General Assembly overrides Nixon's congressional redistricting veto

The months-long political process of redrawing Missouri's congressional districts is finally over after legislators in the Missouri General Assembly voted to override the governor's veto of the redistricting proposal Wednesday.

In the House, four black Democrats, two from St. Louis and two from Kansas City, joined every Republican in approving the override in a 109-44 vote that then sent the bill to the Senate. House Republicans needed to pick up at least four Democrats to reach the two-thirds majority they needed to override Nixon's veto.

Rep. Michael Brown, D-Kansas City, who voted with the Republicans, said he was concerned with the response from his party but said he voted to override the veto to protect his congressman -- black Democratic U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver.

"From the western side of the state, my congressman was signaling that this might be a map that he could work with and that if it went to the courts he may not get the kind of map that was suitable for him," Brown said.

Democratic Floor Leader Rep. Mike Talboy, D-Jackson County, said the map was designed by Republicans to target Carnahan and blamed the result on a "partisan redistricting process."

"You have folks who got calls because in the end people needed to defend their own districts and make sure those things are taken care of," Talboy said. "The question becomes, and this is why people are upset, are you going to vote as a Democrat to keep Democrats in Congress or are you going to vote to let somebody be eliminated and have less Democrats in the state and have a 6-2 map."

Rep. Tishaura Jones, D-St. Louis City, said she voted against the override to defend Carnahan and keep his seat from getting eliminated.

"I'm one of few African-Americans in this assembly that is represented by Carnahan ... so I'm here to stand up for my congressman who is getting drawn out of this map," Jones said. "I think that Missouri is a state where people should have a fighting chance, and this map does not give my congressman a fighting chance."

Rep. Jamilah Nasheed, D-St. Louis City, said the four Democratic votes, all of which came from black members of the caucus, should come as a sign that black Democrats deserve more recognition from their party. Nasheed's district is represented by the other black Democratic U.S. representative, Lacy Clay.

"For years, African-Americans have been taken for granted within the Democratic party, and at some point African-Americans should understand that their vote counts and they deserve more from the Democratic party," Nasheed said. "At the end of the day we are in lock-step with them, we vote 99.9 percent Democrat, but there is no return on the vote."

Both Brown and Nasheed said that their caucus did not have enough members to afford kicking out any member. Brown also said the Democratic party might have to adjust to more conservative members, just as Republicans had to deal with the emergence of the tea party.

Talboy said the party is going to discuss how the four defecting Democrats voted and the potential consequences of their actions. One of these consequences could result Democratic members being forced out of their caucus.

"If anything is decided one way or the other, if we think it needs to be discussed outside the family, then we will do so at that time, but for now all of those discussions will stay inside of the family because, quite frankly, it is an emotional issue and people have opinions about it," Talboy said. "I can't speak for all my caucus members and what's in their head right now, but we will have a discussion."

Speaker of the House Steve Tilley, R-Perryville, said the Democratic caucus should be embarrassed for discussing the possibility of kicking out members for voting against the party.

"There's no one vote that I would kick any member of our caucus out of our caucus. ... In our caucus, when we disagree, we disagree and we don't ostracize people because we disagree with them," Tilley said. "If they continue to behave like that, the Republican caucus is only going to grow larger."

House Redistricting Committee Chairman John Diehl, R-St. Louis County, said the map was compact and "adequately represents all Missourians," a sentiment that he has stated repeatedly in the past.

In the afternoon, the Senate followed the House's example and, without debate, overrode the veto in a 28-6 vote. One Republican senator, Bill Stouffer, R-Napton, voted with five Democrats against the veto override. Stouffer has been against the redistricting proposals throughout the process because the maps place his and two other rural counties in the Fifth District with a part of urban Kansas City.

The chambers sent Gov. Jay Nixon the finalized conference maps on April 27, and he vetoed the bill on April 30.

Nixon was unavailable for comment, but released a statement on the override. In the statement, Nixon said he still does "not believe this map reflects a fair representation of the interests for all regions of our state." He continued, "Now that the map is finalized, we expect a robust electoral process in these significantly altered districts."

Last week, members of both chambers formed the conference map, which eliminates the St. Louis district held by Democratic U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan, following a contentious debate over the proposed district lines that split the Republican party and stalled the legislation for weeks.

Carnahan's office released a statement about the override of the redistricting plan that eliminates his congressional seat.

"This is a bad day for the people of Missouri," the statement said. "Families and businesses across this state are facing the prospect of weaker representation and divided communities, all in the name of a partisan power-grab."

The General Assembly's override of Nixon's veto was the first since 2003 and only its 23rd override in the legislature's 191-year history.

The original plans proposed by both chambers split Jackson and St. Charles counties between two different districts, while dividing Jefferson County among three. The final conference map plan puts a larger chunk of St. Charles County in one congressional district. The map also splits Jefferson County into three different congressional districts. Although splits among Senate Republicans stemmed from the rural versus urban issue, opposition between the House and Senate came from a dispute over the St. Charles and Jefferson County area.

The General Assembly was required to lower the state's congressional districts from nine to eight after 2010 census results revealed the state's population did not grow as quickly when compared to other states. The new congressional districts will be implemented starting with the 2012 elections.

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House approves plan for new congressional districts

With the first chamber vote involving a redistricting plan, Missouri's representatives voted mostly along party lines and with limited debate Wednesday to pass a map that eliminates a St. Louis congressional district held by Democratic U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan.

The Republican-led effort in the House resulted in a 106-53 vote approving the proposal, just two votes away from a two-thirds majority needed to supersede a veto by the Governor should he choose to do so once the maps are finalized.

