preserving tax credits. As speaker in 2010, he vowed that no cut in tax credits would reach the governor’s desk that year.At the same time he takes on leadership in the Senate, several of the leading Senate critics of expanded business tax breaks have been term limited out of office.I should note that a couple of my colleagues have reported a quite different factor in Richard’s selection — that it was a reaction against ties Richard’s opponent has with Tilley, who has become a registered lobbyist.Maybe they’re right. But I have a sense that Richard’s rise to a Senate leader signals the potential for some major changes coming from your Missouri General Assembly.