State Senator Maria-Chappelle Nadal, D-University City, has avoided removal from office, at least for now. By a vote of 28-2, the Senate has passed a resolution censuring her for saying she hopes President Trump is assassinated. The measure essentially reprimands her for her remarks.
Senator Mike Kehoe (R-Jefferson City). Photo courtesy, Missouri State Senate Communications.
Majority floor leader Mike Kehoe, R-Jefferson City, says even though she has one more year left in her term, the chamber could try again next year to remove her from office.
“Where then do you draw the line,” asks Kehoe. “If somebody makes a comment like that and they only have two years left? I think right and wrong is right and wrong.”
Kehoe says it’s the the first time in the state’s history, Senate members have passed a resolution reprimanding a sitting senator.
“We felt like the expulsion matter was a little bit higher than the resolution that we filed and we would have called ourselves in if the governor would have called us in,” says Kehoe. “Neither one of those things happened. The censure was as strong as we felt we could go and stay within the limits of where we were with the Constitution.”
Chappelle-Nadal has apologized for her remarks but says she will not resign. In a statement from Chappelle-Nadal, she says the voters elected her to represent them and she will work tirelessly for the remainder of her term to bring about positive change.
Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal (D-University City)
During Wednesday’s annual veto session, the House overwhelmingly fell short of the votes necessary to override Governor Eric Greitens’s veto of a measure that would restore funding cuts to about 8,000 seniors and disabled Missourians.
Republican leadership in the state Legislature is hopeful the governor will call a special session when a funding solution is found for about 8,000 elderly and disabled Missourians. Kehoe says state budget members will work over the next three weeks to develop a financing source that would preserve in-home and nursing home care for those individuals.
“It will be accompanied with an emergency clause,” says Kehoe. “So that way the fix for that crisis, which I believe is a crisis right now in Missouri, will be a little bit more immediate.”
Also under consideration is restoring provider rate cuts, including for private duty nurses who administer in-home neonatal care.
