Jill Schlupp: "So-called Conservative Caucus" bringing shame to Missouri Senate

By Sen. Jill Schlupp, D-St. Louis County)

Divided, dysfunctional, dystopian; none of these adjectives adequately describe the devolution of the Missouri Senate. Literally, since the first day of the session, the upper chamber has been held hostage by a handful of hardliners who can’t even attract members of their own party to their cause.

Over the last few weeks, the Senate’s self-described “Conservative Caucus”— a small, but extremely vocal faction of the majority party — blocked progress on a bipartisan plan to redraw Missouri’s eight congressional districts to reflect our state’s changing population. 

Despite receiving backing of the Senate’s majority party leadership, the measure hit a brick wall of obstruction and self-interest as a small cadre of extremists held out. 

Even with the deadline for candidate filing having opened this week on 2/22/22, district boundaries are still undetermined as this group of senators rejected a compromise map created by the House of Representatives. It was a 6-to-2 partisan map, reflecting the status quo in Missouri. 

During a filibuster that stretched more than 30 hours over several days, this group openly called for gerrymandered districts to ensure seven of our state’s eight congressional seats would be filled by conservatives. 

With the sole exception of only one St. Louis-area district that is protected as a majority-minority seat by the federal Voting Rights Act, they argued for districts ripe for candidates who share their extremist pro-life, pro-gun, anti-voting rights views.

The redistricting stunt is just the latest example of the tyranny of this small minority in the Missouri Senate. 

A few weeks ago, this same group shamefully blocked the confirmation of a well-qualified candidate to head the Missouri Department of Health and Human Services. 

Despite this individual being selected by a governor of their own party, and the candidate publically voicing opposition to mask and vaccine mandates, they scuttled the nomination and sullied a good man’s name, while protestors ginned up by divisive social media rhetoric screamed in the hallway outside the hearing room. 

In my opinion, their actions brought embarrassment to the governor, shame to the Senate and left Missouri with no one in charge of public health at a time when a deadly pandemic still rages.

How the rest of the 2022 legislative session proceeds is anyone’s guess. If the first five weeks are any indication, it’s looking grim. Just when we think the discourse has reached a new low, the hardliners dig deeper. This is my 14th year as a member of the Missouri General Assembly. 

During that time, I have never witnessed the dysfunction we’ve seen the past several weeks. Personal vendettas are being aired on the Senate floor, and routine procedural motions are being held up while senators pontificate. If what we’ve seen so far continues, it’s going to be a long session.

And still, I remain hopeful that our state can and will be better.