Paul Levota

Rep. Jeanette Mott Oxford has accepted an appointment on the Children and Families Committee for the 2010 legislative session.

Last year, Mott Oxford was prohibited from serving on the committee by Speaker Ron Richard because, in the word's of Richard's Chief of Staff Jeff Brooks, some GOP House members found her "highly offensive." But  Richard and GOP leaders would never really explain what they found so "offensive" about her.  From a February 2009 story in the Star:

In the weeks since, Oxford says she has not received a convincing explanation for why she was left off the committee.

“The only reason cited to me so far as for why I am not on the committee is that ‘some members find me offensive,’” Oxford wrote in a letter last month to Richard. “I do not know if this is about my sexual orientation, my stance on Roe vs. Wade, or what.” [...]

As has been noted in multiple places, Speaker Ron Richard he was creating a new Special Standing Committee on Government Accountability and Ethics Reform to handle the various ethics reform proposals for the 2010 session.

Minority Leader Paul LeVota said later that he did not learn about the decision to create a new committee until last night.

The Star:

In a letter to House Speaker Ron Richard, Minority Leader Paul LeVota requested [Cynthia] Davis be removed as chairwoman of the Children and Families Committee.

Richard is a Joplin Republican. LeVota, a Democrat, represents Independence.

Calling her views on child hunger "Dickensian," LeVota said it was "highly inappropriate" for Davis to lead a committee concerning child and family issues. Her continued leadership on the committee amounts to "an endorsement of her offensive views by you and the House Republican Caucus," LeVota wrote to Richard.

LeVota is right: If Davis remains the Children and Families Committee, it can only be seen as an endorsement of her views by Ron Richard, Steve Tilley, and the rest of the House leadership.

With a few weeks to reflect on the craziness that was the House Budget process, I'm still impressed by the dramatic shifts in direction and willingness to spend millions on pet projects, while simultaneously refusing to budge on a bipartisan plan to help 35,000 working poor parents gain access to health care (without costing the state a dime).

As the session wrapped up, I spoke with a number of House members to get their takes on the legislature's recent work. In most all of the discussions, the revised stimulus spending bill (HB22) came up as key example of the dangerous and foolish ideological stands by House leaders, the shameless violations of House rules to push through bad legislation, and inconsistent and confusing leadership from Speaker Ron Richard and Floor Leader Steve Tilley. 

I'll confess: I was completely wrong in my predictions of how the House would handle the health care proposal put forward by Gov. Jay Nixon and the Missouri Hospitals Association. It was my assumption that the health care debate would work a lot like the budget debate -- after a lot of hemming and hawing about how awful the plan would be, House GOP leaders would do the right thing and let the plan pass. After all, it would have provided health care to 35,000 working parents and wouldn't have cost the state a dime.  There was all sorts of political cover from business interests like the Associated Industries of Missouri, and strong support from Republicans and Democrats in the Senate.

But I was wrong. House Republicans voted the plan (in HB11) down in a party-line vote.  And when given the chance to do the right thing on the last day of session, Speaker Ron Richard and Floor Leader Steve Tilley wouldn't even let the proposal come up for a vote. They callously left the proposal on the table, putting their extreme ideology before working families that desperately need a hand.

As the session was wrapping up, I spoke with a number of House members about their experiences in the session, and especially about the health care and budget debates. Here are a few of the comments that stand out:

The full Democratic House Caucus just concluded a press conference on the steps of the Capitol, standing together in opposition to the House Republicans' defeat of HB11.

“The ridiculousness of the House Republican position is exceeded only by its cruelty,” said Minority Leader Paul LeVota (D-Independence). “We had a rare opportunity to restore health coverage to 35,000 hard-working Missourians at no cost to state taxpayers. The majority instead tightened its grip around the same failed policies that have made health care less accessible and less affordable.”

“Associated Industries of Missouri, the state Chamber of Commerce, the Missouri Hospital Association and Senate Republicans all know this is a good idea,” said state Rep. Chris Kelly, D-Columbia and the ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee. “Business groups understand the economic reality: If their workers are too ill to make it work, Missouri businesses don’t make money.”

The full release from the Minority Caucus is below the fold.