Hands off Amendment One. That’s the message from supporters of the “Clean Missouri’ ballot initiative to state lawmakers, who began the 100th General Assembly this week. The anti-gerrymandering measure passed by 62-percent of the vote in November, but Governor Mike Parson and several legislators are already calling for major changes. Joan VonDras with the Sierra Club in Missouri gathered signatures for Amendment One last fall. She says it has strong support on both sides of the aisle – even if it was opposed by political action committees largely funded by mega-donor Rex Sinquefield (SINK-field).
The Clean Missouri amendment takes the redistricting process away from legislators and gives the power to redraw the political map after the 2020 census to a nonpartisan demographer, whose work would be overseen by a citizen commission. Opponents of that idea say it might result in district boundaries that are confusing or contorted.
Sinquefield also recently gave 850-thousand dollars to a political action committee that supports Governor Parson. Amendment One would limit the donation dollars that legislators can take from any individual. John Bohney, who also gathered signatures for Clean Missouri, says lawmakers should respect the will of the voters.
Amendment One also requires former state lawmakers to wait two years after leaving office if they want to become lobbyists.