House Speaker Tim Jones, right, with his pending replacement, Rep. John Diehl.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – When Missouri Speaker of the House Tim Jones leaves office in January, he says one thing is for sure: He will not follow in the footsteps of his predecessor and cash in on the influence business.
Jones was quick to criticize former House Speaker Steven Tilley’s move to the lobbying world when he dropped his own plans for statewide office in 2012. Mainly, Jones slammed Tilley for taking a labor union contract to lobby against “right-to-work.”
“I will not work against the next Speaker’s number one policy agenda item,” he said.
While Jones may not be cashing in on influence, it is not clear where the money is coming from for the newly formed fellowship and just who it is who is paying for it. Jones would not say.
Campaign account
Even after Jones hands the keys of his third floor capitol office to his soon-to-be replacement, Rep. John Diehl, he’ll still hold the reins to a powerful arm of his speakership: His hefty campaign account.
Prior to announcing his plans to not seek reelection, Jones racked up more than $909,000 in contributions during the last election cycle – including $10,000 as recently as Sept. 15 from Rex Sinquefield’s Grow Missouri. Despite his public pronouncement that he will not seek a statewide office in 2016, his campaign account still says he is — meaning he can keep it open until candidate filing closes that March.
Jones, in an email, noted the fact that his campaign contributed thousands of dollars to other candidates this cycle, including more than $27,500 to the House Republican Campaign Committee and $10,500 to outgoing-Rep. Rick Stream’s unsuccessful campaign for St. Louis county executive. That, he said, will continue in the coming months.
“Over the next 60-90 days, I will be contributing a significant amount of funds to various conservative leaders and groups who are dedicated to continuing to advance the conservative agenda I have pursued over the last several years,” he said, adding that some of the money could be leveraged to help Republicans running statewide. “I will continue to contribute to the best and most true conservative Republicans who declare for 2016.”
Jones’ announcement that he would not be seeking statewide office was a surprise to many: Jones was as subtle as an elephant about his statewide intentions and had already began to campaign. After considering runs for secretary of state and attorney general, Jones had most recently settled on the idea of running for lieutenant governor.
Nearly a week after the office’s current occupant, Republican Peter Kinder, began emailing supporters that he would be seeking reelection to a fourth term, Jones made his announcement that he was pulling out of consideration for a statewide run in 2016.
Some have speculated that Jones may have stepped aside to make way for Bev Randles, chair of the Missouri Club for Growth, to enter the race. Randles was not responsive to a message requesting comment.