Government accountability and ethics at the state level are the new charge for state Rep. Kevin Wilson, R-Neosho.
Wilson, tabbed earlier this month by Speaker Ron Richard to lead a committee on the topic, said he has faith in fellow committee members. Meetings for the new committee begin Wednesday morning. Members of the 12-member panel include Wilson, chairman; Sally Faith, R, St. Charles, vice chairman; Ellen Brandom, R, Sikeston; Mark Bruns, R, Jefferson City; David Day, R, Dixon; John Burnett, D, Kansas City; Scott Lipke, R, Jackson; James Morris, D, St. Louis; Jerry Nolte, R, Gladstone; Gina Walsh, D, St. Louis; Terry Witte, D, Vandalia; and Shalonn Curls, D, Kansas City.
Seven bills have already been referred to the committee.
“In an election year everybody wants to be more ethical than the next person so there will be a lot of bills filed dealing with ethics,” Wilson said.
Their first day the group will look at bills from both majority and minority floor leaders, beginning with the Democratic bill because it was filed first.
Keeping a bipartisan focus in the middle of an election year will be difficult, Wilson admitted, and the entire committee will be under the microscope to make sure its process is fair.
“The biggest challenge, I think, is keeping the partisanship out of it and setting the tone that we’re not Democrats and Republicans, but Missourians,” he said.
“This is not one of those times that you can allow partisan politics – this is too important for the state.”
The committee formation comes in the wake of three St. Louis politicians pleading guilty to federal corruption charges. The Federal Bureau of Investigation continues to probe possible law violations at the state Capitol. Those violations of public trust put a stain on all lawmakers, Wilson said, but prove that the system does work and people who break the code of ethics will pay the penalty. His committee’s task is to further define gray areas like campaign contributions, political consulting while holding office and lobbying in the year after leaving office. Part of the key, he says, will be government accountability, which will give voters greater confidence in the political system.
“I think people trust their individual representatives,” he said. “People talk about ‘the system,’ but they like maybe their rep or their senator or whatever, but then they talk about the bigger picture. I think the goal has to be to get this reform measure passed where they have a level of confidence in all the representatives and all the senators even if they don’t agree with them politically they know that they’ve done the right thing in passing this.
