If this were Lost in Space the robot would be warning Will Robinson of eminent danger. Clean Missouri will appear as Amendment 1 to the state Constitution this November. Unfortunately, unsuspecting citizens will go into the voting booth armed with a ballot that has a cliff notes version of a
drastic change to the Constitution of this state. If you do not know the details of this amendment and just rely on what it says on the ballot, or the propaganda from TV ads, you would probably say it sounds good and vote yes. However, there is some very troubling language in this bill and the net
effect makes one elected official the most powerful person in this state and no it’s not the governor, it’s the auditor. When all is said and done, the auditor will pick one person to redraw the legislative districts based on some pretty interesting demographic criteria and in particular a new category the courts will enforce because it will now be a constitutional mandate. So not only are racial minorities mandated a guaranteed amount of representation, but also minorities by language. This Constitutional
amendment effectively nullifies the statutory requirement of US citizenship. Here is the exact wording that some slick lawyer and leftist judges will use to grant illegals voting rights in state elections.
“ Notwithstanding any other provision of this Article, districts shall not be drawn with the intent or result of denying or abridging the equal opportunity of racial or language minorities to participate in the political process or diminishing their ability to elect representatives of their choice, whether by themselves or by voting in concert with other persons. “
Citizens should be particularly leery when assessing petition ballot initiatives. There is no real public vetting process with public hearings and floor debate typically done when the General Assembly passes a bill to be placed on the ballot for voter approval. It takes serious money to fund the collection of signatures of registered voters in 6 of 8 congressional districts and lots of boots on the ground in order to do so. Voter’s need to know where the source of money comes from and seek to find the motive behind the proposal not just in the short term but the long term effect of the language of a constitutional amendment. The campaign finance reform is mere fluff meant to create a positive response from the voter and provide camouflage for the real intent of this amendment. The net effect of
the redistricting process will be to dilute the power of rural voters by lumping large chunks of sparsely populated rural counties in with portions of densely populated urban areas. Under current redistricting
guidelines, St. Louis City has approximately 10 State Representatives. Under the new guidelines that could double at the expense of rural voters. A vote NO on Amendment 1 is the only prudent choice.