Kevin Engler

As you may recall, God chose Rob Mayer over Kevin Engler when Senate Republicans drew lots to pick their leader last winter.  (No joke.)  Well, Sen. Engler is not impressed with the work of the Chosen One:

There was little accomplished this special session, a session that probably shouldn’t have been called in the first place. It was all good and well for legislative leaders to tour the state in July, promising the passage of an economic development bill, but they failed to let the rest of the General Assembly in on their plan.

When we convened in early September, we were presented with a massive bill few of us were familiar with that would have serious consequences for the future of our state. This led to weeks of debate in the beginning of the special session, where from most perspectives it probably looked like we were accomplishing nothing in the Capitol. It was a slow and painful process to watch, and even more so for those of us who participated in it...

"Don't ever tell the public that we do good work in here." 

Sen. Kevin Engler (R-Farmington)

Tony Messenger of the Post-Dispatch and Jason Rosenbaum's reconstituted Capitol Calling blog have the run down of last night's drama in the Senate between Sen. Kevin Engler (R-Farmington), Sen. Brian Nieves(R-Freedom Bunker) and GOP consultant and lobbyist James Harris.

You should go read their recaps, and listen to Rosenbaum's audio of Engler's remarks (embedded here).

As you may recall, Harris was a consultant for former Washington Mayor Dick Stratman in 26th Senate district primary last year, and Nieves believes Harris was behind a letter distributed before the primary accusing Nieves of having extramarital affairs with female lobbyists.   Nieves and a Harris staffer also had a little tiff after the election, during which Nieves claims said staffer told him that Harris forced him to do "shady and illegal stuff."  So... they're not exactly friends. 

UPDATE: Hours after going on the record with no opinion on right-to-work-for-less legislation, the Chamber has caved and now says it supports the idea. 

Jo Mannies' story for The Beacon, "Could Wisconsin happen here?," has a couple of key points worth remembering about the right-to-work-for-less debate in the General Assembly:

The Missouri Chamber did not make right to work one of its key objectives this sesson because [Dan Mehan, chief executive for the Missouri Chamber of Commerce] said some businesses have no objection to current laws allowing closed shops, in which all workers must pay union dues if a majority approve union representation.

Soutier and other labor activists believe that Nixon would veto any right-to-work bill that gets through the legislature. "Gov. Nixon is strongly behind workers in this state,'' Soutier said.

In addition, while Republicans hold huge majorities in both chambers, it's unclear if the GOP has enough votes to override a veto. Several Republican senators, for example, have declared their opposition to "right to work."

The Post-Dispatch editorial page has an impressive snapshot this weekend of the things our legislators are focusing on that do little or nothing to improve the lives of working Missourians.  The Editorial Board calls them "mean" pieces of legislation -- "[A] truly mean bill creates hardship for classes of people without sound public purpose. A truly mean bill is based on prejudice, not fact. A truly mean bill is gratuitously nasty." 

BOTTOM LINE: The Mean Girls & Boys Club is after the working poor, immigrants (legal and illegal), non-English speakers, children, more children, the poor, the disabled, the elderly, non-Christians, workers rights, their own colleagues and maybe cancer patients.

And Missouri wonders why it has trouble attracting jobs.

Bills that made the cut include the push to gut the state's voter-approved minimum wage law, provide drivers' tests in English only, deregulate child labor, drug test TANF recipients in a poorly-conceived manner and disenfranchise tens of thousands of Missourians to help GOP electoral efforts.  

The best part of the editorial, though, may be the R.J. Matson cartoon embedded here.  Some of the likenesses are fantastic, and others are a little harder to figure out.  But based on the article and art, here is the cast in the cartoon above, from left to right: Kevin Elmer (R-Nixa), Brad Lager (R-Savannah), Bill Stouffer (R-Napton), Jane Cunnigham (R-Chesterfield), Jack Goodman (?) (R-Mt. Vernon), Jerry Nolte (R-Gladstone), Steve Cookson (R-Fairdealing), Doug Funderburk (R-St. Peters), Kevin Engler (R-Farmington), Stanley Cox (R-Sedalia), Maria Chappelle-Nadal (D-University City).  