Democratic Floor Leader Rep. Mike Talboy, D-Jackson County, said that despite Carnahan being "targeted" through the elimination of his district, Democrats could not fight a majority vote by Republicans. Instead, Talboy said, they would have to wait until the Senate finished with its proposal to see the final district layout.

"Obviously when you have one of your congressional delegation with a bullseye on their back, it's not something that you just want to sit down and take," Talboy said. "If the majority has their votes the majority has their votes and we're not going to be able to stop that, but the process is not even halfway done at this point."

Four Democrats joined Republicans in passing the map, even though it dissolves a district held by a member of their own party.

During the House session, Rep. Jamilah Nasheed, D-St. Louis County, one of the four Democrats supporting the plan, said the loss of a district was not a surprise.

"At the end of the day we all knew that we were going to lose a congressional seat, so the question on everyone's head was 'who's it going to be,'" Nasheed said.

When asked later why she supported the Republican plan over a member of her own party, Nasheed said she could not "fight for a man that doesn't fight for himself."

House Redistricting Committee Chairman Rep. John Diehl, R-St. Louis County, said that even though not everyone was happy with the result, the redistricting process was fair and the map was the best proposal for the new districts.

"Even with the challenge we faced, we committed to all to complete this process in a fair, open and transparent matter that ensured adequate representation for all Missourians," Diehl said. "The map may not completely satisfy everyone, but it is complete and contiguous."

In addition to dissolving Carnahan's district, the map alters the state's district layout by splitting Jefferson County between three congressional districts and by creating a large sixth district that expands across much of the northern part of the state and dips into Jackson County, dividing the county between two districts.

In a rare move, the House endorsed the plan after giving it first-round approval earlier in the day, causing some Democrats, such as Rep. Mike Colona, D-St. Louis City, to question the integrity of the process. Colona said he was disappointed with the map and that the House could be accused of following "party politics" because of how quickly it was proceeding.

Before its initial approval of the new districts, the House dismissed three amendments proposed by Democrats.

Colona submitted one of the amendments to keep three congressional seats in the St. Louis area and said that as the "economic power of the state," the St. Louis region deserved three representatives.

"In order to protect the interests, not just of the St. Louis metropolitan economic engine, but really the economic clout of the great state of Missouri, the metropolitan area should have three people in its congressional delegation," Colona said.

The General Assembly is required to lower the number of Missouri's congressional districts from nine to eight and submit finalized proposals by the end of the legislative session due to population changes cited by the 2010 census. The House plan will now go to the Senate, which is preparing for its own discussion over a similar map.

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House Budget Committee finalizes 2012 budget

The House Budget Committee ended debate in record time on Missouri's 2012 budget after a mark-up session Tuesday.

This year's mark-up lasted only one hour compared to last year's which took nearly three days. Rep. Chris Kelly, D-Columbia, credited the hard work of the Budget chairman, Ryan Silvey, R-Kansas City, and the fair process this year as the reasons the mark-up was historically brief.

"He was very professional, efficient, effective, bi-partisan and worked with people," Kelly said.

Rep. Jamilah Nasheed, D-St. Louis City, agreed with Kelly on Silvey's performance but said she wished the process was less "orchestrated" by House leadership.

The 13 House appropriations bills were all passed with only 1 no vote. Kelly said this has never happened before while he has been in office.

Missouri's amended $23.2 billion budget represents an overall 2.5 percent decrease from last year's budget and includes a 7 percent reduction in funds for higher education. Last year over 300 amendments were offered, but this year only 18 were brought before the committee.

The ranking member on the budget committee, Rep. Sara Lampe, D-Springfield, said "there simply is no more money" to make amendments.

Kelly offered an amendment which moved funds from the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority (MoHELA) to General Revenue. Earlier in the budget process the committee used $12 million from MoHELA to offset a reduction in the Access Missouri Scholarship Program. Today, Kelly motioned that the money for Access Missouri instead come from General Revenue which would provide more stability for the program from year to year since the money from MoHELA will not be available every year.

Kelly's amendment ultimately passed, but he said this issue will be contested in the Senate.

Lampe offered an amendment to add $8.9 million to the elementary and secondary education transportation fund. In order to fund her increase, Lampe proposed to eliminate Missouri's ethanol subsidy program. She said education transportation is underfunded by $55 million and that is "devastating" to rural school districts.

"I think our kids are worth it," Lampe said.

After opposition from the committee, Lampe withdrew her amendment before a vote.

Kelly also presented an amendment which would reduce Missouri House of Representatives mileage.

"We need to show our commitment to what we are asking everyone else to do," Kelly said.

The amendment was passed despite some opposition from committee members.

Some lawmakers said they were disappointed in the budget situation this year and the lack of available money.

Lampe said the budget cuts will continue unless the Republican majority is willing to have a conversation about increasing state revenue.

"There is no political will to do that ... we can't plug the leak anymore ... it's affecting our kids," Lampe said.

Lampe said instead of raising revenue, House Republicans have decreased it. She said the elimination of the corporate franchise tax passed by the House would cost the state $85 million in revenue.

Although the House committee has finalized the budget their continues to be debate in the Senate about the use of federal funds. Missouri has received $189 million from the federal government that must be spent by next year and only on elementary and secondary education. Some Republicans in the Senate have pledged to block that money along with other funds from the federal government.

"You have the federal government stealing from this generation and generations to come by spending money they don't have," Sen. Jim Lembke, R-St. Louis County, said in a radio interview on using federal money for unemployment benefits, which he blocked in the Senate.

Lampe, a former teacher, disagrees with their logic.

"Why would we turn down money for our kids? It's just insane," she said.

Nasheed also said many of the budget amendments passed in the House will face opposition in the Senate.

"It is a whole different monster over there," she said.

The budget will be sent to the House floor when the legislators return from their spring break on March 28.

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