{ legislative & regulatory } & Regulatory Director
Dramatic Session Unfolds Understanding Missouri’s Impeachment Process
deceit … dime store novels can’t make this stuff up. I’m sure you can see where I am going with this and there is no reason to beat a dead horse to say the least. It’s easy to get swept up in emotions during these types of situations and forget the facts.
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Whereas we have no way of knowing how the indictment court proceedings will pan out, or even where the impeachment process will lead, it is important to know how things work. Are you familiar with our state’s impeachment process? According to Mis- souri state law, state elected officials can be forced out of office for, “crimes, misconduct, habitual drunkenness, willful neglect of duty, corruption in office, incompetency, or any offense involving moral turpitude or oppres- sion in office.”
Missouri’s impeachment process is a bit dif- ferent than other states and federal govern- ments. Although they are similar in that the House holds the sole power of impeachment, Missouri differs in that it is not tried in the Senate, but rather before the Supreme Court—with some exceptions.
Upon Governor Greitens’ indictment for felony invasion of privacy after allegedly taking a nude or partially nude photo of his mistress without her consent and allegedly blackmailing her with it, the Legislature wasted no time in calling for his resigna- tion. The Senate immediately called for the Speaker of the House, Rep. Todd Richardson, to adopt a resolution that would authorize an investigation into Missouri’s governor. Without a single vote in opposition, the House voted to move forward with forming a
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seven-member bipartisan committee, chaired by Representative Jay Barnes, to begin inves- tigation proceedings. This was NOT a vote for impeachment.
Within the committee they are able to utilize subpoenas, in which the speaker has issued, to obtain testimony. It is not known what will or will not be open to the public as there are concerns of protection of witnesses’ identities in consideration. Also, to ensure privacy, the committee proceedings will take place at the Jefferson City Police Depart- ment. They have 40 days to present their findings to the entire House, from which they will then decide to vote to move into the impeachment process or not. If they vote to move forward, Governor Greitens will technically be considered impeached until proceedings are completed, at which time he will either be reinstated as governor or forced out of office.
If the House votes to move forward with impeachment proceedings, the process is as follows. The offenses would first be reviewed in the House Judiciary Committee, and if found serious enough, the offenses would be brought before the entire House for a vote of impeachment. Again, at this time, if they vote to move forward, the governor would technically be considered impeached until
hat an interesting turn of events this session has become. Scandals and mistresses, black mail and
proceedings are completed.
By Missouri state law, impeachment pro- ceedings are tried before the Supreme Court, unless you just happen to be the governor. In Governor Greitens’ case, he would be tried before a special commission of seven “emi- nent jurists” that are elected by the Senate to avoid bias. Eminent jurists are defined as prominent members of the legal profession according to state statute. Five of those seven jurists would have to vote for impeachment in order to remove the governor from office.
Mind you, this is all if proceedings to impeach the governor take place. Governor Greitens continues to deny that the relation- ship was anything other than consensual. A court date has been set for May 14, 2018, even though it was asked for a November court date in order to properly investigate the charges brought forth in the indictment. In the state of Missouri, the governor has the right to a speedy trial, citing it interferes with the course of business with the governor’s responsibilities to state’s proceedings.
In summary, there’s a lot going on in the executive branch currently. Only time will tell where the future leads. However, the Legislature still seems to be moving along with their normal proceedings.
Remember to read your weekly Capitol Connections to keep up-to-date on legisla- tive actions. If you do not receive the Capitol Connections, you can read or sign up to have them emailed to you by visiting modental. org/advocacy. As always if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me. f
