This evening via social media:

Paul LeVota

To My Friends:

My conduct has been called into question relating to the intern program in the Missouri Senate and even though there has been no proof of any wrongdoing, the media attention is a distraction to doing the people’s work.

As I stated before, I did not engage in harassment of any intern in the Missouri Senate and an investigation found no proof of misconduct. However, I will not put my family, myself, or the senate through the process of dealing with the veracity of false allegations and character assassination against me.

In my entire time as a public official, I have focused on issues to help people like expanding health insurance, raising the minimum wage, and equal pay for all. If anything distracts from my ability to do that work for Missouri, I cannot be as effective as my constituents deserve. With the continuing focus of other issues, I find it difficult to be the best senator that the people elected me to be.

Today , I have tendered my resignation from the Missouri Senate to Senator Tom Dempsey effective August 23, 2015. It is important to finalize all issues in my office and to allow the governor the ability to immediately call for a special election to fill my seat.

It is doubly important as House District 29 is still vacant and needs to be filled. It is imperative that the people of the 11th Senatorial District and the 29th House District have representation in Jefferson City immediately.

I want to thank all of my supporters over my years in public service and I look forward to joining the ranks as a private individual and contribute to my community in that way.

Previously:

Uh, oh… (July 23, 2015)

Yesterday:

Paul LeVota, Independence senator, accused of sexual harassment by intern in Jefferson City

Posted By Steve Vockrodt on Wed, Jul 22, 2015 at 4:40 PM

A Missouri Senate investigation released on Wednesday outlines claims of sexual harassment by a student intern against Missouri Sen. Paul LeVota.

The long-awaited investigative report details allegations by a University of Central Missouri intern working in LeVota’s (D-Independence) office, accusing the senator of making sexually charged remarks and later retaliating against her when she rebuffed his advances.

LeVota denied her claims, and the investigative report draws no conclusions about the allegations….

The Jackson County Democratic Committee is holding its annual Truman Days celebration this weekend. The festivities at the Adam’s Mark in Kansas City started last night with the food and informal social atmosphere of the hospitality suites. Candidates, Democratic Party activists, and anyone in attendance have an opportunity to introduce themselves to each other, renew acquaintances, visit, and talk about campaigns and politics in Missouri.  

Democratic Party activists visiting in the hallway.

Jim White (D), candidate in the 4th Congressional District, speaking with Representative Emanuel Cleaver (D).

Jim White (D) to challenge Vicky Hartzler (r) in the 4th Congressional District (February 1, 2015)

Jim White (D) in the 4th Congressional District: speaking out (February 12, 2015)

Jim White (D) at the Back to Blue Dinner in Cass County – April 25, 2015 (April 27, 2015)

St. Louis County Assessor Jake Zimmerman (D), a candidate for Attorney General.

There is another (January 27. 2015)

Campaign Finance: also in under the wire (April 1, 2015)

Campaign Finance: now that’s personal commitment (April 2, 2015)

Sandy Querry, Democratic National Committee member from Missouri.

Senator Scott Sifton (D), a candidate for Attorney General.

Sen. Scott Sifton (D): running for Attorney General in 2016 (November 10, 2014)

Campaign Finance: the long road to 2016 (November 12, 2015)

Sen. Scott Sifton (D) at the Back to Blue Dinner in Cass County – April 25, 2015 (April 28, 2015)

Pat Contreras (D), a candidate for State Treasurer.

Pat Contreras (D) a candidate for State Treasurer in 2016 (April 13, 2015)

Senator Paul LeVota (D).

The speakers scheduled at tonight’s dinner include Jackson County Executive Mike Sanders, Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, Secretary of State Jason Kander, Attorney General Chris Koster, and keynote speaker Representative Marcy Kaptur of Ohio.  

