Kip Kendrick: Champion of Ethics

A number of Missouri Democrats, led by Columbia’s Kip Kendrick, have been working harder than anyone else in Missouri politics since the election to follow through on the ethics promises that Missourians heard so much about last year.

Kip Kendrick’s ethics package is more than just some kind of political maneuvering, it is actually a real set of solutions to problems in government that effect the lives of people who live in the Third Ward. If our government only listens to people who will give them large sums of money in exchange for political favors, how can working folks like the ones that live in the Third Ward hope to have an effect on what happens in the state?

Kip is doing his best to change all of that. The ethics bills that he is pushing would ban gifts from lobbyists, create some new term limits, help to prevent corruption in political campaigning and, in general, hold Republicans accountable for all the fine-sounding promises they made during the campaign.

This is a list of bills being filed by Democrats led by Kip Kendrick drawn from the Missouri Times:

• Banning all lobbyist gifts with no exceptions, HB 212 filed by Rep. Deb Lavender, D-Kirkwood
• Closing the revolving door from legislator to lobbyist, HB 213 filed by Rep. Joe Adams, D-University City
• Banning the use of campaign committee funds for services provided by candidate family members, HB 214 filed by Rep. Tracy McCreery, D-Olivette
• Preventing persons no longer actively seeking elective office from maintaining a candidate committee, HB 215 filed by Rep.-elect Mark Ellebracht, D-Liberty
• Extending prosecutorial authority to the Missouri Ethics Commission, HB 216 filed by Rep.-elect Crystal Quade, D-Springfield
• Prohibiting in-session campaign contributions to and solicitations by legislators and statewide office holders, HJR 6 filed by Rep.-elect Bruce Franks, D-St. Louis
• Imposing term limits for state office holders, HJR 7 filed by Rep. Kip Kendrick, D-Columbia

The big lesson in this is that we can count on Kip Kendrick to stand up for us and make sure that Republicans live up to the promises they made that got them elected. Let’s support Kip by calling our Republican representatives like Cheri Reisch (District 44) and Chuck Basye (District 47) as well as Caleb Rowden, our state senator, and encourage them to take the high road by crossing party lines to support these bills. Contact them through their offices in Jefferson City, leave posts on their Facebook pages, tweet to them and write them letters! Let the voice of we the people be heard!