JEFFERSON CITY — Sen. Bill Eigel, a conservative firebrand and Republican candidate for governor, erupted on the Senate floor Thursday after Majority Leader Cindy O’Laughlin floated the possibility of kicking the St. Charles County senator out of the upper chamber.
“Two years ago I said, ‘You know, with 23 votes you can throw somebody out of here,’†O’Laughlin said in a question-and-answer session Thursday with reporters, editors and newspaper owners. “I would do it today. I absolutely would.â€
After Eigel heard about the statement, he shouted, “I’m not gonna bow to anybody … that thinks that they can come in here and throw me out of here because I talk too much!â€
The public airing of such an extraordinary move against a fellow Republican showed how frustrated O’Laughlin, R-Shelbina, has become over the nonstop clashes with Eigel and allies.
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The end-of-week fracas came after the self-styled Freedom Caucus, of which Eigel is a leader, began holding up action last week on a list of gubernatorial appointments in an effort to force action on initiative petition changes.
In the wake of last week’s stalling, Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, on Tuesday removed four members of the hard-line faction, including Eigel, from their committee chairmanships. Their parking spots also were moved. Sen. Denny Hoskins, one of the senators stripped of his committee chairmanships, said taking his office furniture was also discussed.
“You can take my furniture, you can take my parking spaces, you will not bow me!†said Eigel, of Weldon Spring.
O’Laughlin said garnering the 23 votes needed to expel Eigel would likely require asking Democrats in the minority to support the expulsion. She said asking Democrats to help resolve the impasse would entail making a deal with them on other legislative items.
“Everything is a trade-off,†O’Laughlin said.
O’Laughlin’s statement was soon circulating on social media, sending Eigel into a tirade on the Senate floor and demanding O’Laughlin explain herself.
Her staff and the Senate’s sergeant-at-arms were dispatched to bring O’Laughlin back to the Senate floor, but she told them she was busy speaking to the group.
“Tell him I’m not here,†O’Laughlin said.
“He’s a very divisive person,†she added.
“This is the end of us being held hostage. This is not how things should work. We’re not going to take it anymore,†O’Laughlin said.
Thursday’s blowup followed action on initiative petition changes, which Republicans want on the ballot this year to help thwart a pro-abortion rights ballot measure.
Rowden on Wednesday had offered to refer initiative petition changes to committee if the renegade Republicans let through a list of Gov. Mike Parson’s appointments.
Rowden ultimately referred hundreds of bills without attempting to first approve the gubernatorial appointments.
After adjournment, he said the decision to move on the referrals without first considering the appointments “was meant to be a show of good faith.â€
“Obviously it wasn’t greeted in kind,†he said.
The events this week weren’t limited to Senate leadership and the four members who lost their parking spots and committee leadership posts.
Sen. Nick Schroer, R-Defiance, who is allied with the four affected senators, floated a Senate rule this week that would allow a senator to challenge another to a duel if a senator’s honor is “impugned.â€
At an event at the Governor’s Mansion on Thursday, Parson urged senators to stop the stall tactics and fighting.
“You wouldn’t dare act that way at home,†Parson said. “You came here to be a public servant.â€
He said the Freedom Caucus is attempting to put him on the spot by blocking the appointment of people to various boards and commissions.
“I just think they want to drag me into this fight,†the governor said.
But, he added, “I can’t fix the Senate. It’s not my place to do that.â€
Senate Minority Leader John Rizzo, D-Independence, said senators have not been able to have policy ideas vetted because “it has turned into reality TV.â€
“More people in the Republican Party, which is now dominant in the state of Missouri, unfortunately, are more interested in watching a reality TV show than they are about taking care of single moms, or raising wages, or making sure our schools are funded,†he said.
Eigel will face Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe and Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft in the Republican gubernatorial primary on Aug. 6.