Archive for December 2020

House Speaker Elijah Haahr is the latest guest on Politically Speaking, where the departing lawmaker talked to St. Louis Public Radio’s Jason Rosenbaum and Jaclyn Driscoll about key lessons he learned from being the top GOP member of the Missouri House.

The Springfield Republican served in House leadership for four years, including the last two years as speaker. He is departing from the Legislature due to term limits in early January. House Majority Leader Rob Vescovo, R-Jefferson County, will succeed him as speaker.

Here’s what Haahr talked about on the program:

• His biggest accomplishments, including the passage of legislation overhauling the criminal justice system in 2019.
• The major events that happened during his term, including the rise of the Ferguson protest movement, the death of Tom Schweich, the near-impeachment of Gov. Eric Greitens and the COVID-19 pandemic that took over the 2020 session.
• Some of the tough decisions he had to make as speaker, most recently when he chose not to consider several bills that would have allowed the attorney general to intervene in St. Louis murder cases under certain circumstances.
• The pros and cons of term limits. While he noted that he may not have become speaker if term limits weren’t in place, Haahr noted that they have a lot of downside — especially when it comes to retaining institutional memory.

An attorney, Haahr was first elected to his post in 2012. He quickly rose up the ranks, eventually being selected to chair the House Emerging Issues Committee and being elected as House speaker pro tem.

He chose not to run for anything during the 2020 election cycle. At only 38, he’s not ruling out a run in the future but added he was thankful he didn’t seek another office while trying to steer the House through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Follow Jason Rosenbaum on Twitter: @jrosenbaum

Follow Jaclyn Driscoll on Twitter: @DriscollNPR

Follow Elijah Haahr on Twitter: @elijahhaahr

Music: “In the Red” by Audio Ammunition

Over the past months, we’ve seen civil unrest across the country in a renewed uprising for Black lives and the fight to hold police accountable. But we should not forget the painters, poets, musicians, and more who have decided that through their art they can motivate people to move into action. In this episode, we’ll hear from a young man who found beauty in destruction and created a group for local Black artists, the founder of ART House will share about how she is building a place for artists of color to thrive in their own community, and the founder of UrbArts will teach us about art’s ability to uncover systemic racism and how we can create a marketplace to support Black artists in a more meaningful way.