In today’s hyper-partisan environment it is not unusual for Republican officials to call for impeachment of Democratic office holders on the flimsiest of pretexts. Any scandal, however small in scope, can be used to drum up support for ousting an elected official through impeachment. However, Missouri House Republicans have sunken to a new low by seeking to impeach Democratic Governor Jay Nixon for no reason at all other than that they do not like the fact that he is a Democrat.
Nixon’s office has dismissed the efforts to impeach the Governor as a cheap ”publicity stunt”, and for good reason. Republicans have not been able to settle on a reason for wanting to impeach the Governor, but instead have cast about haphazardly by pointing to three different reasons hoping one will stick. The reasons they have settled upon are far from compelling and merely illustrate how desperate the Missouri GOP’s efforts are. Show-me-State Republicans have showed their hands and there is simply nothing to see.
The grounds for impeachment that Republicans are pursuing rest on three different issues. Representative Nick Marshall wants to impeach Nixon for asking state officials to accept joint tax returns from same-sex couples who were legally married in other states. Obviously, Marshall opposes Nixon’s executive order, but does he really think that policy difference warrants impeachment proceedings?
Republicans Mike Moon and Rick Brattin want to impeach the Governor for not moving fast enough to schedule special elections to fill vacancies in the General Assembly. Yet, the Governor has already set the dates to fill those vacancies, although I suppose one could argue that “fast enough” is a relative term and that the difference between setting the elections one day and the next is the difference between being “fast enough” and needing to be impeached.
Brattin also wants to impeach Governor Jay Nixon for not punishing officials harshly enough for allegedly sharing concealed carry endorsement information with the federal government. Republicans allege that the Missouri Department of Revenue and the Missouri Highway Patrol are collecting data on conceal and carry permit holders and sharing that data with federal law enforcement, to help create a national gun registry although that allegation has never been proven.
Although the odds of Governor Nixon being impeached on such flimsy grounds are probably slim, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Stanley Cox (R) says he will grant a hearing to consider impeachment proceedings if the men who filed articles of impeachment seek one.
Republicans seeking to impeach Governor Nixon are making a mockery of the legislative process and trivializing impeachment by making it simply a political cudgel by which they can bludgeon people they disagree with, even in the absence of any criminal or unethical behavior. Voters should demand that lawmakers in Missouri not turn the general assembly into an ongoing farce, and they should vote for change in November. The Missouri Republican Party has demonstrated not only an inability to govern, but they have also shown a complete disregard for the normal legislative process. The GOP House has turned the capitol in Jefferson City into a permanent partisan circus, where compromise and reason are dismissed by one political stunt after another. The people of Missouri deserve better.
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