Sen. Kevin Engler (R-Farmington) and Sen. Jane Cunningham's (R-Chesterfield) proposal to gut the state's child labor laws: "I believe the measure is short-sided and makes no sense."

In his weekly column posted by Missives from Missouri, Sen. Kevin Engler (R-Farmington) laments the effort by some of his Republican colleagues to pass right-to-work-for-less legislation without a full debate.  

I have been concerned this session about the attitude that seems to be dominating the Senate. I am a strong supporter of negotiating when passing legislation—the Senate has a long-standing tradition of allowing measures to be fully vetted and welcoming compromise when another member has an issue with a bill.

This week, we saw the beginnings of the debate on “Right-to-Work” (Senate Bill 1). The bill is very controversial. Proponents say it will be the greatest economic development tool ever and opponents say it is a direct attack on all unions and their members. When the bill was heard the crowd overflowed into two other hearing rooms and the hallway.

What bothers me is that there is such strong opposition on the bill and it seems that some are prepared to force the legislation down their throats. Washington did this on the health care bill and they are still in a major fight. We need to look for some compromises.

The Senate Financial and Governmental Organizations and Elections committee voted "do pass" on three voter suppression bills this afternoon without amending them, though a combined bill -- perhaps with early voting or no-fault absentee voting provisions -- is expected to be worked out before legislation is debated by the full Senate. 

Sens. Kevin Engler (R-Farmington) and Bill Stouffer (R-Napton) both have proposals (SJR 9 and SJR 2) to amend the state constitution to allow for unnecessary and expensive laws that would require government-issued photo IDs when voting.  (Stouffer's language says voters "may" be required to show such identification; Engler's says they "shall.") Stouffer has a third bill (SB 3) that would put the new requirements into law, provided that the constitution is amended to allow the GOP-friendly suppression they desire. 

Here's a good sign that Missouri's voting laws need some tweaking for the 21st Century: the Chairman of the Senate committee that oversees election laws openly admitted that he commits election crimes annually when he requests an absentee ballot.

Under current law, voters must provide a valid excuse for casting an absentee ballot. "I lie every year," Sen. Kevin Engler (R-Farmington) told his committee yesteday.

The Missouri Senate's Financial & Governmental Organizations and Elections Committee announced yesterday that they'll be hearing three bills on Monday designed to skew the state's voter rolls in favor of Republicans. Committee Chairman Kevin Engler (R-Farmington) and Sen. Bill Stouffer (R-Napton) are each proposing their own a constitutional amendments (SJR 9 and SJR 2) to create the framework for new government-issued photo ID requirements, and Stouffer has also sponsored a resolution to actually enact those requirements (SB 3) if one of the constitutional changes are approved.

As Rep. Chris Kelly (D-Columbia) said last year when debating similar voter suppression efforts, this is a "solution looking for a problem." The stated goal of GOP proponents is to protect democracy against unspecified voter impersonation fraud, but it's really about creating new and unnecessary hurdles to voting for populations who just happen to tend to support Democratic candidates. 

Last year, for example, House sponsor Stanley Cox (R-Sedalia) claimed that there are "countless examples of voter fraud" in Missouri.  And when pressed to provide examples, he couldn't quite count any.  So, GOPers changed their tune and decided that it's actually "impossible" to know if any fraud is going on, so we should go ahead on disenfranchises thousands and thousands of voters just in case.  

Editorial boards around the state have condemned these cynical efforts by Republicans in previous years, and are expected to do so again this year.    Here's a sampling, from the Sedalia Democrat in April 2010:

VOTER PHOTO ID BILL MISGUIDED, UNNEEDED

Rep. Stanley Cox has convinced enough Missouri House members to support his misguided voter photo identification mandate. We must hope he is less successful if this measure goes before the state’s voters....

Missouri’s Department of Motor Vehicles estimates the number of eligible voters who do not have state-issued ID at about 200,000. The enacting legislation would require taxpayer money be used to provide IDs for Missouri residents who cannot afford them. When you add in mandatory notification costs (public service announcements), cost to create the IDs and system upgrades, among other expenses, this proposal is estimated to hit the state for about $7 million a year the first three years it would be in force, according to the fiscal breakdown of the bill provided by the House Committee on Legislative Research Oversight Division. This at a time when we cannot provide adequate funding for our schools — which is an actual, documented problem in our state.

