Too wet to play golf today, so I’ll indulge in my other main interest — writing this blog…
Predictably, disgraced Missouri House Speaker John Diehl has resigned in response to political and public pressure to do so as a result of his dalliance with 19-year-old college freshman who was doing an internship at the state Capitol.
The resignation had to happen very quickly because the legislature has only this afternoon and tomorrow to accomplish any meaningful business before the session ends tomorrow evening.
Diehl, apparently outside his home in Town and Country, MO, in western St. Louis County
It’s a sacred Jeff City tradition that legislators don’t push themselves away from the lobbyists’ trough and get down to business until the last few days of the session. This year, even the session’s end was disrupted.
The Star’s Jason Hancock — who got the Diehl story — reports that the House came into session at 10 a.m. today, with Diehl not present, and quickly recessed until this afternoon. As Hancock noted, that is “highly unusual…for the second-to-last day of the legislative session.”
This, while several key initiatives are floating in the wind, including a badly needed two-cent-per-gallon gas-tax increase and an ethics bill that would put a $25 limit on gifts and meals that legislators could accept from lobbyists.
In truth, neither of those was probably going to pass anyway, but the Diehl dilemma nevertheless shines a brighter light on what’s not getting done.
**
What struck me as curious about The Star’s report yesterday was that the paper broke it on the website, not in yesterday’s printed edition.
Hancock obviously has been working on the story for at least a few days, and had to have been at least very close to pinning it down Tuesday night.
Perhaps he had a loose end or two, or maybe he didn’t have a response — even a no comment — from Diehl until yesterday morning.
Sometimes the paper — or another news organization — that is working feverishly on a big story is forced to pop it a little sooner than planned because reporters or editors get wind that another news outlet is preparing to run something, or perhaps has just published something.
That’s what I thought might have occurred yesterday, but when I looked around on the Web, I didn’t see any indication of that. The Post-Dispatch didn’t have it first; their story credited The Star.
This morning I put in a call to Greg Farmer, KC Star metro editor, and left a message, saying I was curious as to why the paper ran the story on the web yesterday morning and not in the printed edition.
Alas, I haven’t heard back. Well, maybe Greg is off; maybe he’s taking a long lunch; maybe he checked with editor Mike Fannin and Fannin said, “Don’t talk to him.”
Yeah, that’s undoubtedly it; they’re scared of me. Scared of the massive JimmyCsays operation, with its phalanx of reporters and editors and its thousands of readers.
Well, I take that back. It’s in the thousands only when I write about a Catholic bishop getting bounced.
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
Hey, Jim, what I thought was extraordinary about The Star and this story was the size of the scare head on this morning’s page one. I just glanced at it and thought maybe World War III had broken out … What will the paper do if something important happens?
regards, Don Hoffmann
I hadn’t even paid much attention to that until now, Don. But you’re right…And why would it be so big after it was out on the web all day yesterday???
Pond scum. Diehl will float back up somewhere. Can hardly wait for the announcement. Thanks for putting it out there. And, yes I’m proud to be a JimmyC minion. There should be some sort of handshake or pin to wear so we can distinguish each other in a crowd.
No “minions” in the JimmyC army, Jayson. One and all are highly trained and intimidating paratroopers.
Man, Yael couldn’t wait to pounce with both feet on this one. He was just so relieved that it wasn’t one of his beloved dems for once, he practically bust a gut with his berating. Hey Yael, shouldn’t this bring to mind a certain other public official and intern?
You ought to call him, Gayle…His number is Beechwood 45789. (Actually 234-4141 and follow the prompts.)
Oh, he can see it here. I’m sure he reads you regularly.
P.S. What a “marvelous” song reference.
Nice of you to pick up on the song and mention it, Gayle…It was performed by the Marvelettes; Marvin Gaye was one of the composers; and it rose to No. 17 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1962. (I was a sophomore in high school back in Lou., Ky.)
Here it is..https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us18AUBM2RI
Was never one of my favorites but thought it sounded familiar. Actually I called upon our good and all-knowing source for confirmation. Did not know Marvin Gaye, who was one of my favorites, had a hand in it.
I didn’t either until I consulted the “all-knowing source.” Shhhhh.
Fitz,
Don’t hold your breath waiting for that phone call from Greg Farmer.
That’s a good one, Mike…I am trying to refrain from letting it go to my head that I am nearly as intimidating as Sam Donaldson.
More likely you have joined many others in that vague category of non-humans, very likely a function of your public criticism of the “Public Editor.”
I suspect by now any pictures of you at office picnics, etc have all been erased. Life goes on, and you’re just not a part of it anymore, at least at The Star, and isn’t that the center of the universe?
It is still not clear to me whether Diehl actually had a sexual relationship with the girl, or whether they were only sexting ala Anthony Weiner. Either way, he’s gone.
But back to yesterday’s topic, with the kickbacks and the ethics rules. Missouri at least thought about ethics reform and they at least busted one of their Speakers, but kansas is so weak in major areas that they can get away with virtually anything.
Let’s say you’re a big business coming to Kansas and a key lawmaker owns a bank and you want a big tax break. Do you suppose they could let a local charity, or foundation temporarily hold a lot of money and perhaps put it in the lawmaker’s bank so he could double his profit in one year’s time and convince him to see the justness of their request. I bet in kansas you could do that and get away with it.
And never mind free meals, they do that in Topeka also and it’s no different than our realtors’ luncheons and open houses where we get food for looking at another realtor’s listing. But, let’s say you’re a lawyer and one of the other lawyers in your firm has a client who wants certain gaming legislation passed that is beneficial to them. Why, perhaps you could wander around and testify on behalf of your colleague’s client and no one would be the wiser because in Kansas the Statement of Substantial Interest only requires that attorneys list their lawfirm as a conflict, not its clients. Indeed, even if you’re the attorney fo say a school board you might still promote their cause without ethical consequence because your only conflict is your lawfirm, not your firm’s clients.
The Missouri and Kansas legislatures…Each has its own brand of corruption, with some distinguishing twists.
John — I had to really stretch my memory, but we did have “paper” picnics back in the 70s…when we were the center of the universe, at least in our own minds.
Hey Jimmy,
This is Jason Hancock. Your instincts were correct. There was a loose end I wasn’t able to tie up Tuesday night, so we couldn’t publish in the paper Wednesday. But once that was taken care of, there was no longer any reason to delay publication.
Enjoy your site. Thanks for the interest. We should grab a coffee sometime when I’m in town.
– Jason
Thanks you, Jason…Great to hear from you. Thanks for the explanation.