Senator Paul LeVota (D) via Twitter this morning on the water crisis in Toledo, Ohio:

Paul LeVota ‏@paullevota

Fertilizer from farms & waste from livestock pens triggers water crisis. What if they had a “Right to Farm” this way? (http://t.co/fNLM4MLKMD) 7:15 AM – 4 Aug 2014

Uh, yep.

Previously:

Campaign Finance: $110,000.00 for something they really care about (January 3, 2014)

Campaign Finance: Food fight! (May 28, 2014)

Campaign Finance: Because, across Missouri, family farms are being supplanted by… (June 24, 2014)

Campaign Finance: as if yard signs were actually a cash crop for actual farmers… (June 28, 2014)

Utilizing the First Amendment to challenge our oppressive corporate overlords… (July 2, 2014)

Joe Maxwell – “No” on Amendment No. 1 (July 8, 2014)

Campaign Finance: egg money (July 9, 2014)

Campaign Finance: opposing useless law (July 25, 2014)

Right to farm: read the small print and between the lines (July 25, 2014)

Pinch me, I must be dreaming – Cynthia Davis gets it right on Amendment 1 (July 30, 2014)

Campaign Finance: Big agriculture money keeps pouring in for Amendment 1 (July 31, 2014)

Baker Creek Seed Company – Vote “No” on Amendment 1 (August 3, 2014)

Cass County Democrats hosted their annual Back to Blue Dinner in Belton, Missouri last night. One of the featured speakers was State Senator Paul LeVota (D). He spoke at length on the dysfunction and obstructionism of the republican majorities in the General Assembly.

Senator Paul LeVota (D) speaking in Belton, Missouri on April 13, 2013.

Previously: Paul LeVota (D): a candidate for the 11th Senate District in 2012 (May 16, 2011)

This evening in Independence former state representative and House Minority Leader Paul LeVota (D) held a kickoff event for his 2012 11th Senate District campaign.

Former state representative and House Minority Leader Paul LeVota (D) speaking at his state senate campaign kickoff event in Independence.

The transcript of Paul LeVota’s remarks:

Paul LeVota (D): [applause] …Thank you for being here. I appreciate it. I do have some prepared speech because I really want to set out the question, what am I doing here? And tonight, um, I am officially launching my campaign for state senate to represent you, the people of Eastern Jackson County.[applause]

Since two thousand and three we have been honorably and effectively served by our State Senator Victor Callahan. And due to term limits he will be leaving this position at the end of two thousand and twelve. This is a loss for our community because now more then ever we need strong public officials.

But, the election for the next senator is almost a year a way. And now is the time to begin talking about who can best fill that position. And I am running for this office because we need a strong Democratic State Senator who will stand up for common sense accountability. I know I’m the right person at the right time for this job. My past experience as House Democratic Leader, my commitment to the people of this community, and my profound belief that public officials must be accountable to the people they serve is what lead me to seek this position.

I learned a great deal in Jefferson City. I’ve seen when the legislature has worked and when it didn’t work. And I think it’s clear that we need a better legislature. It is [voice: “Amen.”] become, the state capitol, a profit center for special interest run by a super majority Republican Party who seem to have forgotten about the middle class. Now it can work again when we in state government deal with issues from a common sense approach. Issues are too compartmentalized in Jefferson City. We need leaders who know that issues are interrelated…

…For example, over the past decade I’ve championed the cause of public education, a strong public system that builds our state. [applause] Now, of course you’ve heard [applause], you’ve heard a lot of politicians say they care about public education, but unfortunately we’re going in the wrong direction. Lack of proper support for our schools immediately hurts our kids but it also hurts our ability to build a state ready to create new industry. We know that strong schools in a strong community can create jobs. We’ve done that right here in this district. Your state government should be accountable to understand that issues like public education and jobs are related.

As state senator I will remember that we need good schools, roads, and services for businesses create jobs. We need a balanced approach to our budget and how we provide that support. The Senate is the place in state government to stand up against shortsighted politically motivated legislation that may grab a headline but harms our future.

