November 21, 2009
What's Inside:
Committee to discuss Schaaf comment
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A controversial comparison to slavery a St. Joseph lawmaker uttered a month ago is set to headline a closed legislative ethics committee meeting this morning.
The House of Representatives panel will consider a grievance from Minority Floor Leader Paul LeVota against Rep. Dr. Rob Schaaf, a Republican, for his comments concerning a Democratic health care proposal.
“We don’t want anyone to think this is the view of the House of Representatives,” Mr. LeVota said. “It needs to be on record that we don’t believe health care equals slavery.”
Dr. Schaaf in late March publicly argued that a proposal to expand income requirements for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program would’ve enslaved taxpayers because they would be footing the bill for able-bodied adults.
Members of both the House Democratic and black caucuses found the remarks offensive and criticized Dr. Schaaf for likening the social program to slavery, which he has repeatedly denied.
Dr. Schaaf’s subsequent refusal to apologize prompted Mr. LeVota on April 16 to file the formal remonstrance, the Independence Democrat said.
“I think this is great. I think it shows the small-mindedness and willingness of the Democratic caucus to be political,” Dr. Schaaf said. “They’re torturing my words, trying to say I said something I didn’t say.”
Remonstrances typically are referred to a House rules committee and given a public hearing, but House legal counsel advised Speaker Ron Richard, R-Joplin, to instead treat the document as an ethics complaint, said Kristen Blanchard, a spokeswoman for Mr. Richard.
But Mr. LeVota insisted, “Let me be clear, this is not an ethics complaint.”
Neither Dr. Schaaf nor Mr. LeVota was invited to the closed hearing set for 8:30 a.m. today in the Capitol. As an ex-officio member, Mr. LeVota said he planned to attend anyway.
Dr. Schaaf said he wasn’t aware of the remonstrance until Monday, when an individual he declined to name delivered it to him.
The one-page remonstrance admonishes Dr. Schaaf for his “intellectually bankrupt comments” and asks the House clerk to prepare a copy for Dr. Schaaf “so that he modifies his actions accordingly.”
Legislative Black Caucus Chairman Rep. Martin Rucker and Rep. Ed Wildberger, two St. Joseph Democrats, both signed the remonstrance toward a member of the local delegation.
“I wanted it to go away,” Mr. Rucker said. “It’s more of a caucus position, so to speak.”
All but eight House Democrats signed off on it, as well.
“I didn’t sign it just because Rob Schaaf said it,” Mr. Wildberger said. “It pained me a little to do, but we need to send a message to all members of the House to retain the decorum of the House, and perhaps it’s time to choose our words a little more carefully.”
Dr. Schaaf on Monday continued to stand by his statements, however.
Dr. Schaaf said if he ever receives an official copy of the remonstrance, or complaint, “I’m going to frame it and put it on the wall.”
The ethics committee can recommend that the speaker expel or punish a lawmaker, but it first must decide whether the allegations in the complaint have merit, under House rules.
The committee today could vote to dismiss the complaint against Dr. Schaaf or vote to proceed later to a public preliminary hearing. If the vote for a preliminary hearing is negative, the complaint is automatically dismissed.
Alyson E. Raletz can be reached at alysonraletz@npgco.com.
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I wish these people would stop screwing around and get to work.
I'm not a huge Schaaf fan, but good grief....now "enslave" automatically refers to "black slavery"?! According to Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, "slave" can be "a device that is directly responsive to another" and is also a reference "to make direcly responsive to another mechanism," "enslave" is "to reduce to or as if to slavery" and "slavery" can mean "drudgery" and "toil" as well as "submission to a dominating influence." WHY, in the United States of America, is the word "slave" always tied to black slavery? Everyone knew exactly what Dr. Schaaf was meaning and there was no malice behind it. No wonder it takes forever for things to get done....instead of working on issues that matter, they'd rather constantly point fingers and waste time and money on stupid things like this. Ridiculous.
this is just a bunch of hot air and posturing and does nothing to serve the citizens of the state. if mr. rucker just wanted it to go away, why sign this idiotic waste of time?
Politics as usual. Schaaf often plays cheap idiotic political games against people who do not agree with him so why would we suspect they would not retaliate.
Stop this nonsense and get back on track raiding public education funding for the general fund, that's what you guys are good at.
this is just amazing, what a waste of time and money. they can get this taken care of in a heartbeat, but when it comes to passing laws that will protect our children, it takes years. what a joke.
"enslaved taxpayers because they would be footing the bill for able-bodied adults."
This is an ethics violation? REALLY? And people wonder why racism is alive and well in so many parts of society. Its this kind of BS that feeds it.
I think the problem is that the democrats don't like the comparison because its true. So, they have to pull attention away from the facts. Typical.
Uh...I'm not seeing anything remotely offensive here. Urban blacks need to stop playing the race card anytime people disagree with them. If it were me, I would get right back in their face and tell them to stick it. They shouldn't be civilly ignored, they should be administered a shot to the chops.
The Usamabama administration has wondered aloud why we can't have a dialogue about race in this country. Here is a prime example. And to those individuals who practice and condone this behavior, we don't trust you, we don't accept you and we never will.
I feel enslaved by all the ultra PC people that find offense in just about everything. Even Mr. Potato head has come under fire for being a racist depiction of black people. Please people if you draw paint or sculpt anything brown in color make sure it will not offend a certain group of people that not only believe they own the rights to the term enslaved but also the color brown.
I saw a couple black mimes the other day and was not the least bit offended they were performing in white face.
This is nothing more than a diversion that will take time and resources away from the real issues affecting the public. They all should be fired, all of them, and new people that can and will do the job of working for the public and finding solutions to serious problems elected in. I cannot wait till the terms on these people expire and I get a chance to cast my vote to vote them all out.
I am all for pollitical correctness, but this is really just silly. There is so much real work they could be doing.
Is this the kind of nonsense our tax dollars are being spent on? How utterly puerile.
I work with computers, so I shouldn't use the term slave? I think for his comment to be offensive, he has to make an inappropriate comparative statement that actually cites Slavery in the United States. The term "enslave" itself is not, and should not, be offensive. I don't want to go through my dictionary, and cross out all these words that I need to avoid.
Provided the News-Press presented a representative sample of how Dr. Schaaf used the word, I think it is slightly stronger language that saying "unduly burdened taxpayers".
Disclaimer: I am Republican, but not a fan of Schaaf.
It is junk like this that makes me feel that the state government just looks for things to do, other than dealing with real issues. All those in favor of avoiding real issues, vote aye.