Despite debate and added amendments, the Missouri Students Association Senate approved the creation of the Legislative Advocacy Officer position Wednesday night.
MSA Chief of Staff Steven Dickherber created the new MSA executive cabinet position to give MU a voice in political issues on both city and state levels.
“There is already a big need for this position on campus,” MSA Sen. Ben Bolin said while advocating for the position on Wednesday.
Dickherber and supporters of the position said they believe that the LAO would benefit MU by acting as a liaison between student wishes and government policies.
According to the position proposal, this includes researching the city council agenda, establishing relationships with city representatives, working with the Associated Students of the University of Missouri Chapter Director, campaigning for non-partisan issues, hosting events to educate students on timely issues and assisting in voter registration drives.
The LAO will also be in charge of informing ASUM and MSA executive cabinet members about government policies that will affect students.
“(ASUM and the MSA president and vice president) need to be best informed to make better decisions for MSA and the campus,” Bolin said.
Although the LAO will work for the MSA president, he or she will represent the student body on a broader level.
One example of the LAO’s role was in the 2012 More for Less campaign.
As MSA Director of Communications Zach Toombs described in his speech to the senate, the More for Less campaign fought and helped lower a 12.5 percent state budget cut for MU last spring.
The MSA executive cabinet led the campaign by researching the budget and motivating students. In the future, the LAO would take over these jobs, thus alleviating the other cabinet members’ workloads.
Despite support from Bolin, Toombs and others, there were a couple issues with the position.
Dickherber wrote the LAO position legislation and made it clear he intended to apply for it. Some, like MSA Senate Speaker Jake Sloan, felt this would give Dickherber an unfair advantage over other applicants because he works for MSA President Xavier Billingsley, who would appoint the LAO position.
In committee meetings at the end of August, Sloan said Dickherber is Billingsley’s friend and it would be a “conflict of interest” to have Billingsley directly appoint the position.
This issue prompted the Campus and Community Relations Committee to amend the legislation, stating that the MSA president (Billingsley), MSA senate speaker (Sloan) and MSA chief justice (Brynne Krause) would appoint the first LAO.
After 2012, the MSA president will appoint the LAO with the rest of the executive cabinet.
The LAO position passed the senate with CCRC’s amendment, but not without debating another issue: money.
The LAO would be paid $8.35 an hour for up to 10 hours a week, amounting to $2,838 over the school year. The position would not be paid over the summer.
Some, such as Sloan and MSA Operations Committee chairman Logan Borgsmiller, MSA members felt that it was unreasonable to begin the LAO job with pay because the position has yet to prove itself.
“We need to give the position a trial period before we pay $300 a month,” Sloan said during an Oporations Committee meeting on Aug. 28.
Others, like Borgsmiller, debated having a sunset period, where the position would go unpaid until it was reviewed at the end of the semester.
“The Legislative Advocacy Officer should prove to the Senate why the position needs to be paid,” Borgsmiller said Tuesday.
The Budget Committee added an amendment limiting payment to five hours a week.
Dickherber and others said they felt this was unfair because the job would realistically amount to more than 30 hours per week.
“I don’t think it’s right to ask someone to work a full-time job without pay,” Dickherber said. “It isn’t because I’m not passionate about the job, but because I have to pay rent.”
The position would be funded by leftover money from other MSA departments, according to the LAO proposal.
“We have to put the money somewhere, why not put it here (in the LAO position)?” Bolin said.
Ultimately, the Budget Committee’s amendment failed to pass in the senate, allowing the LAO to be paid for 10 hours of work per week.
“This is a small investment with big rewards for Mizzou,” Toombs said.
The first LAO position is currently being advertised and will be chosen on Sep. 17.