‘Kiss my ass,’ says Missouri Senate president called out for carrying water for his millionaire donor

Last month, we took a look at lawmakers currently pushing tort reform in the Missouri Legislature who appear to be motivated primarily by self-interest. 

State Sen. Gary Romine, a Republican, is out pushing bills that will cap damages for whistleblowers, force employer-employee disputes into arbitration (rather than the court system), and make it more burdensome to prove discrimination in the workplace. Romine’s company, Show-Me Rent-to-Own, is being sued for discrimination. Among the allegations are that the words “Do not rent to” were written beside a predominantly black residential neighborhood on a map located in the back of the store, and that the word “nigger” was frequently bandied about the workplace. 

Then there’s Senate President Ron Richard. A Republican from Joplin, Richard has introduced legislation, SB 5, that would gut consumer protection in the state, making class-action lawsuit almost impossible to bring. “It’s a poison pill designed to eliminate consumer protection in Missouri,” Scott Waddell, a consumer-law attorney in Missouri, told us. 

Richard, along with Gov. Eric Greitens, has cashed huge checks from David Humphreys, the president and CEO of TAMKO Building Products, which is based in Richard’s Joplin district. Humphreys wrote Richard a $100,000 check in December, one day before new campaign-cash limits went into effect. 

Humphreys has his reasons: TAMKO is fighting a class-action suit in the state over selling defective shingles. He wants it to go away. Richard is proposing a bill that will make it go away. 

Yesterday, as the Missouri House debated a bill akin to SB 5, Rep. Mark Ellebracht (D-Liberty), who is an attorney, pointed out the law “takes away your right as a consumer to get redress when a bad businessman rips you off,” according to the Associated Press. 

Ellebracht observed, like anyone with a functioning brain, that Richard’s bill “looks an awful lot like pay-to-play politics.” Asked later by the AP about Ellebracht’s comment, Richard said Ellebracht should “kiss my ass.” 

The House passed the bill, 100-54, and it sure looks like Richard is going to get his tort reform law. But he is debasing himself and his office in the process.