Lipke considers state Senate run

The public feud between Rep. Scott Lipke and House Speaker Rod Jetton, already a source of friction in regional Republican politics, could last into 2008 if Lipke decides to challenge Jetton's best friend, state Sen. Jason Crowell, in a primary battle.

Lipke, R-Jackson, said Wednesday he is considering the race, based on urgings from several leading Republicans from the area. Jetton, R-Marble Hill and a paid political consultant to Crowell, said his actions to diminish Lipke's influence in the Missouri House had nothing to do with a potential Senate primary.

Crowell did not return calls seeking comment.

Under term limits, both Crowell and Lipke are eligible for one more term in office. But Lipke would, if re-elected, serve for only two more years and be pushed out of office before Crowell's time expires in 2012.

Interviews with area Republicans, who spoke only on condition of anonymity, said talk of a challenge to Crowell, R-Cape Girardeau, has been circulating since late last year. However, none of those interviewed said they had spoken to Lipke directly until Jetton removed him as chairman of the Crime Prevention and Public Safety Committee.

Lipke declined to name who has approached him about the race.

"I was perfectly content being chairman of the Crime Prevention and Public Safety Committee," Lipke said. "I was happy doing that and had no desire at that point in time to run for the Senate."

That changed after he learned he would have a much reduced role in shaping anti-crime legislation, Lipke said. "I did have several people subsequent to that approach me about the possibility of running for the state Senate, and it is something I will continue to consider along with any other options that are out there."

Jetton's role as a political consultant to Crowell cast a different focus on his actions denying Lipke a chairmanship, Republican sources said. Crowell pays Jetton $1,000 a month to develop campaign messages and strategies.

On Monday, Jetton used a news conference and a letter to the Southeast Missourian to launch an attack on Lipke, questioning Lipke's credibility and accusing him of deceptively winning repeal of an unenforceable law against homosexual acts.

In an interview Wednesday, Jetton said that neither his actions to remove Lipke as chairman nor his news conference had any relation to a potential Senate primary. A question about the possible matchup, Jetton said, is the first he had heard about it. "I was not even aware of anything involving state Senate politics in 2008," he said.

The reason Lipke lost his job, Jetton said, is the repeal of the ban on gay sex. Last year, the House and Senate voted unanimously for a bill sponsored by Lipke, known as Jessica's Law, that set tough new penalties for sexual predators who target children but also included the repeal.

The only lawmaker aware of the provision, Jetton said, was Lipke. He partially blames himself for not reviewing the bills more closely. "I would have definitely gotten that provision out of that bill," Jetton said.

Laws against consensual sex between adults of the same gender were struck down in 2003 by the U.S. Supreme Court. But such court cases do not erase the language from state statutes. That requires a legislative act.

"He wasn't upfront and honest about it being in there," Jetton said. "Then he said it was the right thing to do and needed to be changed and it wasn't that big a deal. That is why he lost his job."

Jetton first became a consultant for Crowell's Senate campaign in June 2004, receiving $3,000 a month during the election year. Since the November 2004 election, Crowell has continued to pay Jetton $1,000 a month. According to the most recent reports on file with the Missouri Ethics Commission, Jetton had received $42,000 through Sept. 30 for consulting work.

When the financial relationship between the two was first reported last year, both Crowell and Jetton said the speaker had worked hard to earn the money. The two also said they are best friends and saw nothing wrong with continuing the financial arrangement after the election. Jetton and Crowell have shared an apartment in Jefferson City, which was also the first business address of the consulting firm, Common Sense Conservative Consulting LLC.

The political relationship between Crowell and Jetton raises concerns about the speaker's actions, Lipke said. Jetton's news conference "has generated people contacting me who are totally outside the political realm to say that this involves more than what is being talked about and it is political."

Jetton, however, said the move against Lipke was forced by members of the Republican caucus, which includes many social conservatives repulsed by the repeal. "I actually hoped this thing would blow over," Jetton said. "People weren't happy because he didn't alert us. I consider him a friend. It has obviously strained our friendship."

As the feud between the two has developed, Jetton has enlisted the help of lawmakers from outside the area to write letters supporting his action. Lipke has garnered support from some leading Republicans, who said they have taken a stand without being asked to help.

One such supporter is John Lichtenegger, a Jackson lawyer and husband of Donna Lichtenegger, a Republican State Committee member and 2002 Lipke opponent for the 157th District Missouri House seat. Lichtenegger said he hasn't talked with Lipke about the Senate race, but he denounced Jetton's actions as "disgusting."

The attacks on Lipke are about more than an unenforceable law, Lichtenegger said. "They have a plan, they have their advisers, this is their method of trying to destroy someone."

Jetton declined to respond to Lichtenegger's remarks.

House Republican Caucus chairman Bob Dixon, R-Springfield, supported Jetton's statements that Lipke was removed because of discomfort among Republicans. Knowledge the Jessica's Law bill repealed the gay sex ban would have killed it, Dixon said.

"That is an issue that conservative Missourians care deeply about, and naturally it would lend itself to controversy," he said. The repeal, which lawmakers learned about only after the legislature adjourned, "lent itself to a lack of confidence" in Lipke, he said.

rkeller@semissourian.com

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