This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Sept. 19, 2011 - State Rep. Tim Jones, who is expected to be Missouri's next speaker of the House, sees the state's economic loss of the AMC theater-chain headquarters to Kansas as prime evidence underscoring why the state must have tax-incentive programs to lure and retain businesses.
"Once again, Kansas steals a corporation from Kansas City, Mo.,'' Jones, R-Eureka, said in an interview. He pointed to the continued success of Missouri's western neighbor in wooing corporations from the Kansas City, Mo. area.
"In AMC's case, that's 400 jobs, all that tax revenue,'' said Jones, now the House majority leader. The firm moved because Kansas offered $47 million in tax incentives, according to reports.
By his count, AMC is at least the third firm to cross the border into Kansas because of the tax breaks. "I think that's sad, it shows we have major policy flaws," he said.
Jones contended that the episode undercuts critics, including some within his own party, who see "no role for the state to play in economic development."
"There is a fringe element on both sides that apparently has decided that there is absolutely no role for public officials to play to try to grow business and jobs in our state," Jones said. "I think that is a very naive approach to take."
Jones pointed to the obvious argument that Missouri can't afford to eliminate all corporate tax incentives if its neighboring states are offering tax breaks. "To unilaterally disarm, as some are asking us to do, is really foolish,'' he said.
Jones added that there is also the philosophical argument. "People elect us, not just to throw tax dollars around, but to be leaders," he continued. "Otherwise, what's the purpose of a legislature?"
Such opinions offer insight into how Jones, 40, plans to approach his expected rise to the Missouri House' top spot in January 2013.
St. Louis Area Speaker
Now the House's majority leader, Tim Jones would be the first St. Louis area legislator to attain that post in almost a decade. The last was the chamber's first woman speaker, Catherine Hanaway, R-Warson Woods, who served in 2003-2004.
Jones is a lawyer based in Chesterfield. He's married and has two daughters. He's a graduate of St. Louis University High School and the nephew of state Rep. Kenny Jones, R-California.
A runner since high school, Tim Jones also enjoys golf and is close to his neighbors.
"I was always engaged in the policy decisions of any body I'm in,'' Jones said. Even in grade school, he recalled, "I was always raising my hand and running for something."
Outspoken Conservative
Jones has been an outspoken conservative on fiscal and social issues.
He also joined a nationally talked-about suit, initiated by Orly Taitz, that raised questions about whether President Barack Obama was born in the United States, as required by the Constitution. The suit, now dismissed, questioned the validity of Obama's Hawaiian birth certificate.
Jones has said that the matter of the president's citizenship has been resolved.
Jones' selection by his fellow House Republicans was announced a week ago by current Speaker Steve Tilley, R-Perryville, during a news conference in the midst of the special session. He will officially be elected in January 2013, but his choice as "speaker-designate" is aimed at solidifying party unity and allowing for a smooth transition.
Tilley, who is running for lieutenant governor in 2012, praised Jones as among the reasons the House was able to handle swiftly all of the special-session measures that Republican leaders had agreed would initially be dealt with in the House.
This week, the House plans to take up the pending major issues that began in the Senate -- most notably, the economic development package that includes a variety of new tax incentives, while curbing or eliminating many current ones.
The most contentious provisions deal with the St. Louis area effort to persuade China to locate a cargo hub at underused Lambert St. Louis International Airport.
The Senate retained $60 million in tax credits proposed to encourage freight-forwarders to direct international cargo to Lambert. But the chamber knocked out $300 million in credits to encourage construction or renovation of warehouses near Lambert.
Jones said that he definitely backed the $60 million for freight-forwarders, calling it "a good step forward."
He didn't go into detail about the other provisions of the economic development package, as initially proposed or as passed by the Senate. Overall, said Jones, "I like components of that bill very much."
Wants Nixon to Engage
Jones emphasized that he now believes that Gov. Jay Nixon needs to get more actively engaged in the debate over the package. The majority leader asserted that Nixon, a Democrat, has tended to stay in the background too long.
Contended Jones: "We're going to need some executive assistance, leadership and guidance if we're going to get anything accomplished, pursuant to the (governor's) call."
During the next session, which begins in January, Jones said he wants to "re-engage'' and educate all the new legislators -- most of them Republicans -- who won last fall and may not be familiar with what he calls "economic development 101."
One question that needs to be addressed, says Jones, is: "What tools do we as a state want" to use to attract jobs and businesses?