Jim Lembke, R-God's Team

Check out this nugget from The Pathway about how God decided that Sen. Rob Mayer (R-Dexter) should be President Pro Tem next year instead of Sen. Kevin Engler (R-Farmington).

The senators were tied 13-13 several times before they drew lots. The tie was then broken in dramatic fashion. The choice of Mayer at that point and by that means was viewed by some to be supernatural.

“Man was unable to pick the leader of our Senate,” said Sen. Jim Lembke, R-St. Louis. “It was the Providential hand of God.”

And you thought that Senate Republicans had just turned over the fate of the 2011 session to chance!

The Pathway is also advertising a prayer gathering in January to supplement God's whip operation and make sure that God's Candidate for President Pro Tem makes it through the final vote. 

Via David Drebes, KREI has an interview with Sen. Kevin Engler (R-Farmington) that should not be missed.  In it, Engler talks about his disappointment with the work of his "rightwinger" colleagues in the Senate to support Sen. Robert Mayer (R-Dexter) for Senate Pro Tem after , and their desire to "shove stuff down the Democrats’ throat."  Drebes has a long excerpts of Engler's comments as well, but this segment also stands out:

ENGLER: We'll get by.  We're going to still represent the people of the Third, and still in the Senate, and going to try to advocate for causes that I think are right. My job is to make sure that -- in the Senate, you do have some power -- so we'll make sure that they don't shove all this stuff through that they want to get through.  We'll make sure that it's tempered and it's good for everybody in the state, if possible. And we'll work hard to move forward. It's all we can do.

REPORTER:  What's your relationship now with Senator Mayer from Dexter?

ENGLER: Well, it's not good.  I mean, he was a friend of mine, one of my good friends. And he told me last spring that he would back me.  I asked him because before I spent 5 months, 7 days a week, running around raising money and helping candidates I'd asked all my colleagues and they were all, "Yeah, I'm with you." And Rob Mayer, "I'm with you." [...]

And then:

They [Senate Republicans] didn't talk about the budget one time in the caucus. It seemed that that's not the priority.  The priority is getting anti-union and pro-business stuff shoved through.  So I'm sure they'll get around to working on cutting $600 million, $700 million from the budget at some point as a priority.

Listen to the full interview:

Jason Rosenbaum of Missouri Lawyer's Media has posted a few videos of Sen. Kevin Engler talking about his unsuccessful bid to move from Majority Floor Leader to President Pro Tem in the Senate. Check out all of Rosenbaum's videos here.

Farrah Fite, Communications Director for Missouri Senate Majority Caucus, tweets out the new GOP leadership team:

• Sen. Rob Mayer, President Pro Tem
• Sen. Tom Dempsey, Majority Floor Leader
• Sen. Jack Goodman, Asst. Majority Floor Leader
• Sen. Bill Stouffer, caucus chair
• Sen. Eric Schmitt, caucus secretary
• Sen. Mike Parson, caucus whip

The Post-Dispatch's Virginia Young reports today that Sen. Rob Mayer (R-Dexter) is officially challenging Sen. Kevin Engler (R-Farmington) in the upcoming battle to be Senate President Pro Tem, and the Star reports that Sen. Brad Lager (R-Maryville) is also running for the spot.

Sens. Jim Lembke (R-StL County) and Jane Cunningham (R-StL County) have an open letter in The Missouri Record today challenging assertions made by the Campaign for Liberty's Paul Hamby about Majority Leader Kevin Engler's leadership.  As I noted last week, Hamby's list of grievances did seem to be light on the facts. 

Lembke's defense of Engler is particularly interesting, given his particular brand of Republicanism and support for the agenda of I'm-not-a-lobbyist-I-just-lobby-people-in-the-Capitol-all-the-time Ron Calzone. Calzone's Missouri First, Inc. organization is behind "The Missouri Leadership Project," which wants to oust Engler.

