JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — After the last bell for voting rang Friday and the Missouri House of Representatives threw a year’s worth of bills into the air to mark the end of the legislative session, the halls of the Missouri Capitol emptied quickly.

With the 2010 session closed, Missouri’s senators and representatives headed home.

For six men and one woman from Southwest Missouri, term limits mean they won’t be returning to their old seats next year. All of them have served the maximum eight years under the term-limits law.

Some are seeking higher office, others are leaving options open, but all recognize the reality of a political shift for Southwest Missouri, given the collective experience of leaving office and the positions they held.

State Rep. Kevin Wilson, R-Neosho, believes quality representatives will take their place, but he said there always is a learning curve for a political process that gives experienced legislators an edge.

In recent years, area legislators rose to top ranks in the General Assembly, including Gary Nodler, R-Joplin, who headed up the Senate’s Appropriations Committee until this year; Jack Goodman, R-Mount Vernon, assistant majority floor leader in the Senate; and Wilson, who was tasked with heading up ethics reform this session.

Ron Richard, R-Joplin, served as speaker of the House for the past two years.

Several other Southwest Missouri legislators also rose to committee chairmanships.

State Rep. Tom Flanigan, R-Carthage, is the only legislator from the far corner of Southwest Missouri who returns to his old seat next year. He is completing his first term, and is unopposed in both the primary and the general elections this year.

“It’s going to be a long time before we see that kind of power in Southwest Missouri again,” Wilson said.

State Rep. Marilyn Ruestman, R-Joplin, the Republican caucus secretary, said that local legislators worked well together.

“We have been a force to be reckoned with,” she said.

Looking back

Senior senators and representatives from Southwest Missouri spent the last day of the session running back and forth from the floor casting votes, signing copies of the state manual like a class yearbook, and cracking jokes.

They also discussed wins and losses.

Richard, who helped draft legislation in recent years to spur job growth, said he wishes he could have done more this term to create jobs, but the reality was that the state faces one of the “worst budget shortfalls in Missouri history.”

Asked for his highlight, he cited being unanimously elected speaker of the House — and surviving the job — something that hasn’t always happened with his predecessors.

“This is something I never dreamed would happen to me,” Richard said.

Nodler, who served in the Missouri Senate since 2002, said career highlights include the passage of legislation elevating Missouri Southern from college to university status, and other higher education reform and solutions.

His colleague in the Senate, Goodman, said he entered politics because of his frustration as a voter, and leaves office having made many of the changes that prompted him to run in the first place.

Goodman said repeal of the “village law,” which allowed landowners to escape zoning and planning regulations by incorporating as their own village, was one of the best moments of his political career.

“It allowed me to see that one person can work for what’s right, even against the most powerful of adversaries,” he said.

Though Goodman said he also was successful in getting the Stop Meth Act passed, he lamented that Missouri is still a leading methamphetamine producer.

State Rep. Bryan Stevenson, R-Webb City, headed up the judiciary committee in the House. He ends his run in the House with the unanimous passage, in both the Senate and the House, of House Bill 1695, which offers DWI offenders more chances to seek treatment but also toughens penalties for some offenders.

“It has been a good way to end it,” Stevenson said Friday afternoon.

Wilson, who also headed up the Special House Committee on Health Care, offered the passage of the “sprinkler bill” —  a response to the 2006 Anderson Guest House fire that killed 11 people — as one of his greatest victories.

Bright mood

Ruestman said she “swore not to be sad” for the last day of session and intentionally wore bright colors to lift her mood.

She cited passage of the DNA bill in 2009 as an accomplishment. It requires those arrested in felonies and first- or second-degree burglaries be DNA tested with the caveat that the samples be disposed of if the subject is not convicted.

“I really feel like (that the DNA bill) will save lives,” she said.

According to Ruestman, working in the House is like being in school.

“You’re always learning and the bell is always ringing,” she said, adding that she enjoyed her time in Jefferson City, despite the sacrifice required of her family.

“This little eight-year divot of my life has been very special,” she said. “I just wish more people could do it.”



Now what?

Rep. Ron Richard, Joplin, is running for the 32nd District Senate seat held by Gary Noder, Joplin.

Sens. Nodler and Jack Goodman, Mount Vernon, are each seeking the GOP nomination for the 7th District House seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt.

Rep. Bryan Stevenson, Webb City, hasn’t filed for a new political race, but said Friday he is “not closing any doors.”

Rep. Kevin Wilson, Neosho, has not filed for any political seat either, but said he plans to stay in politics, though he didn’t hint at what that might mean.

Rep. Ed Emery, R-Lamar, is running for the Missouri Senate, but in his case in the 28th District.

Rep. Marilyn Ruestman has filed for presiding commissioner of Newton County.