Bob Dixon

The Post-Dispatch has a good story today the General Assembly's attempt to overhaul Proposition B, which now sits on Gov. Jay Nixon's desk. I was particularly interested in this breakdown of St. Louis area-legislators who voted against the will of their constituents. 

Across the state, there were at least four Senators and thirteen Representatives who voted contrary to his or her district's position. 

• In the Senate, Victor Callahan, Bob Dixon and Rob Schaaf voted to overhaul Prop B -- and for the the emergency clause that would prevent a future referendum.  (The proposal to add an emergency  clause failed in the Senate, and is not part of the final bill approved by the House and Senate.)  Scott Rupp also voted for the overhaul, but opposed the emergency clause. 
• In the House, Jamilah Nasheed, Jerry Nolte, Noel Torpey, John McCaherty, Kurt Bahr, Paul Wieland, John Diehl, Doug Funderburk, T.J. Berry, Terry Swinger, Paul Curtman, Bill White and Melissa Leach voted against their constituents' wishes.

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In related celebrity endorsement news, Ellen DeGeneres is calling on Gov. Nixon to veto SB 113 -- on her website and on her syndicated talk show. 

Sen. Bob Dixon (R-Springfield) wants to change state law so that our rules and regulations automatically expire every six years (SB350).  Will this make for better and more efficient rules to protect consumers, workers and businesses from bad actors?   That's not the point, of course. 

Instead, Dixon says he wants "to provide regulatory certainty to businesses."  This is an ironic talking point, given his intention to create artificial sunsets and  almost constant administrative and legislative review processes for all of the state's regulations.

One also wonders why Dixon professes to be helpless against unspecified rules or laws on the books right now. He's served with legislative majorities in the General Assembly for almost a decade, with plenty of time, staff and allies to put together a targeted and reasonable plan for removing regulations he thinks should go.  (But thoughtful legislating is so much harder, I know!)

Once upon a time, Rep. Bob Dixon wanted a series of hearings to retread information we already knew about MIAC's controversial Modern Militia report. Speaker Ron Richard acquiesced, and Dixon convened a hearing in June.  At that hearing, Dixon promised future grandstanding in Springfield, St. Louis and Kansas City, and wanted to schedule those hearings ASAP.

What happened?

Don't Dixon, Jim Guest, Shane Schoeller and Jim Viebrock want to be on teevee again interrogating Highway Patrol officers?  Didn't Peter Kinder think the MIAC report needed a full investigation?

Are Freedom and Justice on vacation?