This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Jan. 7, 2011 - State Rep. Stacey Newman, D-Richmond Heights, is one of the leaders of a revitalized legislative group -- the Missouri Progressive Caucus -- that hopes to have a bigger impact in Jefferson City, even if it is heavily outnumbered.
Newman is the newly named chairman, with state Rep. Mary Still, D-Columbia (and a former top aide to now-Gov. Jay Nixon), the vice-chair.
Thirty-five Democrats in the Missouri House are in the caucus, making it the largest bloc among the 57 Democratic state representatives. But those Democrats are outnumbered, almost 2-to-1, by the House's huge 106-member contingent of Republican legislators.
Republicans gained 17 additional seats in the Nov. 2 election. But like their counterparts in the U.S. House, state House Republicans (and the GOP in the state Senate) made most of their gains by knocking off suburban and rural, more conservative Democrats, such as ousted Reps. Jeff Roorda and Mike Frame in Jefferson County.
The result, in the Missouri House as in the U.S. House, is that the surviving Democrats are largely the progressives, many of whom occupied safe Democratic districts.
Newman said that the Missouri Progressive Caucus has been dormant since 2002. In the current political atmosphere, Newman said she and others thought now was the right time for the suriving progressives to band together.
"It seemed like there is a responsibility for us to be educated, organized and unified,'' Newman said. Banding together, she added, "just amplifies our issues and makes our voices louder."
The caucus plans to focus on social justice and equality, which Newman says shouldn't be seen as simply progressive issues. She and other caucus members plan to focus this session on such proposals as the Missouri Non-Discrimination Act, which would bar discrimination in housing or employment based on sexual orientation; the Safe Schools Act, which targets bullying; and Prevention First, a bill to require voluntary sex-education programs in Missouri public schools and to bar any goverment interference in a woman's access to contraception.
Newman acknowledges that pressing such issues could be a challenge in the largely Republican majority in the state House, but she added that she hoped some in the GOP -- especially the dozens of freshmen -- may be receptive to some of the caucus' proposals.
She praised new state House Speaker Steve Tilley, R-Perryville, for fostering a civil atmosphere, so far, where different ideas can be discussed. Tilley also is allowing the Democratic minority leader to choose which Democrats sit on which committees.
With so few Democrats in the state House, said Newman, the survivors are finding themselves on far on more committees. That's where an organized group like the Progressive Caucus could have an impact, she added.
The House Progressive Caucus was established in 1983 and its founding members included then-freshman state Rep. and current U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill.
