3 reasons Cindy o'laughlin needs to step down
1. She doesn't want you to know or be involved with what's happening in Jefferson City
In a private meeting with me over interim, she told me the citizens of Missouri need to stay home and run for school board if they want to be involved in government. She doesn't want you to know or understand the process. She wants to be left alone to do what she wants. It was enlightening to hear her heart in regard to the citizens she's been elected to represent.
2. Speak up & use strategy she doesn't approve of = you're a narcissist and a terrorist.
Completely unprofessional behavior and name calling isn't ideal, but I can understand that sometimes frustrations rise and mistakes are made in our choice of words. I'm thankful for grace in this area and have to utilize it far more often than I'd like. But using the term terrorist in our culture today is not acceptable.
Take a listen to a couple of audio clips of the senate floor with Senator O'laughlin and Senator Eigel. You can find this conversation archived on the senate website on 1/18/24.
3. Trash talking sessions with the press.
Here's the video of the meeting she had with journalists while Senator Rowden was referring bills on Thursday, 1/25/24. When asked for an inquiry by Senator Eigel, she refused to go. The Sargent at Arms had to come three times before she left her stage here with the press. This is the polar opposite of what Missouri needs in leadership.
When she returned to the floor, she told Senator Eigel that she had not called for his expulsion but that she would, indeed, vote for it if given the opportunity. You can listen to the senate audio of that exchange on the Senate website. Go to the 1:43:00 mark.
Eyes to see
I hope you've seen over time that I do my best to share truth as I see and experience it. The truth is, imho, that every legislator we have is a real human being and that means a mixture of wonderful attributes as well as those things that are being "refined." And make no mistake, God is refining us all and most days I feel like He's especially refining those of us who have been called to this government mountain.
If you or I were elected to these positions, we'd find ourselves in a world unlike any other we'd experienced before and faced with challenges at a level that would stretch and bend us in ways no one could expect. We'd all make mistakes, missteps and find ourselves regretting a vote now and then or wishing we'd done something differently.
I say that to reiterate that even when things happen I may not like or that would be perceived as negative, I'm especially trying to remember to see individuals in a way that reminds me they are first and foremost a creation of the Most High. Daily, sometimes hourly, I try to remember to pray for eyes to see what He sees and to walk in a manner that would bring honor to the One who called me to this place. But it isn't an "easy" place to be.
Confronting truth isn't always easy. But it is the truth that He says will set us free.
Love doesn't always feel like skipping through the tulips or dancing under the stars. Love sometimes looks like a deep dive into hard places to work on righting wrongs and setting things in right standing with the Lord. Facing problems isn't easy.
Fighting for freedom over tyranny isn't an fight that leaves one feeling as thought they've been to a spa. It often leaves you exhausted and on your knees begging for wisdom and discernment, praying and asking for clarity of what to say and how to say it, so that God can be glorified while we fight.
Unfortunately, tyranny is exactly what is happening in our Missouri legislature. Yesterday, it showed its ugly head on the Senate floor.
LISTEN TO SENATOR BRATTIN talk about what happened ON THE PODCAST
Senator Rick Brattin is the Senator from Cass. He stands at around the 20:40 mark and makes his motion to move to 2nd reading of SJR 28.
Senator Bill Eigel is Senator from the 23rd. He is the sponsor of the IP bill, SJR 83.
Senator Cindy O'Laughlin is Senator from Shelby and is the Majority Floor Leader, who adjourns.
Senator Mike Moon is Senator from Lawrence and can be heard after the motion to adjourn shouting in the background to be recognized, which he never was.
what can you do?
1. Call your Senator and ask him/her to vote to support the effort to go to Committee of the Whole & take up the Initiative Petition legislation.
2. Look up your senator contact information here: Legislator Look up Tool
change the rules & read the bills!
If you read the blog on Jan 5th or if you've listened to today's Arise & Build podcast, you know that we've got a Pelosi-style leadership in our Missouri legislature.
The MISSOURI FREEDOM CAUCUS through Senator Bill Eigel, has proposed a senate rule change that would help ensure our legislature has time to actually read the bills they are voting on!
Here's a screenshot from the senate journal last Thursday,
But guess what??
our senate leadership is not in agreement to allow this window of time!
The Majority Floor Leader in the Senate, Cindy O'Laughlin, has the responsibility of determining what comes to the Senate floor. It's a position of great power and has a direct effect on Missouri citizens, our freedoms and way of life.
On Thursday, January 4th, Senator Bill Eigel, who is a member of the new Missouri Freedom Caucus, proposed a rule change that would require a window of 2 legislative days to be given for the purpose of allowing time to READ. THE. BILLS.
