Here are the Missouri Legislature’s top politicians (in terms of taking gifts from lobbyists)

Coverage of the Missouri Legislature these days isn’t as comprehensive as it used to be, due to the limited resources of declining news media operations. So God bless Progress Missouri for calling bullshit on all the bullshit that goes on in Jeff City on a daily basis while the Legislature is in session. 

Yesterday, the advocacy group pointed out that the Republican leadership’s tough talk on ethics reform — Missouri’s ethics laws are among the loosest in the nation — is now looking to be just that: talk. Bills designed to cap lobbyists’ gifts and require a two-year “cooling off” period before legislators can become lobbyists have stalled and are looking unlikely to go anywhere before the end of the session later this month. 

And speaking of lobbyists’ gifts: Progress Missouri has tallied up legislators’ recent gift disclosures and ranked them in order of whose bellies are most full of freebies. 

Silver lining: There aren’t any Kansas City-area politicians near the top of the list. Will Kraus and Kevin McManus are among the 33 politicians who didn’t report taking any gifts. Judy Morgan took the lowest amount of any gift-receiver, with only $5.40. We’ll give her a pass on that. 

Full list here.