The voters of Missouri this month overwhelmingly passed a constitutional amendment with the aim of making their state government work in less partisan, less corrupt ways.
The amendment bars lawmakers from accepting lobbyists’ gifts worth more than $5. It also bars former state officials from accepting a paid lobbying job for two years after leaving office. And it changes the process for drawing state-legislature districts to be fairer for both parties.
Some 62 percent of Missourians voted for the amendment, known as Clean Missouri. And yet, in the three weeks since Election Day, top Republicans in Missouri have started a cynical effort to weaken the new law.
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Last week, opponents of the amendment created a political group to undermine it, Tony Messenger, a metro columnist for The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, has noted. The group has the Alice-in-Wonderland name of “Fair Missouri” and $150,000 in initial funding. Its goal is to place a new measure on the ballot that would sabotage parts of the amendment before they can take effect.
[...]
It also fits two larger — and disturbing — patterns. One, local legislators of both parties have recently shown a willingness to undercut citizen-passed initiatives, Sarah Holder of CityLab has noted. The city council in Washington is a good example: Dominated by Democrats, it overturned a wage increase for restaurant workers a mere four months after voters approved it.
NYT
...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.
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