Steve Webb Archives - Missourinet

Nixon sets date for special elections in three vacant House districts

January 31, 2014 By Mike Lear

Governor Jay Nixon (D) has announced he has set August 5 as the date for special elections to fill three vacant House seats.

The elections will fill seats representing areas including in St. Louis County left vacant by the resignation of Representative Steve Webb, in Crawford and Phelps Counties left vacant when Representative Jason Smith resigned after being elected to represent Missouri’s 8th Congressional District and in Stoddard County and part of Scott County left vacant when Representative Dennis Fowler resigned to accept Nixon’s nomination to the Board of Probation and Parole.

The vacant seats are the subject of a court case filed by ten Missourians who say Nixon was taking too long to act while more than 300,000 Missourians were not being represented in the Missouri House of Representatives.

Representative facing charges, caucus leader, split on resignation decision

November 7, 2013 By Mike Lear

A St. Louis area lawmaker charged with felony stealing and seven misdemeanor campaign finance violations says he hasn’t decided whether he will resign his office. The House Democrats’ leader says he should.

Representatives Steve Webb (left) and Jacob Hummel (photos courtesy; Missouri House Communications)

Charges were filed Wednesday against Representative Steve Webb (D-Florissant). The House Democratic Caucus issued a statement from Minority Leader Jacob Hummel (D-St. Louis), who said Webb told him he would resign later in the day. Webb then told media he has not made that decision.

Hummel has issued a new statement reiterating that Webb told him that because he faced serious criminal charges he would resign, and gave Hummel permission to tell the media that. Hummel says Webb even asked the minority leader’s staff to prepare the resignation letter.

Hummel in the latest statement says Webb should, “for the sake of his family and constituents … follow through with his original intentions.”

The charges say Webb solicited money for the Legislative Black Caucus, which he once chaired, and then put it in his own bank account. Other charges say he failed to report donations, made over-the-limit expenditures and mixed contributions with personal funds.

State representative charged with theft of political funds

November 6, 2013 By Mike Lear

A St. Louis area representative has been charged with felony stealing for allegedly spending money meant for the Legislative Black Caucus on himself in 2011.

Representative Steve Webb (courtesy: Missouri House Communications)

Representative Steve Webb (D-Florissant) is a former chairman of the black caucus. He also faces seven misdemeanor counts accusing him of violating laws governing the reporting and use of campaign finance money.

A statement from House Minority Leader Jacob Hummel (D-St. Louis) says Webb has told him that he will resign later today.

The misdemeanor charges say between November 2010 and October 2012 Webb failed to report more than $61,000, spent more than $40,000 in violation of spending limits, co-mingled more than $5,100 in campaign and other funds and converted more than $6,600 to personal use.

A second attempt at education reform fails in the House (AUDIO)

May 9, 2013 By Mike Lear

For the second time, an attempt by House leadership to pass education reform legislation has failed in a late night vote.

Representative Jay Barnes speaks on the House floor on SB 125 while its Senate sponsor, Senator Jamilah Nasheed, looks on. Barnes handled her bill in the House. (photo courtesy; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Changes were proposed to Senate bill 125 sponsored by Senator Jamilah Nasheed (D-St. Louis City) that would lift the two-year wait before the state can intervene in a failing school district to add language to institute principal evaluations.

The plan was carried in the House by Representative Jay Barnes (R-Jefferson City), who said he would rather have offered all the provisions in SB 125.

“What I’m going to attempt to do tonight is to take a part of a bill … and we’re going to amend it down to a [principal evaluations] which I believe can and should pass this body because it got 104 votes when it was offered earlier this session as an amendment onto a bill.”

The proposal inspired impassioned comments from lawmakers including Representative Steve Webb (D-Florissant), who supported the bill.

“We’re failing. We’re failing. And while we’re talking about putting letter grades on schools, which I think we should do, let’s put a letter grade on this legislature. It’s been an ‘F.'”

Representative Vicki Englund (D-St. Louis) says the principal evaluation proposal would not have allowed school districts to do anything they can’t already.

“A lot of the things that we debate are already tools in the toolbox. It’s a matter of how the school board members choose to use them or don’t choose to use them, and there are things that make school districts different. For example, the funding level that each school district receives, in my opinion, greatly impacts the quality of the education that the children receive.”

After a close vote adopted the amendment to implement principal evaluations, the House voted down its substitute for the bill 76-82, after leaving the board open the full 30 minutes possible as supporters tried to swing votes. The Senate bill has been laid aside on the House Calendar and could be taken up again and passed in the form in which it left the Senate before the session ends next week.

The education discussion turned what had been a night of at time jovial debate by lawmakers who had just returned from a social event into a somber and tense debate.

Senator Nasheed, who had been talking to lawmakers from the side floor galleries of the House throughout the debate, left the chamber for a time after Representative Keith English (D-Florrisant) shouted at her to quit threatening people. English was a “nay” vote on the bill.

When House Majority Floor Leader John Deihl (R-Town and Country) moved for the previous question, to cut off debate and force a vote on the bill, Representative Genise Montecillo (D-St. Louis) stormed off the floor. Montecillo, often vocal on education issues, had been standing to speak throughout the debate but was not recognized to.

The House in April voted down a teacher performance evaluation proposal (see the story on that bill).

AUDIO: Hear Steve Webb’s floor remarks, 5:47