Column:

Politicians behaving like college students

Good-bye, dear readers.

By Nate Kennedy

Published May 7, 2009

Things are getting crazy at the state capitol. In the last two weeks, funding for the Ellis Fischel Cancer Center has been used to exact political revenge, a state senator tried to vote wearing a pirate hat, Rep. Bryan Pratt, R-Lee's Summit, said health care was welfare and also accused Gov. Jay Nixon of making quid pro quo deals in a speech on the House floor that led to an uproar. With the budget deadline only hours away, some senators decorated their offices with different movie themes, like a juvenile dorm floor competition between freshmen, and there are still two weeks to go!

Coincidentally, although most college students are cramming for finals right now, Missouri legislators are cramming a bunch of bills through the chamber in hopes of getting something accomplished before the end of session. Amendments are being added left and right, differences are being worked out in the wings of the chambers and the hallways are packed with people running from end to end of the Capitol.

This is the point where it actually gets dangerous to pass legislation because who knows what could be tucked into some of the large bills that are often voted on without debate. Remember when Missouri legalized midwifery without knowing it in 2007? This is why. Supposedly, the Senate will slow down the process, but with the unprecedented amount of previous questions coming out of that chamber in recent years, it's starting to resemble the House.

Considering the insanity, I'm not going make any predictions or lobby for any issues this week because it would either happen or it won't. I've already said my piece on most of the major bills this year, and there's no need to rehash those subjects now.

I will take this moment to reflect on the chaos and blame term limits for the many unconstitutional, shortsighted and extreme pieces of legislation Missouri has seen in recent years. Missouri needs to at least expand term limits to 16 years in each chamber if not do away with them completely.

It seems each legislator is trying to make a name for him or herself in the eight short years they are elected by passing pork-like bills for their area and disregarding the greater good of the state. All institutional knowledge has been lost. Lobbyists and the executive branch have an increased influence since the term limits went into effect.

The only good thing that has come of term limits is Missouri's General Assembly is getting younger. In 2008, Missourians elected some great young leaders, such as Rep. Stephen Webber, D-Columbia, and Rep. Jason Kander, D-Kansas City. Term limits have not necessarily served their egalitarian purpose of making the body more diverse, either. The number of women and minorities in the legislature has not increased dramatically like some had hoped.

Finally, with about 100 words left in my last column ever, I would like to thank The Maneater who actually paid me $185 this semester for my opinion in column and podcast form, my editor Andrew Denney who had to put up with my tardiness and Twitter-themed columns, my arch-nemesis (j/k) Marcus Bowen for being my foil during those podcast debates, JohnCombest.com for the weekly links and exposure, the MU College Democrats, The SEMO Times for carrying the column, my parents for continuing to pay my tuition and you, my readers. I hope you were able to learn something about local, state and national politics from reading this.

Nate Kennedy is a former chairman of the Young Democrats of Missouri College Federation. He can be reached at nkennedy@themaneater.com.