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House Democrats push new Missouri ethics bill

A new ethics bill in the Missouri House places new rules on campaign contributions.
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A new ethics bill in the Missouri House places new rules on campaign contributions.

House Democrats are backing legislation they say would toughen Missouri’s ethics standards.  As Marshall Griffin tells us from Jefferson City, the bill would restore many provisions recently struck down by the State Supreme Court.

Those provisions include banning committee-to-committee money transfers and giving the Missouri Ethics Commission the authority to launch its own investigations.  The High Court struck them down because they were tacked onto another bill that had nothing to do with ethics.  House Democrat Tishaura Jones of St. Louis says she’s filing a new bill because GOP leaders have so far done nothing following the Supreme Court ruling.

“Insuring integrity and accountability in state government should be a priority for all lawmakers, and if Republicans won’t act, then Democrats will,” Jones said.

The bill would also cap campaign contribution limits, something GOP leaders oppose.  But the Republican Speaker of the House says he’ll bring the bill up for debate if it makes it through the committee process.

Missouri Public Radio State House Reporter Marshall Griffin is a proud alumnus of the University of Mississippi (a.k.a., Ole Miss), and has been in radio for over 20 years, starting out as a deejay. His big break in news came when the first President Bush ordered the invasion of Panama in 1989. Marshall was working the graveyard shift at a rock station, and began ripping news bulletins off the old AP teletype and reading updates between songs. From there on, his radio career turned toward news reporting and anchoring. In 1999, he became the capital bureau chief for Florida's Radio Networks, and in 2003 he became News Director at WFSU-FM/Florida Public Radio. During his time in Tallahassee he covered seven legislative sessions, Governor Jeb Bush's administration, four hurricanes, the Terri Schiavo saga, and the 2000 presidential recount. Before coming to Missouri, he enjoyed a brief stint in the Blue Ridge Mountains, reporting and anchoring for WWNC-AM in Asheville, North Carolina. Marshall lives in Jefferson City with his wife, Julie, their dogs, Max and Mason, and their cat, Honey.
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