"I think they need to be reasonable. I think they need to be fair. I think they need to be as statewide and available as possible,'' Jones said. " And I think they need to be protecting the taxpayer."
Talking tough
Jones is used to lobbing tough language when he's talking about an issue close to his heart. Last session, for example, he led a passionate push for an anti-abortion measure to impose more restrictions on abortions after 20 weeks.
Despite pleas from abortion-rights groups, Nixon opted -- as Jones predicted on the House floor last spring -- to allow the bill to become law without his signature.
Nixon did so, in part, because the House and Senate had passed the measure by veto-proof majorities. That's been difficult to achieve in the Missouri House, which currently is four votes short of the 109-member Republican majority that would be needed to make the chamber routinely veto-proof.
Over the next 14 months, Jones said he plans to campaign hard to attain a 109-vote Republican majority in the 2012 election, which would put his party in a powerful position when he takes over the top spot in January 2013.
Such a majority would help provide the political muscle to help Jones achieve his goals during his expected two-year stint as speaker.
Education and Economy
Two key issues for Jones as speaker, he said, will be education and economic deveopment.
Regarding education, he'd like to expand charter schools and set up a privately funded program of tuition tax credits to allow parents more choice and financial help, as they decide where to send their children to school.
Jones also seeks to press for "teacher accountability and merit pay,'' but he's not sure whether he would challenge tenure for teachers.
"Before you talk about tenure, you need to determine why you'd be doing that," Jones said.
When dealing with the question of school-district performance, he said, a key question is whether the responsibility lies with teachers or administrators.
Turning to the economy, Jones sees four areas where the state needs to compete.
Aside from incentives, the other three issues include tax and labor policies as well as state regulations.
Like many Republicans, Jones would like to see less governmental regulation. He also supports making Missouri a "right-to-work'' state, in which closed-union shops would be banned.
Current speaker Tilley has not made right to work a priority, although it is a key issue for state Senate President Pro Tem Rob Mayer, R-Dexter.
When it comes to tax policy, Jones says he's open to the proposal to eliminate Missouri's income tax and replace it with a higher sales tax. He believes that idea -- advanced by wealthy financier Rex Sinquefield -- will be on a 2012 statewide ballot.
Jones said he is intrigued by contentions that Missouri should follow the lead of Tennessee, which also has eliminated its income tax (while retaining a 6 percent tax on income from stocks and bonds). Tennessee also is a right-to-work state.
Jones cites Tennessee's similar size to Missouri, and he's interested in reports that "they are outperforming us in many categories."
At the moment, though, Missouri is faring better on the employment front. Missouri's unemployment rate in August was 8.8 percent, compared to 9.7 percent for Tennessee. Almost a quarter of Tennessee's residents are reported to be on Medicaid, which also is higher than Missouri.
Jones said he wants to hear and read the arguments from both sides of the income-tax debate before making up his mind.
Redistricting Hopes
His views are more firm when it comes to Nixon. "I never hear from the governor until something serious or bad has happened," Jones said. "Then he wants to come in and fix it. It's like we're on two different continents."
Before Jones can ascend to speaker, he -- like Nixon -- will face voters in 2012. And Jones does face some practical questions prompted by the pending legislative redistricting.
A proposed map circulated by Democrats on the now-defunct House reapportionment commission would have put Jones in the same district with fellow Republican Dwight Scharnhorst, R-Eureka.
Because the commission failed to reach an agreement, the map-drawing now goes before a judicial panel. Jones hopes the judicial panel will soon draw up the map. Among other things, he believes that population shifts will result in at least two legislative seats to be shifted out of Democrat turf and into growing Republican areas in St. Charles County and southwest Missouri.
Such moves could help Jones' quest for the 109-seat GOP edge.
In the meantime, his focus is on his current legislative post as majority leader. His job during the special session and the 2012 regular legislative session is to oversee floor action.
This week, he said, will likely determine whether the special session achieves its goal of passing an economic development package. Monday begins the third week of the session.
Unless legislators give up, said Jones, legislative procedures will dictate that the General Assembly remain in session for at least part of a fourth week to complete consideration of all the issues on its special-session plate.
In any case, Jones -- like his fellow GOP legislative leaders and the governor -- doesn't want to see the economic-development package die.
"With 9 percent unemployment and a deep recession," the speaker-in-waiting said, "It would be legislative malpractice not to pass a bill."
