On Jan. 9, the opening day of the 97th General Assembly, new House Speaker Tim Jones, of Eureka, promised that one of his primary goals this year would be to increase accountability to our citizens by creating openness in Missouri’s state government.
The ultimate accountability under representative government is to assure that all elected officials are chosen by a public vote. I had the opportunity last week to vote on legislation that will assure that any vacancy in our statewide elected offices are filed by a statewide vote rather than an appointment, as is currently the law.
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