Saint Louis, Mo. — Ahead of the final legislative week, House Speaker John Diehl and a panel of opinion makers gathered on This Week In Missouri Politics to discuss the year’s budget, court reform, sweeping school reform bill, and much more.
Diehl joined host Scott Faughn to tout the legislature’s budget, which Gov. Jay Nixon announced only days before he was effectively signing in full after Republicans in the Capitol completed the process weeks ahead of schedule. Diehl told viewers that the court reform and school transfer measures that lawmakers have already sent Nixon are indicators of a legislature running smoothly, reminding viewers that a tax cut is set to kick in next year.
“[The tax cut] is particularly good for small businesses,” Diehl said. “They can be comfortable that Missouri is finally moving toward a system that is stable, stable and good for business that allows them to grow and prosper.”
Diehl was followed by the opinion maker panel, which consisted of Jeff Roorda Executive Director for St. Louis Police Officer’s Association, Democratic strategist Patrick Lynn, Rep. Kevin Corlew, a Kansas City Republican, and Columbia Republican Rep. Caleb Rowden.
While discussions of a potential PQ motion in the Senate over Right-to-Work and the likely Nixon veto that follows dominated discussion, panelists also gave their take on a school transfer bill, a court reform bill, and much more.
TWMP broadcasts Sunday mornings at 11:00 a.m. on KBNL ABC 30 in St. Louis and at 10:30 a.m. on Fox 23 out of Cape Girardeau. The full episodes can be streamed at twmp.tv after 11:30 a.m. each Sunday.
Some highlights from the panel:
“It has historically been a tough pull to get done. I imagine it would be tough to get done this time as well. We have some Republicans in some pro-labor districts; we’ve been able to grow our majority by being able to reach out to those districts. We’ve moved the needle. As far as overcoming an override, we’ll just have to see how that transpires.” – Corlew on a Right-to-Work veto override effort in the House.
“We don’t like rogue police departments any more than the next person, we think it gives the good, professional cops I represent every day a bad name.” — Roorda, on municipal court reform.
“Ferguson and some other issues probably, unfortunately for Democrats, pushed some white working-class voters toward the Republican Party. I think the passage of Right-to-Work is a good way to push them right back to the Democratic Party.” — Lynn, on Right-to-Work.
“Everybody on both sides of an education discussion agree that a large part of the underlying issue is parental involvement and those sorts of poverty related and crime related issues. The question we have to ask is what is the government’s job in all of this? Are we going to always default toward a big government, money in the public sector solution?” — Rowden on public education.
Collin Reischman was the Managing Editor for The Missouri Times, and a graduate of Webster University with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism.
