Press "Enter" to skip to content

TWMP: Sen. Bill Eigel and politicians and the press

On Sunday’s episode of This Week in Missouri Politics, freshman Sen. Bill Eigel joins host Scott Faughn to talk about the state budget, labor reform especially the debate over prevailing wage, his work on tort reform, and his plan to pay for improvements to Missouri’s transportation infrastructure via general revenue.

“We have over $9 billion in general revenue coming into the state each year,” Eigel said. “This is not a money problem, this is a question of are we prioritizing it.”

They also discuss his role in upholding Senate decorum and maintain its role as a deliberative body in the first few weeks.

On the opinion-maker panel, St. Louis Public Radio’s Jason Rosenbaum, Republican political strategist Jack Spooner and Reps. Becky Ruth, R-Festus, and Joe Adams, D-St. Louis, to talk about the NAACP legislative day after the controversial statements and actions made by Rep. Bill Lant and Rep. Warren Love.

“[Lant] did make a mistake, he got a lot of people upset and energized about it,” Adams said. “[He] attacked the president of the NAACP who was just testifying about a bill and he was the only African-American testifying on that bill, and then he shut down other representatives that were trying to illicit those comments.”

They also discuss Trump’s rocky relationship with the press and his lasting appeal, the new appointments to the University of Missouri system Board of Curators, and Gov. Eric Greitens reliance on social media as opposed to traditional media.

“He’s trying to get his message directly to the people and he’s using social media to do that,” Ruth said. “I think eventually, he’ll start communicating more with the media.”

This episode of TWMP will air at 11:00 a.m. in the St. Louis area on ABC 30 KDNL, in the Kansas City area on 38 the Spot at 10:00 a.m. and in mid-Missouri on KRCG at 6:00 a.m. on Sunday, February 19. The show is available online at 11:00 a.m. at twmp.tv.