This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, April 29, 2011 - Declaring that "all people are entitled to equal protection under the law," Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon stood in front of St. Louis' historic Old Courthouse -- made famous by the Dred Scott slave trial -- to veto a bill that would have altered the state's anti-discrimination laws and made it harder to sue.
"Its ugliness is unmistakable in any light, in any angle," Nixon said, touching off rousing applause from an audience made up, in part, of people representing those who he said would have been hurt by SB 188: minorities, the disabled, women and the elderly.
The bill that would have changed Missouri's Human Rights Act, he said, sought to roll back "decades of progress in protecting civil rights. The bill would make it harder to prove discrimination in the workplace and would throw new hurdles in the paths of those whose rights have been violated"
"That is unseemly," the governor said. "It is not who we are. It stops here."
The Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry accused Nixon of engaging in "a political stunt" and misrepresenting the bill's provisions and intentions. "Today's bill-vetoing event at the St. Louis Courthouse was a continuation of the charade,'' said chamber chief executive Dan Mehan in a statement.
The veto was Nixon's first during this legislative session, and he called on allies "to make your voices heard in the halls of the Capitol" and prevent an override by the Missouri House and Senate.
"You are the people who have marched and sacrificed and stood up for the mistreated," Nixon said, referring to his audience of activists and like-minded public officials.
Nixon cited several specific cases of people who had successfully sued under the state's Human Rights Act, which he lauded as a document that is "much much more than words on paper. It's a living covenant and a call to action."
The act's provisions made it "so that people with disabilities could lead full and independent lives," he said, and "so little girls can reach the same dreams as little boys."
The act was "under attack," he said, because it was successful in fighting injustice.
He singled out the work of various local activists, living and deceased, such as Max Starkloff, the disabled founder of Paraquad; former Lt. Gov. Harriett Woods and former Rep. Sue Shear, who fought for women's rights; and civil rights activists Minnie Liddell, Norman Seay and Frankie Freeman.
Nixon took exception to the bill's supporters, including the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, who said the measure would end "frivolous lawsuits" and would put Missouri anti-discrimination statutes more in line with federal laws.
In a detailed document circulated at the news conference, Nixon laid out a number of examples where he said that SB 188 would have make Missouri's law much weaker than those in Washington.
Among other things in the bill, he cited:
- Restrictions against punitive damages in housing-discrimination cases;
- Limits on the rights to a jury trial;
- Limited the rights of seasonal workers;
- Provisions that he said could jeopardize federal funding for the Missouri Human Rights Commission.
"Protecting human rights is not a matter of politics," added Nixon, who is running for re-election in 2012. "It's a matter of principle."
But Chamber President Dan Mehan said, "Simply put, the legislation would have made Missouri's employment law mirror that of the federal Civil Rights Act, like the majority of states in our nation. ... Missouri laws are so unfairly skewed that employers are unable to adequately defend themselves against even the most frivolous claims. Missouri businesses cannot move the state forward and recover from recession without modest protections from frivolous lawsuits and the constant barrage of trial lawyers filing lawsuits hoping for a big payoff...
"Missouri courts have eroded the law to the point that Missouri holds the distinction of some of the lowest standards for discrimination lawsuits in the nation," Mehan continued. "In Missouri courts, the employer is guilty until proven innocent. Today's veto and orchestrated, inflammatory event sends the wrong message to the business community."
Nixon's choice of the Old Courthouse as the backdrop for his veto-signing did send a political message, as well as one of policy.
Nixon garnered standing ovations from the leaders of various civil-rights and social activists groups who have at times contended that he has been too accommodating in recent legislative and governmental battles -- many of them unsuccessful -- to expand state spending on social services and health care.
In fact, he made a point during a news conference after his speech in noting that he has tried "to work collaboratively with business across the state."
Nixon cited, for example, his recent signing of a bill that phases out Missouri's business franchise tax.
But in the case of SB 188, he said, "this bill was wrong for a number of reasons. ... You're not going to build the economy by going backward on individual rights."
