ST. CHARLES, Mo. – Rep. Anne Zerr, R-St. Charles has come under fire from the National Organization for Marriage for the vote she made against SJR 39, the religious liberties bill that many feared would infringe upon the rights of the LGBT community.
NOM announced last Friday that they would focus on attacking Zerr in her Senate race against businessman Bill Eigel, who supports legislation like SJR 39, and the more libertarian-oriented Mike Carter. The traditional marriage advocacy group vowed in June that they would utilize their resources opposing the three Republicans who voted against the legislation in the Emerging Issues Committee: Zerr, Rep. Caleb Rowden and Rep. Jim Hansen.
In turn, Zerr responded to those attacks Friday with a statement detailing her decision to oppose the bill.
Rep. Anne Zerr
I voted against SJR 39 after a great deal of soul-searching and deliberation. Numerous constitutional attorneys, both Republican and Democrat told me and others that SJR 39 was poorly drafted and unconstitutional. In addition, hundreds of Missouri business owners and employers from all over the state begged me to vote no as they feared the economic impact to the State and their business would be devastating. They based this fear on the repercussions threatened to other states that had passed so-called LGBT discrimination acts. Based on yesterday’s [July 21] decision by the NBA to pull the 2017 NBA All-Star game from Charlotte, North Carolina, costing the state and its business owners approximately $100 million dollars, it appears the hundreds of Missourians I listened to were right. An unconstitutional bill is not right. We can do better.
In the past, Zerr called the legislation a “flawed bill.” She also said in the past that she has made it a point on the campaign trail to explain to people skeptical of her vote why she made that decision.
However, Sen. Bob Onder, the author of SJR 39, has endorsed and campaigned with Eigel, but he says he has had doubts about Zerr even before her vote on his legislation. He says she is on the “hard-left” of the Republican party given her pro-labor voting record on issues like right-to-work and paycheck protection, in addition to other votes in which she has sided with Democrats in the House.
Onder reiterated that he still supported Rowden in his bid for the outgoing Sen. Kurt Schaefer’s Senate seat, even though Rowden voted no on SJR 39. Onder says Rowden has consistently been conservative aside from that vote
Word from the district indicates that while Zerr has better recognition within the district, the primary may be swinging in favor of Eigel.
