It was a wild ride at the capitol this past week! The Republican Caucus was expecting an increase of three or four seats; taking us from 110-114 members however, to everyone's surprise we closed election night at 117! Now, the shocker came on the day after the election when Rep. Linda Black, a Democrat, filed with the Secretary of State's office to switch parties and became a Republican bringing the caucus to 118. Needless to say, it caused quite a stir among the Democratic Party leaders and many of her constituents since she ran for re-election as a Democrat. I have personally worked with Rep. Black and also served with her on the Tourism Committee. She's really a good fit for our caucus.
A Super Majority (capable of overriding the Governor's vetoes) is 2/3 of the 163 members which comes out to 109 so we are nine members over the number needed to override the Governor's vetoes. He will have to play a little friendlier in the political sandbox these next two years!
On Wednesday, the Republican Party Caucus met and greeted the new members of our party and elected our leadership for the coming year.
On Wednesday morning, the Merger Committee investigating the merger of the Missouri State Water Patrol with the Highway Patrol held a public hearing at 10 a.m. at the capitol.
Our next meeting is open to the public and will be held at the Ozark Technical College's Hollister campus just off U.S. 65. The meeting will be Nov. 19th at 11 a.m. There will be an opportunity for the public to address the committee with concerns or questions.
Here in Missouri we recognize marriage as a union between a man and a woman. Recently a St. Louis Circuit Judge overruled a 2004 decision of the people and said that it was unconstitutional to deny marriage to same sex couples. Then, within a couple of days, a Kansas City federal judge (U.S. District Judge, Ortied R. Smith) did the same thing! So, our state's two largest cities are already issuing marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples.
Attorney General Chris Koster is somewhat painted into a corner because as a Democrat and a candidate for Governor in 2016, he wants to appeal to as many voters as possible, especially those more liberal voters in St. Louis and Kansas City. His hand was somewhat forced to appeal the recent decision. However, he has an obligation as Attorney General to see that our Missouri constitution is upheld.
Interestingly, it seems this ruling would only apply to St. Louis city and Kansas City and not the whole state yet those that support gay marriage are attempting to interpret it to apply throughout the state.
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