果酱视频

The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the waiting period violated the free speech rights of former state Rep. Rocky Miller, a Lake Ozark Republican, and General Assembly employee John LaVanchy, both who sued in 2021 seeking to jettison the prohibition approved by voters in 2018.

鈥淛ust because former legislators and legislative employees have better 鈥榬elationships (with) and access (to)鈥� current legislators and legislative employees than others does not mean corruption is taking place,鈥� the appeals panel wrote.

The ruling puts Missouri back on track to see members of the House and Senate move quickly to the lobbying corps, which can pay better than the $37,000 salary they receive as lawmakers.

The two-year waiting period is commonly referred to as a revolving door prohibition, aimed at preventing elected officials from currying favor from special interests while in office and from having undue influence on former colleagues after leaving office.

The court wrote that the two-year prohibition was too lengthy.

鈥淪imilar laws enacted in other states suggest that Missouri might have been able to get by with a shorter period. Its own expert highlighted some of the possibilities, from six months (like North Carolina) to one year (like New Mexico), even though both states have two-year election cycles like Missouri,鈥� the court said.

A Post-Dispatch tally found dozens of former Missouri legislators who have registered to wine and dine their former colleagues, including former House Speaker Steve Tilley, R-Perryville, who has a lengthy roster of clients and is an ally and fundraiser for Gov. Mike Parson.

Others include former Senate Presidents Michael Gibbons and Tom Dempsey, both of whom patrol the same marble corridors on behalf of their clients that they walked when they were serving in the Legislature.

At least 32 states impose waiting periods for lawmakers looking to move into lobbying, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Miller, who left the House in January 2021, had asked the court to toss the law after he said he was approached about lobbying for a company but could not because of the 2018 鈥淐lean Missouri鈥� law, which voters approved as a way to address potential corruption under the Capitol dome.

Miller also argued the law infringed on his First Amendment rights to free expression.

During his tenure in the House, which began in 2013, Miller unsuccessfully attempted to alter state law to allow for a gambling casino to be located in the Lake of the Ozarks region.

Miller also had a run-in with the House Ethics Committee, which found he had engaged in 鈥渦nbecoming鈥� conduct by creating a false rumor that another lawmaker was having an affair with a House employee.

An outside investigation concluded that Miller鈥檚 actions weren鈥檛 severe enough to qualify as sexual harassment under federal or state law but may have violated the House鈥檚 sexual harassment policy. The ethics panel did not recommend any action against Miller.

In the lobbying case, the appeals court said the state could not point to specific instances of problems arising from a failure to have a cooling-off period in place.

鈥淢issouri, after all, cannot have a compelling interest in solving a problem that it cannot prove exists,鈥� the court ruled.