Blunt taking time filling two positions on highway commission

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The State Highways and Transportation Commission is among the most important and powerful boards in Missouri government. Gov. Matt Blunt, however, is in no hurry to fill two commission slots that recently opened.

The terms of commissioners Wallace Hartsfield, a Kansas City Democrat, and Larry Webber, a Mexico Republican, expired on March 1. Under the Missouri Constitution, they will continue to serve until replaced. Blunt spokesman Spence Jackson said the governor is content to let the men remain on the commission indefinitely.

"He believes both of them are competent servants for the people of Missouri," Jackson said. "There is no set timetable for nominating their replacements."

Both men were appointed by Democratic former governor Bob Holden, as were three of the other four sitting commissioners. The openings will be the first Blunt fills on the panel, which is the governing authority of the Missouri Department of Transportation.

Blunt must appoint both a Democrat and a Republican to the openings. He will likely pick one nominee from the Kansas City area and another from rural northern Missouri, as those regions would otherwise be left without commission representation. However, he isn't required to make his choices on that basis.

Blunt has called for expanding the commission to eight members, with the two new spots being reserved for representatives of mass transit and river and freight transit. The Senate has already approved the proposal, which is awaiting House consideration.

SLAPPed back

A state appeals court last week dismissed a defamation lawsuit a St. Louis County business brought against a vocal opponent of the company's efforts to build a landfill near a residential area.

The target of the lawsuit had distributed fliers urging nearby residents to ask county officials to reject the project and labeled the company "trash terrorists." The company sought $5 million in damages.

Such cases are called SLAPPs, which stands for Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation. The suits generally are brought without any expectation of success but are used by companies or public officials seeking to silence vocal public opponents of their plans through the threat of costly litigation.

A law enacted last year allows SLAPP targets to seek immediate dismissals of such cases and collect reimbursement for their legal expenses from plaintiffs if a judge agrees the case is without merit. Since the current case was filed before the law took effect, the law didn't apply in this situation.

However, a panel of the Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District said the same concerns about the chilling effect on free speech that prompted the legislature to pass the law guided its decision to dismiss.

State Sen. John Louden, R-Ballwin, sponsored the original anti-SLAPP bill and is pursuing even greater free speech protections this year. The Senate Judiciary Committee approved the follow-up measure last month.

Quote of the week

Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder of Cape Girardeau last week joked about how winning election to higher office has brought him down a few pegs in Missouri's political power structure.

"For four years ending in January, I was a bigshot in state government as president pro tem of the Senate," Kinder said. "Now I'm lieutenant governor."

While the office has picked up a few duties over the years, the primary role of the lieutenant governor is to be ready to take over if the governor dies.

mpowers@semissourian.com

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