Graham resigns from committee

JEFFERSON CITY — Columbia lost a vote on Missouri’s House Budget Committee when Rep. Chuck Graham, D-Columbia, resigned from the committee Wednesday.

Graham’s resignation from the committee, which determines the House’s budget proposals, came just before the committee votes on its budget for next year.

Rep. Theodore Hoskins, D-Berkeley, a member of the Missouri Black Legislative Caucus, took Graham’s place.

Graham said he had been working with House leadership to find a suitable replacement for a few weeks. He said the committee needed more freshmen Democratic representatives who wouldn’t be gone due to term limits after this session.

Change means smoother transition next year and more diversity

The move allows the committee to begin with some experienced Democrats next year to insure a smooth transition and also increases the committee’s diversity, Graham said.

Another Columbia Democrat who serves on the committee, Rep. Vicky Riback Wilson, D-Columbia, said she is sorry to see Graham leave.

“Chuck has been a strong voice for university funding,” she said.

Wilson said Graham’s resignation gives Columbia one less vote in the Budget Committee.

“Unfortunately, the decisions that are made sometimes revolve around competing views for different regions and different districts,” Wilson said.

Graham said Hoskins is a “UM system advocate,” so the committee did not lose votes that would support MU funding because the funds are appropriated as a lump sum to the entire system. Columbia could end up with no representatives on the Budget Committee once he and Wilson are gone because of term limits, he said.

Graham will mentor Hoskins

Graham said he will work with Hoskins to help him understand the thick budget books he has handed over to him.

“It’s important for some of us to help mentor some of these other folks,” Graham said.

Graham said the idea of being replaced on the committee by a freshman Democrat was his own.Until now, the only freshman Democrat on the committee was Rep. Paul LeVota, D-Independence, he said.

Four freshmen Republicans serve on the committee.

House Speaker Catherine Hanaway, R-Warson Woods, said she purposely placed some freshmen on the committee to provide continuity into the years ahead.

House Budget Committee Chairman Carl Bearden, R-St. Charles, said he appreciated Graham’s work on the committee, even if the two didn’t always agree.