Senate GOP leaders block vote to end revolving door in legislature

Intro:	Senate Republican leaders blocked a vote Wednesday night to stop the revolving door between lawmaking and lobbying.
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Wrap: Lawmakers were trying to pass an ethics bill.

To do it, they bulldozed four amendments without taking a single vote.

One amendment would have made it more difficult for lawmakers to become lobbyists.

Another would have stopped political committees from compensating legislators.

But Senate Republican Leader Kevin Engler used the rules to trump them all.

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Description: "I would rise to raise a point of order. Once again, this does not fall in the scope of the title or its contents."

Engler's objection was upheld by the Senate president pro tem, who later told reporters he would not rule out that he is seeking a position with a Missouri business advocacy organization.

From the state Capitol, I'm Rebecca Berg.

Intro:	As Senate Republican leaders advanced ethics legislation Wednesday night, some amendments were not even allowed a vote.
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Wrap: He didn't even see it coming.

Cape Girardeau Republican Senator Jason Crowell said he wanted to expand ethics legislation to address issues like tax credits and lobbying.

But after one, two, three of his amendments were ruled out of order, Crowell knew what to expect.

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Description: "With that, Mr. President, I would move for the adoption of the amendment and be happy to be overruled in a point of order."

Crowell said he questioned whether his peers acted "in the tradition of the Senate."

Even so, he said he plans to support the ethics legislation -- with or without his amendments.

From the state Capitol, I'm Rebecca Berg.

Intro:	Senate Republican leaders blocked votes on multiple amendments Wednesday night as toned-down ethics legislation was brought to the floor.
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Wrap: Amendments came under fire as lawmakers pushed to bring the ethics bill to a vote.

Senate Republican Leader Kevin Engler used procedural motions to stop votes on four amendments.

He threatened to do the same to an amendment by St. Louis County Senator Tim Green, and questioned his motives.

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Description: Engler: "Is there something you're going to run for after this?" Green: "Do you want to know what I'm going to run for?" Engler: "I want to know what you're going to run for." Green: "You really want to know?" Engler: "Yes." Green: "I'm running for the door."

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Description: Engler: "Is there something you're going to run for after this?"

Green: "Do you want to know what I'm going to run for?"

Engler: "I want to know what you're going to run for."

Green: "You really want to know?"

Engler: "Yes."

Green: "I'm running for the door."

Engler said he was concerned Green's amendment was too dense, saying, "There's a lot of words in here."

But Green's amendment, to limit the length of ethics invetigations, was ultimately allowed a vote.

It passed, with modifications, along with the rest of the ethics bill.

From the state Capitol, I'm Rebecca Berg.

Intro:	The Missouri Senate voted Wednesday night to advance ethics legislation, but a number of issues were left out of the bill.
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Wrap: Some lawmakers have said they wanted to stop the revolving door between lawmaking and lobbying.

Others have called for limits to campaign contributions.

But the ethics bill that passed in the Senate did so without any of these provisions.

Senate Republican President Pro Tem Charlie Shields said adding more restrictions would have jeopardized the bill.

And Shields said that was not a risk he was willing to take.

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Description: "We were going to lose an ethics bill which had meaningful campaign finance reform and meaningful provisions about giving the ethics committee powers. We were going to lose that over deciding what somebody should or shouldn't do after they leave the legislature."

Shields said the final version of the bill will likely restrict lobbying anyway.

From the state Capitol, I'm Rebecca Berg.