Archive for September 2023

State Sen. Tracy McCreery is the latest guest on Politically Speaking, where the St. Louis County Democrat spoke with St. Louis Public Radio’s Jason Rosenbaum and Sarah Kellogg about her first year in office.

McCreery represents Missouri’s 24th District, which includes cities such as Kirkwood, Sunset Hills, Valley Park and Creve Coeur. Before being elected to her post in 2022, McCreery served two stints in the Missouri House: The first was for roughly a year in 2012, the second from 2015 to 2023.

Here’s what McCreery discussed on the program:

• McCreery, who was a former staffer to Democratic Sen. Joan Bray, discussed her first impressions of serving in the Senate. She said the freshman senators, who are mainly Republicans, have formed a close relationship with each other — and have sought to make an impact in a chamber where contention is commonplace.
• She talked about the passage of legislation that will expand Medicaid coverage to postpartum mothers. McCreery said that this measure could help reduce Missouri’s maternal mortality rate, which legislators from both parties have contended are much too high.
• McCreery, a member of a Senate committee overseeing agricultural issues, discussed efforts to curtail the foreign ownership of farmland. That issue received more attention in 2023, but lawmakers failed to pass anything on the topic.
• While Ohio voters defeated an effort to make the state constitution more difficult to amend, most Missouri lawmakers expect the legislature to take up a similar measure next year. McCreery says she hopes that Missourians reject such efforts, adding that it’s taking away a tool for voters to alter public policy.

McCreery was first elected to the Missouri House as an independent in 2011. After losing reelection in 2012, McCreery ran for an open House seat in 2014 — and prevailed. She won three more terms without much difficulty.
McCreery squared off last year against Republican George Hruza in the race to succeed Democratic Sen. Jill Schupp in the 24th District. The contest for the seat was the only Senate race in which both political parties spent money to win. McCreery ended up winning by nearly 10 percentage points.

State Rep. Jim Murphy is the latest guest on Politically Speaking, where he discussed possible ways to replace St. Louis’ earnings tax, the recent veto session and what’s in store for the legislature in 2024.

Murphy represents Missouri’s 94th District, which takes in portions of unincorporated south St. Louis County.

Here’s what he discussed on the program:

• His work as chairman of a House committee examining the earnings tax in St. Louis and Kansas City. Anyone who lives or works in those places has to pay a 1% tax. Murphy said he’s looking for alternatives. 
• The 2023 veto session, in which the legislature declined to overturn any of Gov. Mike Parson’s vetoes. While Murphy disagreed with some of Parson’s decisions, he never thought that the legislature would be successful in reversing his objections.
• What to expect during the 2024 legislative session, including whether Republicans will try again to place a measure on the ballot that makes the constitution more difficult to amend.
• His analysis of next year’s governor’s race, which features three Republicans angling to succeed Parson.

Murphy was first elected to the House in 2018, defeating Democrat Jean Pretto by less than 300 votes. The seat became open when Cloria Brown decided against running for another term after she was diagnosed with cancer. She died in March 2018.

While 2018 was the first time Murphy was on the ballot, he’s been active behind the scenes in GOP politics for many years. In addition to assisting Brown with her campaigns, Murphy helped with U.S. Sen. Jim Talent’s election efforts.

Murphy won reelection in 2020 and 2022. His seat has become more Republican since redistricting, and he won last year with more than 57% of the vote. Murphy is eligible to run for one more House term in 2024.

As a Democrat in the Missouri General Assembly, Rasheen Aldridge usually found himself playing defense against the Republican supermajority.

But that changed in 2023, when he decided to leave the Capitol for City Hall. He was elected to represent the 14th Ward in St. Louis.

“It’s not that I didn’t enjoy going to the state Capitol,” Aldridge said during an appearance on the Politically Speaking podcast. “But I feel like I can actually effectively get stuff done.”

Though he’s now legislating from about 130 miles east, Jefferson City is not far from Aldridge’s mind as he crafts policies, especially around guns. He is one of several aldermen who will push bills addressing firearms, including a ban on military-style rifles and limits on untraceable firearms known as ghost guns.

“It’s about honestly sending a message to Jefferson City that we deserve to have local control around these issues,” he said.

Here’s what else Aldridge hopes to tackle as the board returns from its summer break Friday:

• He says there is wide support among members of the board for giving the Detention Facilities Oversight Board, which provides civilian oversight for the City Justice Center, its own attorney. The jail is again under increasing scrutiny, as two inmates died and a guard was taken hostage all within an 11-day period in August.
• Aldridge is also joining calls for Corrections Commissioner Jennifer Clemons-Abdullah to step down. “I think she is trying her best, but I do think that maybe she’s a little over her head,” he said.
• Infrastructure is top of mind for Aldridge as the city weighs how to spend its share of the settlement over the departure of the Rams for Los Angeles. “I think really putting a lot of that money into speeding up that 911 system will be important,” he said. “Our 911 system is a hot mess.”
• St. Charles County approved a property tax freeze for senior citizens this week, and Aldridge says he and his colleagues are looking at similar legislation in the city. But they want to make sure it’s given to those who need it the most.

When Missouri lawmakers convene on Wednesday for their annual veto session, they have the option of overturning a plethora of budgetary vetoes issued by Gov. Mike Parson.

Parson cut roughly $555 million from the latest state budget, surprising and irritating some lawmakers in both parties.

Rep. Paula Brown, D-Hazelwood, said she doesn’t agree with Parson’s reasoning on why he vetoed that much in funding, especially since the state still has billions remaining in general revenue.

“I would agree with the governor if he said you can’t build raises or ongoing spending on some of this one-time money, right, because you can’t,” Brown said. “But there are things that can be done right now with that money that would help every citizen in the state of Missouri.”

Brown was a guest on Politically Speaking. Here are some of the other topics she discussed:

• Her background in education and what led her to run for the Missouri House.
• Whether there should be state legal action on the fallout over nuclear waste contamination in St. Louis and St. Charles counties.
• The education policies she believes will reemerge in the 2024 legislative session.
• What the upcoming session is going to look like, especially during an election year.
• Her thoughts on the 2024 election, including the races for governor and U.S. Senate.

Brown represents the 87th District, which includes Maryland Heights and a section of Chesterfield.

Before becoming a lawmaker, Brown spent 31 years as an educator in the Hazelwood school district. She served both as a classroom teacher and a middle school librarian. Brown also was the Hazelwood NEA president for eight years.