The guy who helped knock Eric Cantor off his perch as U.S. House majority leader has set his sights on Missouri.
In 2014, political consultant John Pudner, a Tea Party-infused conservative Republican, helped a massively underfunded political newcomer, Dave Brat, take down Cantor, one of the biggest names in national politics, in an unexpected GOP primary upset.
By 2015, Pudner had founded a new organization, Take Back Our Republic, dedicated to building conservative support for the idea that the nation needs campaign finance reform.
Pudner toured Missouri this month with state Sen. Rob Schaaf, R-St. Joseph, and Dan Krassner, the political director for Represent. Us, a bipartisan organization pushing for new laws in states and the nation that target political corruption. They met with Democrats and Republicans, and even a pesky newspaper columnist, to talk about the corruption that oozes out of Missouri’s no-limits political system.
Their goal is to build on the growing momentum in the Show-Me state for improving ethics laws, bringing limits to campaign donations and, in general, taking away the incentive for elected officials to be overly influenced by outside forces.
“In many states, campaign finance reform is pushed only by progressives,” Pudner told me.
“The fact that Robert Schaaf, a Republican state senator, and Fred Sauer, who I understand is as conservative as I am on key social issues, were willing to work so hard for these goals helped us realize the potential.”
Last legislative session, Schaaf introduced a wideranging “anti-corruption” bill that would have banned lobbyist gifts, instituted campaign finance limits, required a 2-year cooling off period before lawmakers could become lobbyists, and generally strengthened ethics laws.
It went nowhere.
Sauer, on the other hand, has been successful — so far, at least and won a court victory last week — on getting a constitutional initiative approved for the November ballot that would enact campaign limits for legislative and statewide offices. The conservative Republican activist from St. Louis faces a legal challenge, however, as the Missouri Electrical Cooperative and Legends Bank have filed a lawsuit claiming the initiative is constitutionally flawed.
Whether Sauer’s measure is ultimately voted on or not in November, the national organizations brought to Missouri by Schaaf believe voters in this state are ready to enact serious reforms. And they believe their approach — bringing liberals and conservatives, and everybody in between together on an anti-corruption effort — can succeed where others have fallen short.
“It would be appropriate if the people of Missouri take matters into their own hands to fight corruption,” Krassner said. “Missouri’s no-limit campaign contribution culture is certainly ripe for reform.”
Indeed, Missouri is practically Ground Zero in the national discussion over money in politics.
With no limits, its top statewide races — for governor and attorney general, in particular — are attracting obscene amounts of money. In the GOP primary for governor, candidate Eric Greitens accepted the largest single donation to a Missouri candidate ever — $1.9 million — from a federal political action committee that hasn’t, and might not have to, reveal its donors.
In Republican primaries this year, one man, St. Louis political activist Rex Sinquefield, spent more than $11 million on three candidates. He lost every race.
Attorney General Chris Koster, the Democratic candidate for governor, regularly takes five-, and sixfigure checks from unions and law firms. Koster has traditionally been opposed to campaign finance limits, but, perhaps because of the absurd amounts of money pouring into Missouri, has had a change of heart. He came out this month in favor of Sauer’s measure.
But it’s not just money.
This week, a Wright County Republican state representative, Tony Dugger, resigned before a revolvingdoor law passed this year takes effect. The law would require representatives and senators to wait six months before becoming lobbyists. It’s much weaker than what Schaaf proposed, but it’s a start. Still, Dugger doesn’t want to wait to cash in.
He will likely follow the example set by former Speaker of the House Steve Tilley, who resigned his powerful position early to take a lobbying gig, as did former Senate President Pro Tem Tom Dempsey, and as have dozens of elected officials from both parties over the years.
Such decisions have a direct effect on public policy, either in the way lawmakers cozy up to their future employers while still in the Capitol, or, in Dugger’s case, by making it harder for Republicans to override various vetos in the upcoming veto session.
With no limits and few rules, money and politics make for a corrupt concoction.
Some national reformers want to join hands with folks in the state who know there is a better way.
Godspeed to them.
Columnist Tony Messenger for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.