Missouri
We have a foreign correspondent in Missouri who might at this very moment have the most entertaining Republicans anywhere. Or, as I say, Missouri: Too small to be a country, too big to be an insane asylum.
Deb T. takes it from there —
Missouri’s Governor, Eric Greitens is charged with (not convicted of), a Class D Felony (Missouri law prohibits anyone convicted of a felony from holding office.)
Golden Boy Greitens, the darling of the GOP, recipient of tons of money from the Koch Brothers and multi-millionaire Rex Sinquefield, is a guy whose entire campaign was predicated on “family values” is being indicted a little over a year after he took office because of an extra-marital affair that involved blackmail and bondage.
This probably leaves Missourians and quite possibly Governor Golden Boy himself wondering what happens next. As with many things, impeachment in Missouri is structured unlike almost every other state, we’re weird that way.
Like the federal government and most states, the process starts in the House of Representatives, specifically in the House Judiciary Committee where they decide if articles of impeachment are warranted given the offenses that the governor allegedly committed.
According to Article 7 (Section 1), of the Missouri Constitution, executive officials in Missouri are “liable to impeachment for crimes, misconduct, & habitual drunkenness, willful neglect of duty, and corruption in office, incompetency, or any offense involving moral turpitude or oppression in office.”
If the Legislature pursues Impeachment against Greitens it would likely come via Missouri State Statute 565.252.
Today the Republican controlled House formed a committee to investigate the charges against Greitens and 12 Republican House members signed a formal petition calling for him to resign.
If the House Judiciary Committee determines that Greitens committed a serious offense, which met that criteria then it can send the Articles of Impeachment to the House for a vote.
FWIW, the House leadership in Missouri appears to be signaling that they are leaning in that direction. Let’s put it this way, Golden Boy hasn’t won any friends during his first year in office.
Just how do Missouri’s Legislators regard Greitens? Here’s a sampling.
Perhaps Greitens would have benefited from reading, “How to win friends and influence people”? On second thought there probably isn’t a chapter on duct taping women to rings in your basement while blindfolded, nor do I suspect that Emily Post ever discussed taking pictures, consensual or otherwise, during said activities.
If the Missouri House passes these Articles of Impeachment, the matter goes to trial and that’s where Missouri’s contrariness asserts itself. Unlike the federal government and 47 other states, rather than send this to the Missouri Senate for the trial, Section 2 of Article 7 of the Missouri Constitution, requires, “All impeachments shall be tried before the Supreme Court, except that the governor or a member of the Supreme Court.”
Therefore, the governor will face a “special commission of seven eminent jurists to be elected by the senate” holding his trial, 5 of the 7 of whom must vote for impeachment in order to remove the Governor. It would only be at that time that the Governor could be removed from office
If that happens Lt. Governor Mike Parson, of Bolivar, Mo., would then assume the role of Missouri Governor.
There have been 10 impeachment cases in Missouri since 1825. Former Secretary of State Judith Moriarty is the only Missouri official who has ever been successfully impeached and removed from office. She was impeached back in 1994 following accusations that she had backdated election forms filed by her son to make it appear that he didn’t miss the filing deadline.
Update: he is doubling down and blaming Soros.
My favorite Greitens story so far (NOT THE ONION, this is for reals!) —
Former stripper convicted of filming sex partners seeks pardon from Gov. Greitens
A former law student and male stripper convicted nearly 20 years ago of invasion of privacy for secretly filming sex partners is asking Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens for a pardon.
Greitens was indicted last week under the same criminal statute for allegedly taking a compromising photograph of a woman with whom he was having an affair.
Greitens lawyers’ motion to have the charge dismissed uses the same legal rationale as the request for the pardon, according to attorney Albert Watkins, who sent the pardon request on behalf of his client to one of Greitens’ lawyers.
It would be “mighty hypocritical” of the governor not to grant the pardon given the basis for the request appears identical to the motion to dismiss Greitens’ pending felony charge, Watkins said in a press release Sunday.
A Republican? Hypocritical? About sex? Nooooooo ….
Seems to me that the Republicans that beat the the “Family Values/Evangelical Christian” drum the loudest, turn out to be kinks, adulterers, and pervs.
1I assign at least partial blame for this situation to trump.
If trump hadn’t put personal morals and integrity into the sewer with his repulsive actions, I believe the Missouri gov’s goose would be cooked by now.
2Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “just hanging around the Governor’s mansion”
3An extramarital affair with his … wait for it … HAIR STYLIST! 🙂 As a patron of the TWMDBSI, this chuckles me no end. Oh well, woulda, shoulda, coulda.
4Boy oh boy.
5When the gov puts on a display of his Family Values in the Show Me State, some of us better keep our eyes closed. For everyone else, there’s a blindfold.
Here again, if you’re unfit to hold office, why would you be fit enough to have picked your replacement? (Or any other of your appointments)
6Are you a Republican embroiled in a steamy sex scandal?
Do you have issues with Sunshine laws?
Have you pretty much ticked off everyone in your State Legislature?
When all else fails, there is always Breitbart and blaming Soros!
But what do I know, I’m old enough to remember when Greitens side piece was his gun:
7https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yf2Gai1uQYM
Deb,
Showing his true character, he cheated on his side piece with another side piece:
8https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-VfFi6Z14Q
Just got back from 3 days in KC, MO, with my husband, who was born and grew up there. Much head shaking amongst his family and disgust with Greitens, but skepticism that anything will actually happen, or that the R’s will cough up anyone better. Of course his family are die-hard yellow-dog Democrats, who have lived for 50 years in a very blue (90%+ black) neighborhood in a blue city. And the other folks I hang out with there are the local Friends Meeting. The Down-state Red World is a mystery to me, and pretty far culturally from our family.
9Obviously, he flat out Could Not See what he was doing while undertaking his felonious ways…he probably Should have duct taped blindfolded women to rings in his basement rather than being blindfolded himself while he duct taped them to rings in his basement.
[From the OP: “…there probably isn’t a chapter on duct taping women to rings in your basement while blindfolded, nor do I suspect…”
10Like I said before, who the bleep is writing these scripts!!!
11Left unsaid is that he rolled into office surfing a wave of dark money that no one is allowed to question or identify the source of.
12Since elected spends part of almost every day at PAC/401c3/4 headquarters. When he was first implicated this is the offic he holed up in seeking sanctuary.
Even to the point that some r legislators were openly questioning his campaign financeing and coordination.
I FB’ed it to my Missouri cousins. I know at least one or two are very red. Bwahahahahahahaha!!
13Missouri: Kinky as Arizona?
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