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I know this will come as a shock to a lot of people, but it seems that certain members of the Missouri Legislature have repeatedly pushed for ethanol incentives and mandates while reaping the very tax credits and profits that they pushed for. One member in particular, John Quinn (R-Chillicothe), has reaped over $200,000 in tax credits since 2000 (he was elected in 2001).

What’s surprising is the stance that the Legislature has no stance on voting for bills in which the member has a direct personal interest. The House allows, but does not mandate, members to excuse themselves on such bills. The Senate has no rules on conflicting interests. The members don’t even have to disclose the amount of tax credits that they have received on their personal finance disclosure forms.

The executive departments in Missouri have a soft, unpublished rule that no credits will be given to legislators if they own more than 10% of the project. However, one person has managed to take a stand.

Sarah Steelman, current state Treasurer who is running an uphill battle for Governor, refuses to give any project incentives if even a single investor is related to an elected state official or department director. Hooray for her! I’ve said before that Steelman is the one Republican that I have voted for in my young life and it is because of reasons like this.

As an idealist, I simply can’t believe that members would repeatedly vote for bills in which they have a financial interest (Quinn has approved $80m in ethanol incentives, including bills benefiting himself according to the AP story). As someone that watches the process, I’m not surprised but I wish I was closer to my idealist self.