By Susan Redden
sredden@joplinglobe.com
State Rep. Ron Richard, R-Joplin, was elected by House Republicans on Wednesday to serve as Speaker of the Missouri House of Representatives in 2009.
“It’s a long road since City Hall,” Richard, a former Joplin mayor, said after the vote in which he won out over state Rep. Allen Icet to succeed current Speaker Rod Jetton.
First elected to the House in 2002, Richard is assured the top job in 2009 if Republicans maintain control of the body in elections in 2008. For the next year, he will serve as speaker-elect and work alongside Jetton.
Richard said he is “very humbled” by his election Wednesday as part of the legislature’s veto session.
“I’m not sure how I feel otherwise,” he said just after the vote. “We worked hard for the entire state, and we’ll keep doing that.”
Richard expressed his thanks to a team of about 22 legislators who worked on his behalf. A speech nominating him for the post was given by Rep. Jay Wasson, R-Nixa, and a former Nixa mayor.
“He’s a leader who has what it takes to do the job,” Wasson said. “He’s worked hard for every part of this state and he’s a straight-shooter, not a game-player.”
Richard’s election strengthens the position for the region in the General Assembly, because state Sen. Gary Nodler, R-Joplin, recently was named chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
The last time Joplin area legislators held top jobs in both bodies was in 1985, when then Sen. Richard Webster, of Carthage, was elected minority leader in the Senate and state Rep. Roy Cagle, of Joplin, was minority leader in the House. But, both the lawmakers were Republicans, while Democrats held the majority in both houses.
Cagle, who became a lobbyist after 12 years in the House, was in Jefferson City on Wednesday and outside the room where the caucus vote was taken.
“I think he’s very deserving and very capable,” he said of Richard. “I’ve been in this business for 30 years and he’s about as good as I’ve ever seen in working with people, including folks on the other side of the aisle. I know he has fans among Democrats, too.”
Posts held by Richard and Nodler will put the area “in a very strong position” in Jefferson City, Cagle said.
Richard said the vote ended “a tough couple of weeks” of final campaigning by him and Icet, who is chairman of the House Budget Committee. Icet will remain budget chairman, he said.
“That’s the only promise I’ve given, but we both told each other that this race would have no fall-out as far as committee chairs,” he said.
Richard is chairman of the House Committee on Job Creation and Economic Development. He said economic development will remain a top priority though he is unsure if he will keep the chairman’s post.
“I’m committed to continuing the (Republican) majority and committed to working with the speaker,” he said. “We’ll be meeting with him to decide my role.”
Jetton created the position to give his successor a running start, to allow the speaker-elect to gain more experience before he takes over the post.
The election came in a closed caucus that included nominating speeches, then speeches by each of the two candidates.
Also Wednesday, House Republicans elected Bryan Pratt, R-Blue Springs, to become the next House speaker pro tem.
Fund raising
Raising money that can help other Republican legislators and candidates is one of roles of House leadership and Richard’s campaign fund contributed more than $53,000 to other candidates and campaigns in the 2006 election cycle.
