By Benjamin Singer

Jefferson City—The Clean Missouri campaign’s attorney, Chuck Hatfield, released the following statement about Judge Green’s ruling today regarding Amendment 1:

We’ll be appealing immediately. The Secretary of State properly certified the measure so that voters may consider the measure, and voters will have their say on November 6.

We have always thought that this legal matter would be decided at the Appeals Court level. This is a speed bump, but the law is on our side, the people are on our side, and Amendment 1 will be passed in November to clean up Missouri politics.

 The Clean Missouri initiative petition was signed by more 300,000 Missourians, and has earned the endorsement of Republican, Democratic and Independent reformers from across the state. Amendment 1 endorsements include:

• Former U.S. Senator John Danforth (R)

• Kathleen Boswell, President of the League of Women Voters of Missouri

• Paul DeGregorio, former Chairman, U.S. Election Assistance Commission, appointed by President George W. Bush,  and former St. Louis County Election Board Director

• Rev. Starsky D. Wilson, President & CEO of the Deaconess Foundation and Pastor of Saint John’s Church

• Former Sen. Jim Lembke (R-Lemay)

• Rev. Dr. Cassandra Gould, Executive Director of Missouri Faith Voices

• Sen. Rob Schaaf (R-St. Joseph)

• Rhonda Perry, a grain and livestock farmer from Howard County, and the Program Director for the Missouri Rural Crisis Center

• Former Senator and current Councilmember Bob Johnson (R-Lee’s Summit)

• Mayor Clifford Harvey of Weston, MO

• Former St. Louis Republican Central Committee Member John Saxton

• National conservative reform expert Trevor Potter, appointed to the Federal Election Commission by President George H.W. Bush, and current president of the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center

Amendment 1 has also been endorsed by the Washington Missourian, Kansas City Star, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and Columbia Daily Tribune.

When passed, the Clean Missouri amendment will:

• eliminate almost all lobbyist gifts in the General Assembly

• require that legislative records be open to the public

• lower campaign contribution limits for state legislative candidates

• require politicians to wait two years if they want to become lobbyists

• ensure that neither political party is given an unfair advantage when new maps are drawn after the next census, by adding criteria for fairness

NOTE: Friday, September 14, 2018: A Cole County circuit judge, Daniel Green, ruled that Amendment 1, the ethics-minded “Clean Missouri” measure, should be removed from the November ballot because it had too many disconnected elements.  Read the Ruling Document

Related article September 1, 2018 Clean Missouri Gets Lee’s Summit Attention