But our Majority Floor Leader is refusing to allow the rule change to be brought to a vote and has advised the republicans to vote no if she is forced to bring it forth.
do you want our legislators to read the bills they pass?
That's not happening much right now.
They are passing HUGE omnibus, multi-subject bills that are unconstitutional to begin with.
They are passing such kitchen sink bills that the democrats & republicans are all voting together as a block. Everyone has a piece of language in it they want or need, so they vote yes on all of it to get their own pork & lobbyists sludge across the line.
For Perspective
In 2023...
- 39 of 40 regular bills they passed were voted on in the last 2 weeks of session
- 17 were unconstitutional omnibus bills
- 80% of the time, the democrats & republicans all voted together
Last year, almost every single bill that passed was shoved through in the last 2 weeks and amended into omnibus Christmas tree bills that were brought to the floor as senate substitutes at the last minute.
When a few good senators stood up to ask questions about them, they were told by their Majority Floor Leader, Cindy O'Laughlin, to sit down, shut up and vote! She is forcing them to VOTE ON HUGE BILLS THEY HAVEN'T READ!
Unfortunately for us, they mostly obeyed her and voted when they should've continued to stand. It resulted in the voting chart you see below where they are all voting in unison because their favorite lobbyist friends & contributors have language included or their pork projects are delivered in those bills. MAYBE there is one or two decent policy changes included, too, but they really wouldn't know for sure because NO. ONE. READS. THE. BILLS!
And this is the way the lobby core & our republican leadership wants it!
use your voice & take action
It's time to call them on their behavior and demand better! The government was created BY the PEOPLE & FOR the PEOPLE.
We are hoping to see a vote tomorrow, January 10th. Please let them know today that you want them to READ the bills!
1. Call and email Majority Floor Leader, Cindy O'Laughlin and let her know that you want to see that rule change to Rule 64, offered by Senator Eigel, to come to the floor for a vote.
Email: cindy.olaughlin@senate.mo.gov Phone: 573.751.7985
2. Call your senator & as many others as you are able. Request a yes vote on the change for Rule 64 if given the opportunity. You can find senator contact information on each member page on the senate website or download the PDF below. We suggest printing the PDF and keeping it for future use.
2023 Final Senate Votes on Bills Truly Agreed Upon & Passed
the rules matter
I've discussed the rules before, both here online and in a variety of groups I speak to across Missouri.
The rules matter. In fact, they matter more than most other things when it comes to the passing of legislation.
Why? Because the Rules dictate the specific details in the process by which a bill becomes law.
The rules specify when bills can be filed, how they are referred to committee, what the committees are and who sits on them, how the chairs are chosen, how debate on the floor is handled, how and when bills can be amended, how and when votes take place, etc. etc. EVERY detail about the process is spelled out in the House Rules & the Senate Rules.
So, if the rules are written in a way that doesn't protect the interest and the individual liberty of Missourians - it's a BIG PROBLEM. And we've got a few problems with the rules.
the state budget
According to the Missouri Constitution, the state budget is the only thing required of our Missouri legislature each year.
With a super majority of republicans you'd think the budget and spending would be under control and fairly conservative, they'd be working to lower taxes and reduce wasteful spending. According to the Missouri Republican Platform, this is a priority. This screenshot was taken from the MO GOP website on the state platform:
but instead they spend more!
And has your tax burden decreased lately? Yeah, mine hasn't either.
In 2023, the state budget was the highest it's ever been and had the highest percentage increase in history. In Missouri, we now spend more per capita than the state of California!
eigel wants to reign it in and relieve the tax burden
On Monday, 1/8/24, Senator Bill Eigel stood to file 2 resolutions that would change the rules in regard to the way the budget bills are passed in the Missouri Senate. You find the details in the Senate Journal for that day on page 2.
These changes would make for more accountability and more transparency in regard to spending of the taxpayer's dollars. They would also require a reduction in spending if there is an increase in spending. Hmm....is that when they call balance??
- Proposed change to Rule 60: Each section of the budget bills that require new spending will be voted on individually by the entire senate, not only the Appropriations Committee.
2. Proposed Change to Rule 50: No amendment to the budget bill that increases aggregate spending will be accepted unless there is a reduction of aggregate spending in another section. The reduction amendment must be approved prior to the spending amendment.
call your senator & ask for a yes vote on these rules changes!
Find your senator's contact information here:
The current narrative in the news cycle after the launch of the new session & Missouri Freedom Caucus is that these "conservatives" are obstructionists. The GOP and Senate leadership are shouting through the news outlets that they won't be able to get anything done until these senators sit down and hush.