Businesses cannot grow jobs when there aren’t qualified workers. We cannot train workers when we continually make a college education unaffordable for Missouri families. Businesses cannot grow jobs when roads and other infrastructure are crumbling around them. We cannot improve transportation when we continually ignoring the funding needs of our state. And small business cannot grow jobs when we continually foolishly waste our money on tax credits for huge out of state corporations. [voice: “Uh hmm.”]

When you look across this country and right here in Missouri we also have a specific and deliberative attack on labor and a total disregard for the great work that has done in protecting workers from exploitation, enforcing the great ideal of collective bargaining, and in representing people to achieve fair wages for their work. With this attack on labor it is mow more important than ever to have a senator that truly believes in the labor movement and is eager to fight for labor’s goals. [voice: “Yeah.”][applause]

From my experience I know the Senate is the place in state government to focus on discussion, reasoning and judgment, where issues are weighed and examined with a different type of scrutiny. As Phil mentioned the House of Representatives has a hundred sixty-three members but the State Senate only has thirty-four senators. More than ever we need a strong Democratic state senator who can make our state government accountable to solutions that will help build the middle class instead of the special interests.

It is crucial that our next state senator has the real knowledge, strong persistence and the right temperament to be successful. I have shown my willingness to compromise across party lines to accomplish a goal along with the strength to give ’em hell the only way a person, a Democrat from Independence can. [voice: “Yeah.”][applause]

During my time in the legislature I aggressively worked to increase constituent outreach through community meetings and social media because being in touch is the way to succeed.

And just briefly, to tell you about the 11th District, it is a very diverse district. It encompasses the majority of the City of Independence where I’ve lived my whole life but also has the cities of Raytown, Sugar Creek, parts of Kansas City, and even has Arrowhead and Kaufman Stadiums in the district. So someone that may live by the Truman Sports Complex may be different from someone who lives in a more conservative area may have different issues, but I can be the Senator that can [inaudible] to the diversity of this district. And as your State Senator, I will always be looking for new ways to communicate because that’s how problems are solved. We must believe in each other. And we must all be accountable to this idea.

I am very proud of my service to this community, but we have a lot of work to do. And I have been blessed by a large family and many supporters who’ve supported what we’re doing. So tonight I’m asking you for even more help. Because running for a state senate seat is a large undertaking. It will take a lot of time, energy and money to run a successful campaign. I understand that, so I’m asking you to help me. And I’m asking you to give me your time, energy, and money to be successful. ‘Cause I’m here to tell you, we are running to win this campaign. [applause]

Over the next thirteen months the people of the district will have the opportunity to look at the commitment, the experience, and the solutions I bring to this position. And I am confident at the end of this campaign that they will agree with us and I will be your next state senator.

So, one thing to remember, I’ve always, I have been involved with politics as an elected position for twenty-five years since I first was on the Jackson County Democratic Committee. And in these years I have learned that there are actually people who oppose common sense accountability in our government and that these opponents will do anything to stop our efforts. Detractors should be aware that this campaign will be prepared to stop any negative tactics by clearly communicating the truth to the voters of Eastern Jackson County.

So, I know, I’m confident, that with your help we will be a great example. With your help we’ll be successful, we’ll build on the past and we will be the example campaign that will bring common sense accountability into our state government.

So I thank you very much for being here tonight. I thank you very much for standing with me.
I’ll be calling on you in the future. We have a long year ahead of us, I know you’ll be there with me. I thank you very much. And remember, vote LeVota. [applause]

Former state representative and House Minority Leader Paul LeVota (D) will be running for the 11th Senate District seat in 2012. The seat is currently held by Victor Callahan who will vacate the seat due to term limits.

A video from Paul LeVota’s campaign:

Hi, I’m Paul LeVota, candidate for Missouri state senate.

To kickoff this race we are launching paullevota dot com, the official website of this campaign.

