ST. LOUIS — When Sen. Mike Parson, R-Polk County, lost the race for Majority Floor Leader before session started, he was admittedly disappointed, as most anyone would be. But, “life goes on,” he said, and he prepared for what would be one of the most productive, rewarding and busiest sessions of his political career.
A challenge that comes with being involved in the Senate is narrowing down the number of people than the lower chamber while the amount of work stays roundabouts the same. The way the body functions, however, is entirely different.
“In the Senate, I know there are titles and there’s a pretty big portion of what leadership does, but there’s only 34 of you, so each one can have as much influence as the other,” Parson said. “I was disappointed [after losing the Floor Leader race], sure, but one thing I found out from the experience is you can be much more independent when you’re on your own, unlike when you’re in leadership and you have to balance what everyone wants.”
Parson said he realized early on that he wanted to be heavily involved in some of the issues that are most important to him, listing economic development, agriculture and issues affecting his district as the most prevalent.
In terms of economic development, he said he’s glad the legislature was able to accomplish “a portion” of what needs to get done by passing the Missouri Works issue — House Bill 184 — which began a few years ago as a bipartisan effort to increase jobs in Missouri. Gov. Jay Nixon has yet to take action on the legislation.
Another one of Parson’s priorities — agriculture — saw quite a bit of action this session with the movement of the so-called “Right to Farm” bill, which Parson handled in the Senate. The bill, which will be on the ballot during the 2014 election, states that its purpose is to affirm “the right of farmers and ranchers to engage in farming and ranching practices.”
With Sedalia, the home of the State Fair, in his district, Parson said the work done to bring the extra half-million dollars to the area for the water and sewage projects, among others, was exciting for him to see accomplished. The funds for those projects came from a mixture of work between the governor’s office as well as the budget process in the legislature.
But one of the biggest challenges — in a positive way — that came from this session was the amount of time and work that went into the different committees he sat on.
“Oh boy, was I busy with committees,” he joked. “I was chair of the Government Accountability and Fiscal Oversight committee this year, and I think it went pretty smoothly this year. We didn’t have anything too earth shattering and our members worked well together.
Parson said between the GAFO committee, Appropriations Committee — which is responsible for the budget process in the upper chamber — and a handful of other committees, he had the chance to develop good relationships with those he worked with.
“It’s a real hard secret in Jefferson City sometimes, but you’ve got to communicate with each other and with the other end of the building,” he said.
Among the people he said he enjoyed working with most this year are the freshmen senators, many of whom he said he worked with quite a bit.
“We had some tough battles, like with the ISRS deal, which most of us were opposed to,” Parson said. “We have some good guys coming up in the Senate and they did a great job of hanging in there together. It’s a tough situation to be in when leadership might want one thing but your district wants something else.”
Some of the freshmen Parson said he got to know especially well were Sens. Doug Libla, Wayne Wallingford and Gary Romine.
With the interim upon him, Parson said he plans to use it to get better acquainted with Lebanon, an area that was added to his district during redistricting, and spend a lot of time on the road. And soon after that, he said he’ll start planning for the coming session.
A junior, Parson is set to term limit out after another three years if he’s reelected. After that, he said he’s already found a few opportunities, but he’s not quite certain what he’ll choose to do just yet.
Ashley Jost is no longer with The Missouri Times. She worked as the executive editor for several months, and a reporter before that.