Commence speculation regarding upgraded committee assignments offered to Lembke and Cunningham.

With a new website and op-ed in the Missouri Record, it appears that some of Missouri's righteous right are becoming more vocal in their opposition to Sen. Kevin Engler's bid to be President Pro Tem after the November elections.  A coalition made up of Missouri First, Inc. (led by I'm-not-a-lobbyist-I-just-lobby-peopl-in-the-Capitol-all-session Ron Calzone), the Franklin County Patriots (with strong ties to Senate candidate Brian Nieves), the Ron Paul-loving Campaign for Liberty and the In God We Trust PAC Tea Party are listed on the new MOLeadershipProject.com.

The Campaign for Liberty's Paul Hamby lays out the grievances in his op-ed announcing the website: "In the past few years, Engler has blocked, or failed to support, legislation from across the board -- often bills with a huge base of support, like the Health Care Freedom Act, various sovereignty bills, the anti-RealID, anti National Animal Identification System (NAIS), and the Missouri Jobs and Prosperity Act (Fair Tax) bills, to name a few.  It seems if he or his financial supporters did not personally agree with a bill then he never allowed it to move forward."

To be fair to Engler (he probably doesn't want my help), the Senate did pass legislation opposing the REAL ID Act while he was floor leader, and did pass legislation expressing opposition to the federal health care bill (I have vague memories of Republicans getting very excited about Proposition C).  And opposition to a huge increase in sales taxes is bipartisan -- even the former Most Powerful Man in Missouri has expressed grave concerns about the so-called "Fair Tax" plan.   

As previously reported here at Fired Up! in mid-September, all is not well among Senate Republicans.   The Associated Press' David Lieb breaks it down: 

One faction of Republicans is looking to unseat another from the chamber's leadership positions in a quest for a more conservative agenda. Some senators have routed thousands of dollars to the campaigns of their prospective allies. And tensions are rising.

"Quite honestly, I think there's a battle for the soul of the Senate going on," said Sen. Scott Rupp, R-Wentzville. "There's no disagreement the Senate is dysfunctional, and some would say on the verge of being broken."

The behind-the-scenes battle is expected to climax Nov. 4 - two days after the general election - when Senate Republicans caucus behind closed doors to choose leaders for the 2011 and 2012 legislative sessions.

The Missouri News Horizon follows up on this weekend's story from the Beacon regarding Chuck Purgason's plan to challenge Kevin Engler for the Senate president pro tem job this winter. 

Without naming names, Purgason said he expected likeminded senators to challenge for leadership positions inside the Senate Republican Caucus when it meets behind closed doors in the days following the upcoming November election. Other senators may, in fact, challenge both he and Engler for the top spot...

It appears that Republicans will have anywhere from 22 to 25 seats in the Senate after the November election. Currently the party has 23 senators. Purgason would have to sway a majority to vote for him in the caucus session, and if unsuccessful, those who vote for Purgason could face repercussions from party leaders.

"I've had supporters tell me that if anyone should openly oppose me that I need to have some response to them, otherwise we'll have chaos all the time," Engler said. "But I'm not going to banish anybody to a broom closet in the basement. Now, will they get to be a chairman of a powerful committee? Probably not."

The general assumption on High Street is that Sen. Kevin Engler (R-Farminton) will be promoted by his Republican colleagues from Majority Floor Leader to President Pro Tem in the next legislative session.  However, as members prepare to return to Jefferson City for tomorrow's veto session, there is increased speculation that Engler's advancement is not a done deal. 

Depending on ambition and willingness to tolerate risk of Sens. Brad Lager, Jack Goodman, and Jim Lembke, a shake-up could be on the horizon.

As it stands now, Kurt Schaefer and David Pearce both appear to be on the hot seat.  Schaefer is currently the Vice-Chair of the Appropriations Committee, a spot openly coveted by Lembke.  Engler may be required to offer this spot to Lembke to prevent a Sleeper Cell coup.  Pearce is currently the Chair of the Education Committee, but contributes little to the Caucus -- could a grumpy Jane Cunningham be assuaged to support Engler's bid if she becomes the new Chair?