I want to be your senator in order to stand up for common sense accountability in government. Over the past decade I have championed the cause of public education, introduced government accountability measures, and increased constituent outreach. Now, I want to serve you as your state senator.

I need you to be involved with this race. This website is only one way that I plan on keeping you informed and involved.

Running for state senate is a large undertaking. It will take a lot of time, energy and money to be successful. But I want you to know that I’m working very hard to win and I’m asking for your early support.

So, check out the website, sign up for a newsletter, and donate to our effort. But, most of all, I need your feedback. I want your participation in order to be successful.

Thank you again for checking out paullevota dot com. Check back often, we’ll have a lot of updates. I appreciate your friendship and support. Stay in touch.

The LeVota senate campaign website.

A state senate campaign is a tough and complicated enterprise. You can’t decide to run on the last day of filing in 2012 and expect to be successful in a primary or the general election.

You’ve got to lay the groundwork well in advance. Paul LeVota appears to be doing just that.  

Previously: Kansas City Labor Rally Against SB 1: right to get paid less, part 1

In addition to the union members who attended yesterday’s rally at the IBEW complex a number of area public office holders addressed the rally or were in attendance, including Jackson County Executive Mike Sanders (D), Jackson County Legislator Theresa Garza Ruiz (D), Missouri State Senator Victor Callahan (D), Cass County Prosecutor Teresa Hensley (D), among several others.

Toward the end of the rally we spoke with former Missouri State Representative and House Minority Leader Paul LeVota (D):

Show Me Progress: …What’s the importance of stopping, uh, the so called, uh, “right to work” Senate Bill 1 for workers in Missouri.

Former Missouri State Representative and House Minority Leader Paul LeVota (D):  Well, it’s important to create jobs in Missouri and this is gonna go the wrong way. It’s gonna reduce wages, it’s gonna reduce, uh, money for education and the teacher, it’s gonna reduce, really, the middle class standard of living. And, and that’s the point. It’s why they want to try this legislation.

Show Me Progress: So, you know, in, in, in sort of the real world what’s the, you know, you try to think what’s the motivation for people to, to, to literally propose something that will do that in Missouri. What, what’s their, their whole thought process?

Paul LeVota:  This is so these big businesses can make more money. It’s simply that. They don’t have to pay workers as much for their skill set. Um, they reduce the number of, uh, skilled workers and then they don’t have to pay ’em as much so they get to keep more money in their own pocket…

American Federation of Teachers: “This is what a Union Thug looks like.”

…Show Me Progress: But, you know, the, the problem with the logic of that is, well, is, there are more, basically, there are more workers than, than there are people who, you know, own corporations in the sense of, run them, and, and profit from them, so, aren’t they cutting their own throats?

Paul LeVota: In the long term they’re cutting their own throats ’cause they’re not gonna have the workers they need to grow their business. Um, we have seen a sharp decline not only in Missouri, but in the U.S. of manufacturing workers. We need to be innovators. Well, we need to have skilled workers to innovate. We need to have a great education system in the state to innovate, to create new jobs and new, uh, growth in our state. This is just backwards. And every other state that’s done this has gone backwards. And, uh, it’s, it’s the Republican Party, in majority, trying to show their political power by paying back, um, their heavy contributors. That’s what this is all about.

Show Me Progress: You know, but, we’re seeing this across the country. Uh, it’s sort of, is there sort of a coordinated play book for them to do this?

Paul LeVota: Absolutely.  Coordinated play book. Traditionally the Democratic Party has stood up for, uh, the middle class and working people, Republican hasn’t.  So you stop union collective bargaining, right to work, you weaken them, and you weaken the Democratic Party. And it all goes together for, um, more power in the, in the government to make the richer richer and the poorer poorer.

Show Me Progress: Thank you very much for your time.

Sheet Metal Workers’ International Association, Local 2.

The United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers.

The United Auto Workers had a sizable contingent.

