Missouri Senate descends into insults as Republican faction holds up Parson’s nominees

Hard-right Missouri senators held up more than two dozen nominees of Republican Gov. Mike Parson on Thursday, effectively holding the appointments hostage until senators advance a divisive proposal to make it harder to change the state constitution.

The Missouri Senate collapsed into a complete meltdown as Republicans exchanged insults and personal attacks. The recriminations began after the newly-formed Missouri Freedom Caucus issued an ultimatum that it would block Parson’s appointments unless the Senate passes legislation to restrict the century-old initiative petition process.

The threat came the same day Missouri abortion rights supporters formally launched a campaign to overturn the state’s near-total ban on abortion by placing an amendment enshrining abortion rights into the state constitution.

“There was a new initiative petition campaign that was launched today,” said state Sen. Denny Hoskins, a Warrensburg Republican and member of the hard-right caucus. “Many of us are pro-life in here and we want to make sure that it is harder to get something passed in the Missouri Constitution.”

The proposal, filed by state Sen. Jill Carter, a Granby Republican, would require amendments to win a simple majority of voters statewide while also winning a majority of the state’s eight congressional districts. Currently, only a simple statewide majority is needed.

Carter’s legislation would also completely ban initiative petitions that propose to raise taxes on food and on real and personal property. It would also bar foreign governments from making contributions to initiative petitions.

Senate GOP leaders admonished the Freedom Caucus for both trying to use procedural maneuvers to forgo the committee process and for holding up Parson’s appointments. Seventeen Republicans joined Democrats in voting against a procedural motion to bring the initiative petition legislation to the floor, which failed 25 to 7.

Senate Majority Leader Cindy O’Laughlin, a Shelbina Republican, called one of the leaders of the hard-right faction, state Sen. Bill Eigel of Weldon Spring, “the definition of narcissism.”

“You just want to be governor,” O’Laughlin told Eigel, who has chewed up a significant amount of floor time as he embarks on a Republican campaign for governor.

Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden of Columbia said the caucus’ tactics were “the biggest show of bad faith I’ve ever seen in my life.”

The hard-right caucus, largely spearheaded by Eigel, Hoskins and state Sen. Rick Brattin of Harrisonville, threatened to continue holding the floor late Thursday, blocking the typically routine process of confirming Parson’s appointments until senators passed the initiative petition bill.

The 25 appointments held up include the directors of two major state agencies: Paula Nickelson, the director of the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services and Robert Knodell, the director of the Department of Social Services.

Parson’s office did not respond to a request for comment about his fellow Republicans’ decision to hold up his picks for the state agencies, boards and commissions.

The only source of agreement for Republican senators appeared to come early in the day, when the Senate briefly paused its fight to welcome Brady Cook, the quarterback for the University of Missouri football team, to the chamber.

Democratic senators remained largely silent on Thursday as the Republican infighting played out.

Thursday’s chaotic fight comes as Republicans have filed a slew of bills that would overhaul the state’s initiative petition process and raise the threshold for passing a constitutional amendment at a statewide vote.

Members of the hard-right caucus acknowledged that the effort to make it harder to amend the constitution had renewed energy as a coalition of abortion rights supporters began collecting signatures on a measure to restore the procedure in Missouri.

State Sen. Andrew Koenig, a Manchester Republican, suggested to his colleagues that the state’s initiative petition process subverts the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee of a republican form of government because it moves Missouri closer to direct democracy.

“The U.S. Constitution does guarantee a republican form of government,” Koenig said. “And obviously the IP process does subvert that a little bit. It looks a little more like direct democracy.”