Top Missouri Republicans are joining together to fight a ballot initiative that would change redistricting.
The group Missourians First on Thursday announced former Republican U.S. Sen. Jim Talent will lead the effort. Top Republican lawmakers are also helping.
At issue is a proposal by Clean Missouri that would replace Missouri's system for drawing state legislative districts with a model designed to have the number of seats won by each party more closely reflect its statewide vote.
It also would ban most lobbyist gifts to lawmakers and lower limits on campaign contributions, among other changes.
Talent says the Republican group supports ethics in government. But he says the ballot initiative is misleading. He says the true intent is to gerrymander legislative districts.
