House Speaker Steve Gaw dismisses criticism leveled against him by a veteran senator during a senate floor speech. Senator John Schneider of Florissant shot a verbal blast at the House with his criticism of Speaker Gaw, calling the Speaker a “wimp.” Gaw took the criticism in stride, saying it’s nothing Schneider hasn’t done to others during floor speeches. After the lunch break, Schneider returned to the Senate floor, telling colleagues his remarks were done in such a personal way they were inappropriate. Though the Senate has expressed frustration with how partisanship in the House has slowed this session, Gaw traces the motivation for the Schneider outburst to the lack of action in the House on the senator’s proposal to expand the state’s term limit law. And, as Gaw sees it, if anything substantial is to come out of this session, the term limits issue must be set aside.
