Rep. Justin Sparks Speaks in Nixa

 

Re: MO Speaker’s Race

It’s honestly so funny that Reps are trying to deny that HRCC has historically been pay-to-play for House Chairmanships. I mean, come on. Try to at least make the lies semi-believable.

— Sophia Shore (@sophialshore) November 20, 2024

By Gretchen Garrity

It is a rarity to hear the plain truth coming from a politician's mouth. But that is what happened in Nixa Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024 when Rep. Justin Sparks spoke at a Lunch and Learn meeting.

Hosted by Freedom Principle Missouri's Cary Wells, the lunch-time meeting exposed the underbelly of Republican politics in Missouri. I will link to the raw audio. Do take the time to listen. And then contact your local representatives who need to know that supporting Rep. Jon Patterson for Speaker of the House is a betrayal of the Republican Platform, Republican values, and Republican voters.

A few takeaways:

• Representative government is deeply at risk as long as political PACs and private organizations control who gets the House Speaker role.
• The House Republican Campaign Committee (HRCC) is subverting our representative government by the funds they both collect and dole out to Missouri politicians. Their online presence is almost nil--a website with their logo and not much else. Their Facebook page is rarely updated.
  
• The House rules need to return power to the representatives and their constituents.
• Many representatives go up to Jefferson City with the best of intentions, but are slowly corrupted by the system of political favors and power. It mimics the national issues in our Congress.

Do give a listen. The audio is raw and begins a few minutes into Rep. Sparks' remarks. You will know a lot more about how our state functions after listening.

A Lesson for the CCMRA: Jon Patterson's Own Jackson County Central Committee Repudiates Him

 The Christian County Missouri Republican Assembly (MRA) met last night to elect new officers. They also were asked to resubmit a resolution sent to the state MRA to endorse Rep. Justin Sparks for Speaker of the Missouri House. The State Board previously refused to consider the resolution. (More on that soon.)

In the meantime, watch Aaron Dorr of the Missouri Firearms Coalition expose RINO Jon Patterson's clay feet -- his own central committee repudiates him and supports Rep. Justin Sparks.

🚨🚨 As the race over the next Speaker of the House heats up, current Majority Floor Leader Jon Patterson was just denounced by his own county Republican Party! To hear what the Jackson Co. said about their own state Rep and to get involved in this fight, listen here!

When… pic.twitter.com/IFUAUA6pek

— Missouri Firearms Coalition (@MOFirearms2A) December 10, 2024

Empowering the People: Update-- X video with transcript added

Rep. Justin Sparks

 

 By Gretchen Garrity

This evening (Dec. 8) Rep. Justin Sparks spoke about how the Missouri House rules are used to centralize power to the Speaker, which has a deleterious effect on the ability of other members to properly represent their constituents. The rules need changing. Go HERE and HERE to listen in. There was a technical glitch, hence the two videos. 

Describing one of the changes, Rep. Sparks said, "We're going to change to member-driven legislation. We're going to decentralize the power of the Speaker so that he can't control or stop priority legislation from the Members themselves." He explains how this will empower the people by allowing their representatives to prioritize bills that are important to constituents.

Currently, the House Speaker has control over what bills are given priority, and as we have seen in past legislative sessions, this has prevented vital issues like Initiative Petition reform to be passed. Do listen to how these proposed changes can give back fair and equal representation of the People through their elected representatives by allowing Members' priority bills to move out of committee and on to the House floor for votes.

Let's think about what it means for an all-powerful Speaker to control the House. Rep. Jon Patterson, who won his election with a total of 8,599 votes, would be able to control whether millions of Missourians NOT in his district get to see legislation important to them make it to the floor for debate and vote. With current House rules, one powerful speaker can determine the future of millions in Missouri. That is not representative government.

Call and email your representatives and senators. Ask them to support the rules changes that bring power back to the people via their elected representatives.

Sen. Mike Moon

Additionally, Sen. Mike Moon has shared more on how both the Missouri House and Senate rules concentrate power in the hands of very few, thereby preventing our elected Assembly members from being able to advocate for their constituents.

Sen. Moon writes, "Rules, however good or fair, can be manipulated and used to empower one over another." 

He goes on to suggest amending the Senate rules as follows:

"1. Committee members shall elect a chair with a simple majority vote of the committee membership;
2. Bills shall be automatically referred to a committee, chosen by the sponsor, immediately upon the bill’s second read;
3. Committees shall determine which bills will receive a hearing;
4. When a bill is voted out of a committee, the bill shall automatically be placed on the Formal calendar;
5. Sessions shall be “Live Streamed” for public viewing.
 
In addition, rule 72 must be strictly enforced." 

(Rule 72 states, "Rule 72. A motion to adjourn and a motion to fix the day to which the senate shall adjourn is in order, unless a senator is speaking, or the yeas and nays are being taken, or a call is being made, and shall be decided without debate; and no senator shall leave his or her seat until the result is declared.")

Sen. Moon writes, "Let’s return the equal power to Senators in order for all Missourians to be represented equally."

Sparks for Speaker
Rules Package Drop
"Keeping our Republic"

00:00 Introduction to Rules and Integrity
02:32 The Evolution of Legislative Rules
02:41 The Importance of Truth in Politics
03:34 New House Rules Package Overview- Decentralizing the Power (Control) of the Speaker… pic.twitter.com/nv0Z8NsrNj

— Rep. Justin Sparks (@JustinMSparks) December 9, 2024