Maplewood city council candidate against SJR38, would remove reforms passed in 2018

Jason Goldkamp, a candidate for Maplewood City Council, Ward 1 in 2022, according to an email, speaks out against a Missouri State bill.

We need to hold Missouri politicians accountable. While the world is preoccupied by a global pandemic, MO politicians are trying to undo the will of the people by passing SJR38, a bill that would revoke our state’s powerful anti-gerrymandering laws passed in 2018 under the Clean Missouri Amendment 1.

Voters passed Amendment 1 in 2018 by a nearly 2 to 1 margin— a commanding 61% of the vote. Most Missourians approved of and voted for these measures across party lines. It had support in every state senate district—including rural and urban areas—as well as across the aisle.

The measure, now in the state’s constitution, restricts lobbyist gifts to politicians, strengthens ethics laws, and significantly limits the ability for politicians to gerrymander and draw their own voting maps.

The amendment politicians are trying to get on the ballot this November would undo many of the citizen-supported reforms passed in 2018. The proposal would explicitly allow political operatives and lobbyists to draw voting maps that would protect incumbent politicians, preventing voters from holding elected officials accountable at the ballot box. SJR38 would increase secrecy and partisanship like never before—something Missouri voters explicitly voted against.

Our most sacred, foundational liberty — the freedom to self-govern — is being corrupted by big money interests in Jefferson City. This proposed bill would rig Missouri’s elections for another 10 years, potentially making Missouri the most-gerrymandered state in America.

We can’t let this happen. I expect Missouri politicians to listen to the will of the people and stop SJR38 now.

Regards,

Jason Goldkamp
Candidate for Maplewood Ward 1 2022

—