On this week’s episode of Politically Speaking, St. Louis Public Radio’s Chris McDaniel, Jo Mannies and Jason Rosenbaum welcome state Rep. Shamed Dogan to the podcast for the first time.
Dogan, R-Ballwin, is a Northwoods native who worked in Washington, D.C. after graduating from Yale University. Among other things, Dogan worked for former U.S. Sen. Jim Talent, R-Mo., and the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
When he returned to the St. Louis area, Dogan unsuccessfully ran for a state rep seat in west county. He later joined the Ballwin Board of Aldermen, where he tried to institute a body camera program and criticized gifts given to the town’s city administrator.
Last year, Dogan won a three-way Republican primary for an open House seat – which is tantamount to election since no Democratic candidate ran. Dogan became the first African-American Republican elected to the Missouri General Assembly since the late Sherman Parker won a St. Charles-based seat in the 2000s. He is the only GOP member of the Missouri Legislative Black Caucus.
During the show, Dogan said:
- His 2008 race provided him with insight about the “value of knocking on doors and of grassroots work.” Dogan said when he ran that year, he outraised both of his opponents – and still lost.
- He’s sponsoring legislation to require disclosure of gifts made to local officials – including city managers and administrators. Dogan is also cosponsoring a bill with state Rep. Jay Barnes, R-Jefferson City, to bar lawmakers from being a lobbyist for a year.
- He’s receptive to legislation to make it easier for smaller cities in St. Louis County to disincorporate or merge. “We have 90-something municipalities in St. Louis County – some of them are 500 people and a police road trap,” Dogan said. “I just think that’s not serving those people well. You could consolidate a lot of those governments and save those taxpayers money and eliminate some hassle from their lives when their police forces are there for revenue collection.”
- He wants Gov. Jay Nixon to provide clemency to Jeff Mizanskey, a Sedalia man serving a life sentence for selling marijuana. If that doesn’t happen, he will consider filing legislation to require the release of anyone serving life without parole for marijuana-based offenses.
- He won't run in next year’s 15th senatorial district contest, which is expected to feature a crowded GOP primary.
Follow Chris McDaniel on Twitter: @csmcdaniel
Follow Jason Rosenbaum on Twitter: @jrosenbaum
Follow Jo Mannies on Twitter: @jmannies
Follow Shamed Dogan on Twitter: @shamed4rep
