Democrats in Missouri forgot their differences (for the most part) barely long enough to score some victories against the Republican Party on Nov. 7, and then immediately returned to jockeying for power and position among themselves. A major split that erupted in the Missouri Legislative Black Caucus last week looks back toward hidden controversies in the Claire McCaskill campaign and toward likely rivalries in 2008 primaries.
Nine legislators quit the Missouri Legislative Black Caucus last Thursday in protest of the way caucus chairman state Rep. John Bowman handled a meeting scheduled to elect officers in a body that included new members who won in Tuesday’s general election, state Rep. Jamilah Nasheed and T.D. El-Amin. (Bowman also had failed to show up for a previously scheduled meeting without sending notice.)
According to several of the legislators who quit the caucus, Bowman would not recognize many of the members who attempted to speak at the meeting. This was perceived as controversial, they said, because Bowman didn’t produce minutes or bylaws and his agenda considered it settled that he was president of the caucus, when some considered it open to dispute whether his position had been merely interim.
Bowman was voted president earlier this year after a special meeting of the Black Caucus was called to oust state Rep. Ted Hoskins and state Rep. Rodney Hubbard from their leadership positions, in the wake of a fracas over school choice lobbyists directed by Hoskins.
Hoskins and Hubbard were among the group that left the Black Caucus on Thursday. Also quitting were state Rep. Connie Johnson, state Rep. Maria Chappelle-Nadal, state Rep. Jonas Hughes, state Rep. Martin Rucker, state Rep. Michael Brown, Nasheed and El-Amin.
They have since filed to be recognized as a new caucus, the Urban Progressive Caucus, which will also include state Rep. Mike Talboy, a Hispanic. There was also talk of inviting white progressives such as state Rep. Jeannette Mott-Oxford to join the Urban Progressive Caucus, a move that would surely open up the blacks in the new caucus to attack in North City and North County. One can almost hear the strident voice of Lizz Brown now.
Most of the legislators remaining in the Black Caucus now have positions as officers within it. Other than Bowman as president, the officers are state Sen. Yvonne Wilson, vice chair; state Rep. Robin Wright-Jones, secretary; and state Sen. Rita Heard Days, treasurer. The other remaining Black Caucus members are state Sen. Maida Coleman (who has retained her position as Minority Floor Leader), state Rep. Juanita Head-Walton and state Rep. Craig Bland.
One legislator who remained in the caucus disputed the defectors’ version of events, saying Bowman had attached an agenda to the meeting announcement and distributed minutes at the meeting. In this legislator’s view, the source of trouble was the appearance of Hoskins at the meeting, when he had previously resigned from the caucus. She memorably described Hoskins as “a major irritant, who does not create pearls inside his oyster.”