Columbia, Mo. – Missouri Liberty Project today reported a new poll showing that Missourians overwhelming support new ethics reforms for state officials including a ban on unlimited gifts from lobbyists. The poll, conducted March 1-4 by The Wickers Group<http://libertyprojectmo.
The poll found 72 percent of Missourians favor a ban on free tickets to sporting events and on lobbyist-paid excursions; and 81 percent want to limit the number of meals lawmakers can accept from lobbyists.
Missouri state lawmakers can currently accept meals, travel and gifts from lobbyists – all without limit. Reports indicate that in 2013, lawmakers accepted one million dollars in gifts from lobbyists. While some took much more, that’s an average of over $5,000 per lawmaker. Missouri is one of the only states in the U.S. to permit lawmakers to accept unlimited gifts from lobbyists.
“This pay-to-play culture distorts the political process at the expense of ordinary citizens,” said Josh Hawley, a constitutional litigator and President of Missouri Liberty Project. Hawley noted that while Missouri law permits unlimited spending and gifts, federal law does not. He urged Missouri state lawmakers to take up ethics reform in the current session.
“Meaningful ethics reform is vital to restoring public confidence in Missouri’s political system,” he said.
Missourians also strongly oppose other questionable activity currently legal under Missouri law, including lobbying activity by lawmakers’ staff and former state officials. The poll found that 70 percent favor barring lawmakers’ staff from working as paid political consultants; and another 80 percent favor making lawmakers wait several years after their retirement before becoming lobbyists themselves.
Hawley said all of these activities are eroding the public trust in state government. The poll found a majority of Missouri voters do not believe their voice and their priorities matter with politicians in Jefferson City (51%) and do not believe that politicians in Jefferson City are doing enough to protect liberties guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution (53%).
“Missourians increasingly feel shut out of the political process, disenfranchised and disengaged,” Hawley said. “Lawmakers increasingly appear to have a closer relationship to professional lobbyists and pressure groups than to average citizens. The appearance of a quid-pro-quo culture in Jefferson City is undermining public trust. This culture must change.”
A native Missourian, Josh Hawley is a constitutional litigator, law professor and religious liberty advocate. In addition to his work as counsel in the Hobby Lobby case, Hawley has litigated in most of the federal courts of appeals and numerous state courts, including Missouri, where he is helping lead the fight to defend the Constitution. Hawley is a graduate of Yale Law School, where he served as articles editor for the Yale Law Journal. He is a former clerk to Chief Justice John Roberts of the U.S. Supreme Court and Judge Michael W. McConnell of the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. He is the author of Theodore Roosevelt: Preacher of Righteousness, published by Yale University Press. Before becoming a law professor, Hawley served as an appellate attorney at the law firm of Hogan Lovells LLP in Washington, D.C.
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