Missouri Senate considers lawmaker pay raises

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri senators debated Monday whether to accept a proposed pay raise for themselves and statewide elected officials, a move Republican Gov. Eric Greitens called "outrageous."

If senators don't vote to block the pay increase before Wednesday, lawmakers will get a roughly $1,800 raise over two years.

Statewide elected officials will get 8 percent raises for the next two fiscal years.

Greitens pulled senators off the floor Monday evening to urge them to vote against the increases.

"This is outrageous," Greitens said in a Facebook post. "That's the last thing we need, and it needs to be stopped."

In Missouri, a citizen panel recommends pay for legislators and statewide elected officials so lawmakers don't have to decide their own pay.

Lawmakers can vote to block the raises from taking effect, and the Legislature in recent years has been reluctant to accept higher salaries.

House members voted 154-5 against the raises last week, but the effort to stop the pay hikes is facing pushback in the Senate.

Four Democrats and two Republican senators on Monday recused themselves from a vote, arguing voting on their own pay is a conflict of interest.

"I believe that there is no greater conflict of interest than voting one way or the other on whether more money goes directly into my bank account," Kansas City Republican Sen. Ryan Silvey said. "However I vote on this, whether I vote on this or whether I vote 'no' has a direct effect onto the direct deposit into my bank account."

Silvey also tried to recuse himself before Majority Leader Mike Kehoe, a Jefferson City Republican who is ushering the resolution through the Senate, objected.

Senators for hours argued over the use of recusals.

Some questioned whether senators recused themselves to allow the pay raise to take effect without voting.

Nixa Republican Sen. Jay Wasson called it a "cheap way to get out of taking a vote."

"What I think is going on here is sleazy," Wasson said. "It's a cheap trick."