Opinion | The Million-Dollar Sellout: Brattin’s Billionaire Bailout Betrays True Conservatives


When the Missouri Freedom Caucus was formed, it was supposed to stand as an unyielding wall against government waste, corporate welfare, and the backroom deals that give our hard-earned tax dollars away to special interests. For a while, Senator Rick Brattin talked a big game about defending the working class. But when wealthy special interests came knocking, Brattin abandoned his promises, abandoned his base, and proved that his “principled conservatism” ends where a billionaire team owner’s wallet begins.

By voting in favor of the $1.5 billion corporate stadium handout, Brattin turned his back on Missouri taxpayers to help fund playground complexes for elite, billionaire-owned sports franchises. It was a sellout of monumental proportions—so egregious that Brattin was forced by his conservative colleagues to step down as chairman of the Freedom Caucus in the fallout.

True conservatives believe in the free market. If a professional sports team wants a shiny new or renovated stadium, they should build it with their own massive profits, private investments, or corporate sponsorships. They shouldn’t be treating the state treasury like an ATM.

Giving a selective tax carveout to a billionaire sports franchise means the state is picking winners and losers. Every dollar a billionaire team owner gets to keep or divert from the state revenue pool is a dollar that isn’t funding our roads, our law enforcement, or going back into the pockets of regular taxpayers through broad-based tax cuts.

To justify this betrayal, Brattin went on the defensive, claiming he traded his vote on the billionaire bailout in exchange for a another piece of legislation. This is the exact type of swamp-style vote swaps that conservatives oppose.

This isn’t just an isolated bad vote; it’s a symptom of a much larger problem. Whether it’s missing nearly 40% of his floor votes while drawing a taxpayer-funded salary, or showing up just to approve a multi-billion-dollar handout for corporate fat cats, Rick Brattin has demonstrated that his priorities are completely upside down.

Missourians are trying to make ends meets in an economy that is unpredictable at best. Families are making hard choices at the grocery store, at the pump, and when paying their mortgages. They do not have the luxury of funding bailouts for rich owners who hold cities hostage for newer, bigger stadiums. And twice now, Missouri taxpayers were asked to play this game, only to lose the very teams that career politicians tried to buy off!

Missouri families deserve an informed, unyielding, and principled conservative who doesn’t vote for massive spending packages in the dark. We need representatives who know how to say “no” to the corporate lobby, “no” to backroom deals, and “no” to billionaire bailouts. Rick Brattin failed that test, and it’s time for Missouri conservatives to hold him accountable.

-Dawn Wright, Dee Ann Poole, and Cyndia Haggard.