Crystal Quade and Richard Brown Minority Caucus Floor Leader Minority Caucus Assistant Floor Leader District 132 and District 27
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CAPITOL OFFICE COMMITTEES State Capitol Member: 201 West Capitol Avenue Ex-officio member of all Rooms 204 and 134 committees of the Jefferson City, MO 65101-6806 Tele: (573) 751-3795 House of Representatives E-Mail: [email protected] MISSOURI HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Crystal Quade and Richard Brown Minority Caucus Floor Leader Minority Caucus Assistant Floor Leader District 132 and District 27 July 14, 2021 Speaker Rob Vescovo House Chief Clerk Dana Rademan Miller 201 West Capitol Avenue Jefferson City, MO 65101 Dear Speaker Vescovo and Chief Clerk Miller, This morning, my office was apprised of what appears to be the going rate for stripping citizens of their representation and House members of their power to vote: $18,900. It is our understanding that a handful of members decided that they, and not the 163 elected representatives of the House, had both the prerogative and power to bind this institution to a legal position through outside counsel in the ongoing Medicaid Expansion litigation. They had neither. This is not remotely close to how such a decision is required to be made, nor is there any plausible argument it could be. The only way this body—even through its Speaker—can file an amicus brief asserting the House’s legal position, or hire outside counsel to do so, is if its members vote to approve a resolution authorizing this. Our House Rules and our other governing authorities make this abundantly clear. (see attached) It is also clear that no resolution to take these steps on the Medicaid Expansion litigation—or any litigation, for that matter—was passed, let alone filed. It is bad enough that members were affirmatively denied their right to cast a vote on behalf of the citizens who elected them to serve as their voice in Jefferson City. It is appalling and inexcusable that, on top of this, the House is now poised to charge taxpayers for the cost of their own disenfranchisement. Even by this body’s standards, the arrogance is astounding. The engagement letter and fee agreement the House purported to enter into with the Pathguide Law Firm, on July 2, 2021, (attached) states that the House is prepared to pay the firm $18,900 for this disenfranchisement. The unauthorized amicus was filed on July 8, 2021, meaning that this firm’s daily rate is $3,150. According to the most recent data from the St. Louis Federal Reserve, the average annual per capita personal income of Missouri taxpayers is $58,560, or $160.88 per day. We should not pay any firm to disenfranchise taxpayers, and we certainly should not do so a rate nearly 20 times that of what our average citizen makes. Nor can the House do this. It is a plainly evident matter of fact that the House could not enter into this agreement with the Pathguide Law Firm, as our members did not pass a resolution authorizing it to do so. In the first page of the engagement letter and fee agreement, the Pathguide Law Firm states the following: “You represent and warrant that all actions necessary to authorize its execution on behalf of the Client [the Missouri House of Representatives] have been duly performed; that you have authority to execute the Agreement on behalf of the Client; and that the Client shall be legally bound hereby.” (emphasis added) None of the “actions necessary to authorize its execution on behalf of the” Missouri House were “duly performed.” As a consequence of the failure to secure authorization to enter into this agreement, no individual at any point had the “authority to execute the Agreement on behalf of” the Missouri House. This agreement is blatantly invalid. As an additional matter, that this agreement was entered into with a former House member who specializes in business and organization law makes its existence all the more unfathomable. He is more familiar than most with the existence and requirements of the Missouri House Rules. In addition, the focus of his practice is business and organization law—a practice that revolves around understanding how organizations can make decisions, when organizations need to take votes to effect outcomes, and when organizations can enter into contracts with other entities. There is simply no excuse for the failures on both sides of this situation to enter into this unauthorized agreement. If it is so important to the handful of members to be able to undercut their colleagues and our constituents in order to pay $18,900 to a firm that has every reason to know better than to enter into an unauthorized agreement to misrepresent the Missouri House in front of the Missouri Supreme Court, then those members need to pay these expenses out of their campaign accounts. The House should not pay for this expense—nor can it. Sincerely, Crystal Quade House Minority Leader District 132 cc: Majority Floor Leader Dean Plocher .