House Minority Leader and Representative Paul LeVota (D) was the featured speaker at the Thursday night meeting of the Johnson County Democratic Club in Warrensburg.

Representative Paul Levota (D) speaking at the Johnson County Democratic Club meeting in Warrensburg on Thursday night.

House Minority Leader and Representative Paul LeVota (D): ….I’m here to give a little bit of background about what happened this, this session and the real need to, I’m going to try and tell you the facts that happened this session which will make you take that extra step for Courtney [Cole]…and for Zac [Maggi] and really try to win back some seats. Because what we saw this session in Jefferson City, we can do a heck of a lot better. And we’re so close in getting these two people elected. So,  I’m hoping to tell you a little bit about what happened and then maybe you’ll be a little bit more motivated….

[….]

I’ve been the House Democratic Leader for three years, been in the House for eight years. I represent my hometown of Independence, Missouri. And, uh, we, we have seen quite a bit of change in the last eight years. When I was elected I came in with ninety new members and we were the first group of people, group of Democrats that were in the minority. We didn’t have the luxury of being in the majority.

[….]

But since that time we’ve seen this Republican legislature move us backwards in the state. And we’ve worked very hard to try to move forward. We made some progress with picking up eight seats in two cycles, which is better than any other Democratic group since nineteen sixty-four or six… And we also did our best to get a Democratic governor in there. So now we’re at a, a time when we had this successful election in two thousand and eight and we see what these Republicans are really all about. They are scared. So in two thousand and ten in the legislature the House spent a lot of time on non-binding resolutions. And these non-binding resolutions that they would put up in the House basically were messages to Congress to tell them what to do. One of them was that we reject the new health care out of Congress. One of them was to remind them that we are sovereign state. [laughter] Yeah, I didn’t, I wasn’t aware of that one. One was that we have the right to pray even though we already have the right to pray. Also, they need to do a balanced budget and they need to, anyway there’s a lot of things that the Missouri House spent a lot of time telling Congress what to do. Well, we needed to work on Missouri.

The Governor came out with goals that all Missourians could get behind for the session. Number one is create new jobs in the state. Number two, to make sure we have a balanced budget. And number three, to have real ethics reform at state, so we can get rid of that cloud of pay to play mentality in Jefferson City. And as the Governor presented those proposals at the beginning of the year everybody was on board with those. The Republicans were saying this sounds good. But then they wasted time with these non-binding resolutions. Where even the Senate was doing some work, the House continued to do that.

Then the Governor came back and said it’s even worse than we thought. We have to cut a half a billion dollars from the current budget to make everything balanced. So you put that on the legislature. Well, this was not a problem that is a natural disaster, this was a man made disaster. And it was man made because the continual, uh, belief by these Republicans that all you need to do is cut, cut, cut, give away our tax money to big businesses through tax credits and have them not be accountable, and ignore any other way to bring in more money to the state. So that’s where we are now, we’re, we’re reducing revenue continually. House Democrats continue to say we need a balanced approach. We need to first a foremost look at these tax credits, uh, review them, but that was off the page because these Republicans want to give money continually to their big business friends in the state.

So, it consumed the rest of the year, in the budget. And we had to figure out a way to make cuts, they were very painful. Um, but the worst part of it is that we did nothing to help solve the problem for next year. And we’re going to be in a deeper hole next year.

