Here is the Missouri Capitol Notebook column scheduled to appear this weekend in The Kansas City Star.

 

By JASON NOBLE and KIT WAGAR

The Star’s Jefferson City correspondents

   JEFFERSON CITY | House Republicans’ well-oiled legislative machine slipped a gear last week on a proposed constitutional amendment to limit rulings by state courts.

   The engine trouble began Tuesday, when the Republicans abruptly shut off debate on the proposal over vigorous protests from Democrats. The proposal would prohibit state courts from ordering taxes or forcing the state to spend funds. 

  The problems worsened Thursday, when the measure came up for final approval. Democrats, still irked by Tuesday’s shenanigans, grilled its sponsor, Rep. Jane Cunningham, for nearly an hour.

  By 1 p.m., Democrats were running out of steam and it appeared as if Cunningham, a St. Louis County Republican, would be able to ask for a vote. Suddenly, Republicans realized they had a problem. 

   Majority Leader Steven Tilley, a Perryville Republican, requested that all House members come to the chamber. Thursday was the last day of session before the legislature’s spring break, and more than a few lawmakers had ducked out early.

   Tilley found that 11 Republicans had hit the road, leaving behind just 80 — two short of the votes needed for passage. 

  Party leaders scoured the halls, huddled on the floor and punched their BlackBerrys. But they remained two votes short. After a few minutes, Tilley asked to set aside Cunningham’s proposal until another day.

  House Speaker Rod Jetton later blamed the blunder on the impending spring break. He acknowledged that the snafu might be a symptom of his lame-duck status. 

  “Well, I am term limited,” Jetton said. “I can’t give as many favors out and I can’t break out the stick out very much with only eight weeks to go.”  

*****

   The latest response from Gov. Matt Blunt’s legal team virtually ensures a court showdown between the governor and the investigators examining his handling of public records.

   “Our letter said, ‘We want to work this out short of litigation because litigation is expensive and time consuming.’ They said, ‘Go pound salt,’ ” said Chet Pleban, legal counsel for the independent investigators appointed by Attorney General Jay Nixon to determine whether Blunt broke the law.

   “If they would rather have litigation, we will accommodate them.”

   Pleban, a St. Louis lawyer, and two other investigators are feeling stonewalled in their efforts to obtain documents for their inquiry. Blunt’s office claimed it would take seven people working 40 hours a week more than a year to retrieve records investigators requested and to decide whether they are confidential.

   Blunt’s office has demanded payment of $540,940 to do the work, but said 43 of 45 categories of records will probably be withheld anyway.

   Amid the legal clouds, however, a small ray of Sunshine streaked into the case last week when the first documents stemming from the team’s Jan. 3 request arrived.

   The box – containing some 2,300 documents – appeared to be entirely copies of requests the governor’s office has received from reporters for access to public records and the office’s responses, Pleban said.

   The documents were messy, in little discernable order and included documents from 2005 and 2006 that were never requested, Pleban said. But why did those documents arrive now, 10 weeks after they were requested, even though the investigators have not paid the fees?

   “I’ll tell you the reason – it’s because of critical stories in the newspapers,” Pleban said.

   Blunt’s office said they don’t comment on strategy or on the investigation, except to say that the investigative team is not independent of Nixon, a Democrat who is one of Blunt’s political rivals.