Three People Outside Jefferson City, Missouri Con't

The saga of Missouri GOP Gov. Eric Grietens continues amid last week's news of a scandal involving blackmail, abuse, and cover-up.  As Democrats call for his resignation, now we find out that Greitens violated the state's open records law. to avoid being caught.

With Greitens’ behavior during the affair now the subject of a criminal probe by St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner, it remains unclear how the Republican-controlled Legislature will move forward in the remaining four months of the legislative session. 

The stunning development already upended plans to push forward with the governor’s agenda on ethics and regulatory reform. The House had been poised to cap off last week by taking votes on a Greitens-led initiative to limit gifts from lobbyists, as well as lift regulations on hair braiders, but they left town Thursday without taking a vote, saying they wanted members to leave early to beat an impending winter storm. 

The ability of Greitens to govern was already in jeopardy in the Senate, where he is facing blowback for appointing a majority of new members to the state Board of Education in order to oust the state’s top school leader. 

Sen. Gary Romine, R-Farmington, earlier said he planned to use his filibuster powers to block the appointments from being confirmed. Senate President Pro Tem Ron Richard, R-Joplin, said he was putting the appointments on the backburner to let tempers cool.
Greitens was further impeded by an investigation by Attorney General Josh Hawley into his administration’s use of a secretive app that deletes text messages, potentially in violation of state open records laws. 

Missouri Republican Party Chairman Todd Graves acknowledged Monday the governor’s woes have made the path forward rockier. 

“I think the agenda will continue to advance, (but) it’s going to cause some additional hurdles,” Graves said.

Gosh, you think?  And yes, even in the Trump era, state Republicans are raising the possibility of impeachment if Grietens doesn't step down.

Even if the governor does weather the scandal it could severely damage his ability to pass his agenda. 

Many Republican lawmakers have voiced support for investigating the allegations and at least one, Sen. Gary Romine of Farmington, has raised the possibility of impeachment if an investigation does not exonerate the governor. 

A poll that was conducted on the heels of the scandal by Remington Research Group, a GOP-leaning firm, shows that the governor’s brand has been damaged by the scandal. 

The poll found that only 32 percent of likely Missouri voters have a favorable opinion of the governor, which is a drop of 10 percentage points from a poll conducted by the same firm a week earlier.

Grietens is crashing and burning pretty hard right now.  We'll see if he survives, but my guess is if Alabama's Robert Bentley was forced out last year for less in a blood red state, then Greitens isn't long for his job.  It won't stop the Missouri GOP from continuing to wreck the state's economy, but it will slow them down a tad.

We'll see.