Missouri Senate to block former Rep. Fowler from parole board

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Republican senators plan to block the gubernatorial appointment of a former GOP lawmaker from Southeast Missouri to the state parole board because he voted against an income-tax cut that had been a

Republican priority.

As Missouri's Legislature opened its session Wednesday, several Republican senators said they won't allow the chamber to confirm the appointment of former Rep. Dennis Fowler of Advance, Mo., to the Missouri Board of Probation and Parole.

Fowler served for less than a year as a representative. He was one of 15 House Republicans who broke ranks and voted in September to sustain Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon's veto of the income tax cut legislation.

Nixon appointed Fowler to the parole board in December. As a result, Republicans hold 108 House seats -- one shy of the two-thirds majority needed to override gubernatorial vetoes.

Fowler resigned from the House upon his gubernatorial appointment and already is working in the new, higher-paying position. But he cannot remain in the job without Senate confirmation.

Sen. Brad Lager said Wednesday he believes the appointment was "a political payoff for Rep. Fowler voting against the veto override."

"I don't want to say that he's getting bought off, but that's sure what it looks like," said Lager, a Republican from Savannah, Mo. "I just don't think there's a place for that, and I intend on stopping it."

Fowler did not return telephone messages left Wednesday.

Fowler, 65, is a Navy veteran who spent 38 years working in law enforcement before becoming a lawmaker in January 2013. He said in December he accepted the parole board appointment because it provided an opportunity "to get back into the business I know." The job also significantly boosts his salary and pension benefits during a six-year appointment that could carry him through to retirement.

Nixon's spokesman, Scott Holste, said in an email Wednesday that "Dennis Fowler is eminently

qualified to serve on the Board of Probation and Parole."

As with state board nominees, Fowler must win the support of the Senate Gubernatorial Appointments Committee before his appointment can be considered by the full Senate. Lager is a member of that Senate committee and plans to halt Fowler's nomination there.

Two other committee members -- Senate Majority Leader Ron Richard, R-Joplin, and Sen. Rob Schaaf, R-St. Joseph -- also said they would oppose Fowler's confirmation to the parole board because of his vote on the income tax legislation.

"Republicans need to act like Republicans, and I'm tired of rewarding Republicans who don't act like Republicans," Richard said.

Schaaf said he had told several House members before the veto session that anyone voting against the income tax cut legislation should not expect to later win confirmation for a gubernatorial appointment. But Schaaf said he had not talked to Fowler.

"We can't be allowing our own members to be cherry picked off and destroy our supermajority in this manner," Schaaf said Wednesday. He added: "This is just us policing our own."

Senate President Pro Tem Tom Dempsey, chairman of the Gubernatorial Appointments Committee, said has not decided whether to join colleagues in blocking Fowler's confirmation and first wants to talk with him.

Missouri lawmakers receive a salary of $35,915 annually, plus daily expense allowances when they are at the Capitol. Probation and Parole Board members make about $83,000 annually.

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