Meanwhile, the other goals of getting new jobs in the state, the Republicans failed to pass the Governor’s jobs bill to help create those jobs in the state, particularly help create jobs for, uh, manufacturing, like Ford, in the Kansas City area. And they even refused to do a real ethics reform bill. The House Democrats continue to push for, uh, ethics reform, saying that we have to stop these committee to committee transfers. Got to stop the revolving door of someone being a legislator then a lobbyist. You’ve got to ban the practice, this is legal, but we were saying we need to ban the practice of a legislator being a political consultant at the same time. But we also said that we need to reinstate campaign finance limits. The people in Missouri, late nineties, wanted those. They voted for those. It’s fair. Uh, we had a hearing on that bill. Uh, we, we made some progress with that ’cause we actually were gonna, we thought we were gonna get to the Senate, but then again, continually, stopped over and over again. Particularly by the Speaker of the House and the Floor Leader who, um, will be the leader of the Republicans next year, Steve Tilley. He received a hundred thousand dollars from one person. Now that just doesn’t make sense, does it? [voice: “No.”] It doesn’t make sense that the person controlling legislation would make that much, so it’s my hope that we work hard to make him a, the next minority leader. [laughter, applause] [inaudible] We continue to push the issue. They, they try to play games with it. We ended up with an ethics bill that only included the committee to committee stuff, without the other stuff.

And they claim that this is a successful, uh, session. So, here’s my motivation for you. It wasn’t a successful session. There are people in Missouri who deserve better, people in Missouri who deserve representatives, regardless of what party, to look at everything in a balanced approach, figure out how we fund education, how we fund higher ed, how we make sure we take care of the, the least fortunate. And also those who are, are proud to be very ethical and have, return accountability to the state.

And I don’t just buy this act that this is gonna be a Republican year. I think people are tired of the games. They’re tired of the games in Washington…but there’s no better, bigger group of game players than the Republicans in the House of Representatives of Missouri. When they try to have an ethics bill that includes voter, a voter ID measure in there, trying to hurt unions in there, all this other crazy provisions, they were playing games.

And I think when you have good candidates like we do, we’ve got three good candidates in the room….When we go out there and when we knock on the door and we talk about what’s really going on in Jefferson City and the real need for change there. And we talk in terms that the people of the state are hurting because of inaction of this legislature. [Governor] Jay Nixon can’t do everything by himself. And, by golly, now he’s gonna have to with this budget since the budget wasn’t right. He’s gonna have to do it. And just on a side note, the, the things that the Governor has had to do to withhold money, the things that he will have to do, is going to be painful. I want everyone in the room to think, whenever when we’re unhappy with something that the Governor has to cut or do, remember it could have been a heck of a lot worse if someone else were sitting in that chair. [voice: “That
‘s right.” voice: “Amen”] They handed him a complete mess. And the only way he’ll get this better is if we get these candidates elected. [applause]

[….]

We really need your help to explain to folks that we could be doing a lot better in the state. And the people of this district particularly, but the other districts that we’re focusing on, deserve a heck of a lot better than what they have. And that should be our message this fall….

Last night House Minority Leader and Representative Paul LeVota (D-52) released a video on his assessment at the end of the legislative session:

…Representative Paul LeVota (D): Well, uh, we’re calling this the non-binding legislative session. The Republican majority decided to spend most of the time on non-binding resolutions telling the federal government what to do, not really dealing with the issues that the state should be dealing with. The biggest issue that was not done this session was dealing with our ongoing budget. House Democrats have continually said that we need to have a balanced approach. Cuts are necessary, but we need to look at tax credit reform and also other ways to bring in revenue. And, that simply wasn’t done, so next year we’re gonna have an even tougher budget year and no forward thinking on behalf of the, um, House leadership, the majority party. That’s a shame because all we did is kick down, kick down the road, uh, the issues that we have in our state.

Um, we’re glad that there’s an autism bill done. Hose Democrats worked very hard on that. Um, a, a little disappointed that ethics reform wasn’t stronger, but we know without House Democrats that never would have happened in the first place. But the, maybe the, besides the budget, maybe the biggest disappointment is we didn’t work enough on jobs for the people of Missouri. So, um, they’re going to continue to have to struggle without any action from, uh, this General Assembly. And it is my hope that all these issues get out over the summer and in the fall, um, we elect a new legislature and next January, finally we have a little more focus, we deal with some of the issues that the people of Missouri, uh, need to deal with. I’m optimistic that will happen and, uh, I’ll continue to believe in the people of Missouri.