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Politically Speaking: Sen. Wieland on the lay of the land before legislature's veto session

Paul Wieland
Jason Rosenbaum | St. Louis Public Radio

On the latest edition of the Politically Speaking podcast, St. Louis Public Radio’s Jason Rosenbaum and Jo Mannies are pleased to welcome back state Sen. Paul Wieland to the program.

The Republican from Imperial was previously a guest on the show when he was running against Democrat Jeff Roorda for the 22nd District Senate seat. Wieland won the so-called “Battle For JeffCo” by a sizable margin, a victory that expanded the Republican Senate majority.

Wieland and the rest of his Senate colleagues will be headed back to the Missouri Capitol next month for veto session. Among other things, lawmakers will consider overriding a multi-faceted firearms bill and legislation that would implement a photo identification requirement for voting. The latter measure will only become effective if voters approve a constitutional amendment authorizing a photo identification voting requirement.

Depending on who wins the governor’s race later this year, labor issues could dominate the 2017 legislative session. Wieland has previously been critical of proposals such as “right to work” and “paycheck protection.” But he ended up voting to override “paycheck protection,” which would have required some public-worker labor unions to get annual written permission from their employees before withholding union dues.

Wieland is part of a group of primarily Catholic Republicans that oppose the death penalty. His bill to eliminate the practice received debate last year, but didn’t make it through either chamber.

Here’s what Wieland had to say during the show:

Follow Jason Rosenbaum: @jrosenbaum

Follow Jo Mannies: @jmannies

Follow Paul Wieland: @WielandNow

Music: “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)” by Marvin Gaye

Jason is the politics correspondent for St. Louis Public Radio.
Jo Mannies is a freelance journalist and former political reporter at St. Louis Public Radio.