Governor Jay Nixon busted out that veto pen again, this time to nix legislation that passed with overwhelming bi-partisan support. The bill in question would have kept Missouri from being penalized by the GOP for holding its presidential primary too early; doing so by moving it back a month, into March.
Republicans say Gov. Jay Nixon's veto of an elections bill has made Missouri "irrelevant" in the presidential nominating process and should be overridden by the state Legislature.
National party rules say that only four states — Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada — can hold caucuses or primary elections before the beginning of March… States that break the rule can be punished by having their delegations cut in half at party conventions. That, in turn, could prompt presidential contenders to ignore Missouri during the campaign season.
It’s no surprise that Nixon wouldn’t mind having Missouri take a back seat during this election cycle, considering the presidential primary only includes Republican candidates. Still, it marginalizes the entire state he serves by making Missouri far less important to the group of candidates that could easily produce the next President.
(Begging the question: Would he have vetoed a similar bill in an election cycle that was selecting a Democratic nominee?)
Also no surprise is that he opposed another of the bill’s important provisions, which would strip the “special appointment” powers the Governor currently enjoys for filling vacant statewide offices in favor of filling those seats by special election. He singled out his opposition to that portion of the bill in a half-hearted attempt to seem as though he supported the overall legislation while taking the veto pen to it anyway.
Nixon [said] that while he supported the presidential primary date change, the bill contained other provisions he deemed "unacceptable."
…Republicans [said] Nixon should have weighed in while the bill was being written.
It takes a true politician to claim to back the bill that he throws out, all while offering no leadership or communication of any sort during the drafting process… though that’s not exactly unusual with Jay Nixon. He likes to have his cake and eat it, too.
There are already enough votes in the Senate to override the veto during their September session. The House needs 109 total votes to seal the override… and it passed the House in May with 137. That math is not in the Nixon’s favor.
Touring natural disasters, feigning support of bills he suppresses, and governing by veto: Jay Nixon’s new M.O.
- B.H.
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