Jones Suggests Waiting on New Ethics Law

Missouri House Majority Floor Leader Tim Jones, (R-Eureka), 89th District, recommends waiting until after this year's elections before trying to pass new ethics legislation.

On Monday, Jones said postponing a new attempt could produce a higher-quality ethics bill, according to an Associated Press article published in the Belleville News Democrat.

Jones told Patch the subject was raised during the weekly Monday press conference in the Speaker’s Office, so he addressed it.

After Missouri's Supreme Court last week threw out much of the state's most recent ethics law due to how it was approved, Gov. Jay Nixon called for new ethics legislation. The law was struck down on procedural grounds because the ethics provisions were included in an unrelated bill when they passed in 2010, according to an article published Monday in The Kansas City Star.

Jones, a  resident who sponsored the earlier legislation, said in the Associated Press article he would support a new measure advancing in the chamber but that trying to pass it in an election year could be difficult.

The day after the new bill was introduced, Nixon called on lawmakers to quickly pass ethics reforms, indicating the court’s ruling “caused a lessening of the protection and openness” in the state’s political system, according to the Kansas City Star article.

Jones told the Star reporter on Monday the push from Nixon and Rep. Jason Kander, a Kansas City Democrat, has more to do with politics than good government. He said because Nixon and Kander are both running for statewide office and are accepting large campaign donations, it is hypocritical for them to now call for contribution limits.

The Supreme Court's ruling invalidated a requirement to publicly report contributions of more than $500 within 48 hours when the Legislature is in session. The law also allowed the Missouri Ethics Commission to investigate ethics-related matters without first receiving complaints, and made it a crime to obstruct such ethics' probes. The law banned certain types of committee-to-committee money transfers, a move intended to help the public track sources of campaign contributions.

Current members of Republican legislative leadership, including Jones, voted in favor of the 2010 ethics bill, according to the Star article. The House approved it 153-5. The Senate passed it 32-1.

Jones said in the Star article he spoke to several lawmakers about sponsoring a new ethics bill. But most are already sponsoring several bills this legislative session, he said, and that makes it difficult for them to shoulder the burden of carrying ethics legislation.