Legislative assistants soothe frustrated constituents, schedule Girl Scout visits, bird-dog bills, open (or lock) the gates for lobbyists, and map the labyrinth of power for the rest of us. In the decade since Missouri’s term limits went into effect, LAs have become—along with lobbyists—the best source of institutional memory and know-how in Jeff City.
There’s just one problem: Many of the LAs are newbies themselves, fresh out of poli-sci majors and not likely to stay more than a year or two, or old-timers nearing retirement. That’s the reason for the new LA-sharing pilot program: Two legislators share a single LA, who therefore makes a higher salary, racks up more experience, and can be trusted with more responsibility.
“They have definitely started doing things that would keep me,” says Sean Grove, who got his first LA job four years ago, fresh out of college. Now he’s working on a master’s in public policy and is LA to Republican representatives Sue Allen and Tom Flanigan. Because Allen chairs the interim committee for government bidding and contracting, Grove keeps its records, handles Sunshine Law compliance, and reads up on procurement laws. With Flanigan, he sits in on meetings with the directors of the state departments of health, mental health, and social services. During the session, he keeps his eye on every bill his legislators have introduced: “If a particular senator has a concern, it might mean me going over there and talking to them.” He also digs to learn what’s been tried in the past, what worked and what didn’t, because freshman legislators “don’t come in with a working knowledge of a $24 billion budget.”
LA Mary Cottom is at the other end of her career, nearing retirement. She and her boss, Sheila Solon (R-Blue Springs) meet at 6:30 or 7 every morning to catch up before Solon’s committee hearings begin and Cottom’s phone starts ringing. “When somebody calls me, I don’t say, ‘You need to call the Department of whatever,’” she says. “I physically do that for them. Sometimes we’ll have a three-way conversation so I know the problem is completed.”
Her days are a blur of lobbyists, resolutions, certificates, press releases, newsletters, surprises. “A group comes in that hasn’t made arrangements, and you make that Capital tour happen even if you have to do it yourself!” She also keeps Solon apprised: “We’re lucky, we’re on the third floor, and that’s where the chamber is. This floor buzzes! You hear and see everything that’s going on, and when you’ve been here long enough, you can figure out a lot of things by watching who’s talking to whom in the hall.”