What you should be asking the GOP leadership is,
"what things are you wanting to get done?"
What things do they feel these senators have kept them from doing?
Because, I can tell you more than a few things about what they did in 2023 and basically very little of it is good.
Most of it's not even really republican let alone conservative.
democrats party on the front steps to celebrate
Somewhere in social media land, there is a photo of the democrat representatives literally drinking and dancing on the front steps of the Capitol in celebration on the last day of session in 2023. One democrat legislator said they couldn't have had a better session even it had been run by the democrat party!
why would the democrats be celebrating a super majority republican legislature?
Well, I've got 100+ pages of details on the 39 bills passed in 2023 that explain why.
The majority of those details will be published in the near future, but for now read through this short list and consider, "What do we WANT them to do? MORE or LESS of this?"
When 17 of the 39 regular bills they passed are unconstitutional in the first place because of changes to titles and multiple subjects, that's our first problem.
The rest are full of spending, chipping away our freedom, and then we have the creation and funding of policy that is literally opening the door for the likes of the United Nations and the WHO to walk right in and make themselves at home.
Want more of that getting done?
The GOP got PLENTY of "dog poop brownies" passed in 2023 and I'm praying Senator Moon and the Missouri Freedom Caucus will start standing in the gap for us even more to keep the dog turds out!
Listen, our freedom is safer when they aren't in session. When they are in session, the priority in my playbook is defending the Constitution and protecting the individual rights and liberties of Missourians. They could go 10 years without passing one more bill and we'd be better off.
Aren't Republicans supposed to want smaller government?? That's not a "conservative" idea. It's a REPUBLICAN idea. We have a super majority of those!
2023 stats
Total Bills Passed - 58
Budget Bills - 19
Regular Bills - 39
Total Resolutions - 6
Joint Resolution (ballot measure) - 1
Concurrent Resolutions - 5
Unconstitutional Bills - 17
They are unconstitutional based on multi-subjects and title changes that were not germane to the original intent of the bill.
Truly Republican Bills - 2
The SAFE Act prohibits medical gender transition for our children under 18.
The Save Women's Sports Act prohibits boys from participating in girls sports in K-College.
10 piles of dog poop that passed inside larger (mostly unread) bills in 2023
- Gave away our state sovereignty in regard to the licensing our healthcare workers, counselors and social workers when they opted into a federal commission. The commission rules will be enforced as state statute. They are going to do it with dental health professionals next. (SB 70 & SB 157)
- In fact, the statute reads that the rules of the commission will be enforced by all three branches of our state government. AND if we get taken to court by this commission, guess who will pay the fees? MISSOURI!
- In the commission mentioned above, Missouri will have only one representative who is an appointed bureaucrat along with one member from every other member state. (SB 70 & SB 157)
- That same statute says that all licensees who participate will have to FULLY participate in any data collection that is being done.
- Speaking of data collection. They're collecting it or allowing it to be collected at every turn. EVERY. TURN. There are so many bills that talk about data collection I can't list them here.
- They created loan repayment programs for healthcare workers and veterinarians. Who needs the feds to repay college debt when we can do it right here in Missouri?? (SB 70, SB 138, HB 417, HB 202)
- The Sheriff's retirement fund can now accept PRIVATE gifts. (SB 75 by Senator Mike Bernskoetter)
- DESE is now providing grants for private childcare providers to be used for programming our babies and toddlers. Because DESE is to be trusted with our babies now?? Of course, to get the money those providers will have to follow the rules...whatever those turn out to be. But don't worry! I'm sure they are here to help. (SB 24 by Senator Lincoln Hough)
- They sold our children's personally identifiable information. (SB 28 by Senator Lincoln Hough and SB 106 by democrate Senator Lauren Arthur)
- MO First Responders are REQUIRED to participate in vaccination programs as recommended by the CDC when they are working a situation where bioterrorism is suspected and federal grant money has been received. This was already in statute but they opened that section to make changes and left this there. (SB 24 by Senator Lincoln Hough)
- And it goest ON and ON... this is truly just a minute fraction of what "things" they like to do.
YOU WANT MORE OF THIS TO "GET DONE?" I DON'T.
I want the Missouri Freedom Caucus to follow Senator Mike Moon's lead to STAND in the gap to defend our freedom, our state sovereignty and our Constitution.
If you didn't see the previous post - here are the 2023 senate votes on passed bills again. I'll be publishing more information in the days to come as well as a full 2023 legislative review resource. Stay tuned!