Hanaway’s big day

JEFFERSON CITY - The hot lights of the television cameras cut through the shadows of the Capitol Rotunda yesterday as Missouri Republicans celebrated their second straight day of making history.

Catherine Hanaway, GOP nominee for speaker of the Missouri House of Representatives, prompts a round of applause yesterday at a Capitol news conference. Hanaway will become the first female speaker in Missouri history.

After winning a House majority on Tuesday for the first time since 1954, the GOP tapped Rep. Catherine Hanaway, of St. Louis County, as their nominee for speaker of the House. When Hanaway’s nomination is made official in January, she will become the first woman ever to serve in the position, one of the most powerful in state government.

Hanaway led the drive for a Republican majority and was the chief tormentor of Democratic Gov. Bob Holden during this spring’s legislative session, turning aside Holden’s request to use the state’s "rainy day" savings fund to help balance the budget. But at yesterday’s news conference, Hanaway pledged to work with the governor and warned her colleagues of a "historic challenge" that faces them.

Besides dealing with stifling budget shortfalls, legislative leaders must also operate in an environment that features dozens of new members, swept into office by the onset of term limits. The effect was illustrated yesterday, as new Republican lawmakers sought out Capitol veterans to ask mundane questions like where the bathrooms were and whether they could bring cans of soda into the House chamber.

"We’re all very happy that we won last night," Hanaway said. "But what we won was the opportunity to govern and to do a good job governing. And so while I congratulate every one of them, I say to all of you, our work has just begun."

Republicans took over the Missouri Senate in 2001, but their takeover in the House gives them even greater power because in the House the minority party cannot block legislation with a filibuster. Instead, House Republicans will now control every step of the legislative process, from the assignment of bills to committee to when those bills are debated on the floor, if at all. Democrats, on the other hand, will generally be able to pass legislation only if they can amend their ideas onto legislation sponsored by Republicans.

Republicans will also play a key role in the budget process. While Gov. Bob Holden will lay out his own budget proposal, the spending plan will then be in the hands of House Republicans, before moving on to the Senate. Hanaway said yesterday that Rep. Carl Bearden, of St. Charles, will probably chair the budget committee, but Columbia residents may be more interested to know that two local representatives will lose their budget leadership positions.

Rep. Chuck Graham, for instance, had chaired the committee that shaped the budget for the University of Missouri and the state’s elementary and secondary school system, while Rep. Vicky Riback Wilson chaired the appropriations committee for the departments of Health and Mental Health. Both will almost certainly lose those positions.

Graham yesterday attributed the GOP takeover to a "national wave" of Republican strength. "We weren’t able to surf it very well," he said.

On the other hand, residents of eastern Boone County’s 21st District - which also stretches into Audrain, Callaway and Monroe counties - will have a voice in the new majority. Rep.-elect Steve Hobbs, a Mexico resident who will replace term-limited Democrat Ted Farnen, was on hand as the GOP celebrated. Hobbs said he was "exhausted" and that the victory hadn’t really sunk in.

Hobbs is the district’s first Republican in years, but he downplayed that fact yesterday. "You know, the main thing is to get the work done for the 21st District," he said. "It doesn’t matter if you’re a Republican or a Democrat. … But it is kind of nice making history."

While the Rotunda gathering of House Republicans featured a conciliatory tone, the post-election euphoria also prompted a bit of gloating.

Earlier in the day, the GOP’s designee as speaker pro tem, Rep. Rod Jetton of Marble Hill, met with lobbyists in the Jefferson City offices of Associated Industries of Missouri, a business lobbying group.

After laying out key factors in the party’s winning strategy, Jetton also singled out a final person to thank - the governor. Brandishing a bumper sticker that read "We can’t keep Holden’ on," Jetton said Holden’s "mismanagement" of the budget helped Republican candidates around the state.

"I’m so happy Jim Talent didn’t win the governor’s race two years ago," Jetton said.

House Republicans will now control every step of the legislative process, from the assignment of bills to committee to when those bills are debated on the floor, if at all. Democrats, on the other hand, will generally be able to pass legislation only if they can amend their ideas onto legislation sponsored by Republicans.

For nearly 50 years, the Democrat controlled MO house has pretty much spit upon any Republican legislation. This has resulted in a significant hardship on republicans running for office, since without a Dem sponsor, they couldn't get any legislation through on behalf of their district.

WELL, IT'S A NEW GAME NOW!

This is a great opportunity for Republicans to expand their control in the legislature, now that the residents of their district will see what REPUBLICANS can accomplish. Of course, we'll see and hear no end of grief from Dems and media about how unfair the rules are (that Repubs have had to live with for almost 50 years).

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