On the latest edition of the Politically Speaking podcast, 漏 2024 外网天堂鈥檚 Jason Rosenbaum and Jo Mannies welcome state Rep. Gina Mitten to help break down Gov. Jay Nixon鈥檚 final State of the State address.
A Democrat, Mitten is a lawyer and resides in Richmond Heights. Before she was elected to the General Assembly in 2012, she spent eight years on the Richmond Heights City Council. She received her law degree from Washington University.
After seeking out a vacant House seat in 2009, Mitten ran in 2012 She outflanked fellow Democrat Jim Trout, and now represents a district that includes parts of St. Louis, Brentwood, Maplewood, Richmond Heights and Webster Groves.
Mitten after the Kansas City Star reported about his sexually charged texts with a college-age intern. She also serves as the ranking Democratic member of the House Government Oversight and Accountability Committee,
Here鈥檚 what Mitten had to say during the show:
- Mitten said 鈥淚 think a lot of the points that came out of the Ferguson Commission are important issues that we need to be looking at,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 also believe there are ways to find some compromise across the aisle on some of these points, not all of them, but certainly on some of them.鈥�
- But Mitten didn鈥檛 think it was constructive for House Speaker Todd Richardson, R-Poplar Bluff, to criticize Nixon鈥檚 lack of engagement with the legislature. 鈥淲hen the governor has engaged, it hasn鈥檛 always been a positive experience 鈥� let鈥檚 put it that way,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a super Republican majority there. So, again, trying to engage and trying to make legislation better or come to compromise is not always successful when there鈥檚 that imbalance of power.鈥�
- She said she didn鈥檛 think Republicans 鈥淚n fact, I would say it was handled abysmally,鈥� she said.
- Mitten said 鈥淚f the Republican leadership is going to say we need a lobbyist ban or we need to stop this revolving door, then it needs to apply to everybody,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t needs to apply to people in office today. I don鈥檛 like the idea that we鈥檙e going to pass a law that only applies to folks prospectively elected. If this is an issue that鈥檚 important enough, then it should apply to everybody.鈥�
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Music: 鈥淎shes to Ashes鈥� by David Bowie
