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Neal St. Onge

In December, as first reported by the Columbia Daily Tribune’s Terry Ganey ^[2], former state Rep. Neal St. Onge, R-Ballwin, found a way to secure a new job. The term-limited lawmaker who lost a Senate primary to Jane Cunningham got the signatures of House and Senate leadership to be appointed Inspector General of the Joint Committee on Transportation Oversight.

Now, the chairman of the committee, Sen. Bill Stouffer, R-Napton, seems to be preparing to fire St. Onge two weeks into his new job. He started Jan. 1. Stouffer, who filed a bill already to eliminate the position, isn’t waiting on the slow legislative process to get his way.

He’s scheduled a closed meeting of his committee for next Tuesday morning to discuss personnel matters. St. Onge is the only employee of the committee.

St. Onge said today that he believes it’s a “reasonable assumption” that Stouffer will try to fire him. “The only problem is, he can’t,” St. Onge said.

Asked today if he was planning on trying to fire St. Onge, Stouffer hedged his bets.

“Everybody in this building is employed at will,” he said. “We’ll see. We think we’re well in line with the law. We will deal with it and we’ll see what happens on Tuesday.”

The job St. Onge now occupies has been unfilled for three years. He obtained the signatures of Sen. Michael Gibbons, Rep. Rod Jetton, Sen. Maida Coleman and Rep. Paul LeVota to receive his appointment. All but LeVota will be out of office tomorrow.

Stouffer said he doesn’t believe the job is necessary. But firing St. Onge could be difficult. The former state representative, who must have known the battle he was going to face, sought a legal opinion about the position and its authority before the brouhaha became public.

The opinion, provided by Jefferson City attorney James Deutsch on Dec. 12, gives the job independence from the Joint Committee on Transportation Oversight because of its “inspector general” responsibilities.

“Because the term of years is set forth in statute, it may be modified only by amending the statute pursuant to the requirements of the Constitution. Removal from the Office of Inspector General is to be accomplished under the general laws governing removal of appointed officials for misconduct in office,” says the letter from Deutsch. “Based upon the plain language of the statute itself, the IG office holder serving as the duly appointed Transportation Inspector General serves for a term of years, does not serve at the pleasure of any official, and serves until a successor is duly appointed as required by statute.”

St. Onge said the committee has refused to provide him an office or add him to the payroll. He defends the new job and said some members of the committee knew what he was up to when he sought the appointment.

“It’s puzzling to me that some people are so opposed to oversight,” he said.