Rep. Tim Jones To FBI: "You probably need to talk to the speaker or the floor leader or both of them"
The Associated Press reports today that the FBI contacted Birther Rep. Tim Jones (R-Eureka) "about a month ago" to ask about Majority Leader Steve Tilley's blocking of legislation that would have resolved a sales tax issue for Missouri municipalities.
The FBI has been asking questions about why Missouri House leaders blocked legislation earlier this year affecting millions of dollars worth of sales taxes charged by cities.
State Rep. Tim Jones told The Associated Press on Monday that he was contacted by telephone in October by an FBI agent inquiring why colleagues spiked the sales tax legislation he sponsored.
The agent "said they've been talking to a lot of people and they were interested in why the bill did not proceed further," said Jones, R-Eureka. "I told them, `You probably need to talk to the (House) speaker or the floor leader or both of them and find out what their official positions were on the bill."
The legislation, sponsored by Jones, would have shut down a racket by former Rep. Tom Burcham, who just happens to manage "several political funds that shuttle money for Tilley and other top Republicans."
During the session that ended last month, Majority Leader Steve Tilley blocked House consideration of legislation that could have crimped the law practice of one of Tilley’s largest campaign contributors.
The Missouri Municipal League sought passage of a bill to resolve a sales tax issue that had generated lawsuits against small cities around the state. Tom Burcham, the lawyer filing the suits, manages a political fund that contributed $110,000 in January to the “Friends of Tilley” campaign.
As majority leader, Tilley decides which bills come up in the House. Speaker Ron Richard, R-Joplin, supported the Municipal League’s bill, but Richard said Tilley would not bring it up.
“The majority leader wouldn’t let me put it on the calendar,” Richard said. “He said he wasn’t ready to talk about it just yet. I told the Municipal League, ‘We need some help to convince the majority leader there are a lot of cities that are in jeopardy.’ ”
Here's what the Star wrote about the apparent subject of the FBI inquiry in a story titled, "How dollars and legislation go hand in hand."
This year, Tilley blocked consideration of a bill that would have hindered the law practice of one of his biggest contributors, former House member Tom Burcham. The bill concerned a sales tax issue that had generated lawsuits against small cities around the state.
Burcham, the lawyer filing the suits, also manages several political funds that shuttle money for Tilley and other top Republicans. One of his funds had contributed $110,000 in January to the Friends of Tilley campaign. He also lives in Tilley s district.
Currently, state law allows cities to pass general sales taxes of up to 1 percent and capital improvements taxes of up to 0.5 percent. Several cities, however, have passed more than one of each tax, so the total exceeds 1 percent or 0.5 percent. Burcham has sued several of these cities.
The bill under consideration in the House would have capped the total taxes collected at 2 percent for the general tax and 1 percent for the capital improvements tax, legalizing the taxes disputed in Burcham s lawsuits.
Burcham said he discussed the bill with Tilley as a constituent, but he denied any connection between his contributions and the bill s progress.
Did I talk to him and encourage him to oppose that bad bill? I sure did, Burcham said. But he s my state rep. Who else am I going to go to?
As Jones says, we "probably need to talk to the speaker or the floor leader or both of them" to figure out what they told the FBI.
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Finally,
this bunch of prima donnas may have to answer for their unethical conduct. The legislature is not all mighty as Speaker Richard seems to think. He and his partners need to be knocked down a few notches. Unfortunately, the same ones will be reelected (unless they are termed out, then ones similar to them will be eleccted) since the electorate in this area (SW Missouri) are generally poor, ignorant, and Republican. I can't wait to graduate and get out of this area.