Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Leara latest legislator caught up in Copygate scandal

His constituents may have wanted to know why he submitted an outrageous bill that would make a felon out of any legislator who dared to submit a gun control bill, but that is not what Rep. Mike Leara, R-St. Louis, delivered in his latest report.

Instead, Leara became at least the seventh Republican legislator, including Speaker of the House Tim Jones, R-Eureka, embroiled in Copygate, passing off someone else's words as his own.

The following section of Leara's report, concerning the House passage of photo voter ID legislation was nearly word for word the same as the constituent reports submitted by Jones, Ronald Scheiber, R-Kansas City; Chuck Gatschenberger, R-Lake St. Louis; Chrissy Sommer R-St. Charles; Paul Wieand, R-Imperial; and Mike Kelley, R-Lamar:


Our founding fathers envisioned a government that worked for the people, not against them. Needless to say, they would probably not be too satisfied with the mess that is the Washington, D.C. of today. As the Washington insiders and career politicians continue to lose touch with what the people really desire and deserve from their government; I like to think that closer to home here in Jefferson City, we are keeping the founding fathers’ vision alive. Just this week, the Missouri House passed a key measure that ensures that our state government is a service to the people of this great state.

On Thursday, February 14 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 and HCS HBs 48 & 216 is the statutory laws
that would govern Voter ID should the ballot measure prevail.

The goal of these proposals 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 statutes that would help Missourians who might not have or be able to afford an ID obtain a proper
form of identification. Even still, a voter can cast a provisional ballot should they not have the required identification – allowing everyone to partake in the democratic process while safeguarding against voter fraud.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The House information office staff writes these columns, anyway. What's your fuss?

Randy said...

The fuss is that these are not being sent out as written by the "House Information Office Staff," but as reports written by the legislators themselves.