Bess writes on Missouri lawmakers voting on library funds

Phil Amato and I learned to appreciate public libraries at about the same time in our lives – when each of us was growing up in Jefferson County.

In Arnold, Amato longed for the public library he didn’t have.

In Festus, I was thrilled with what my local public library provided – access to books, thousands of them, at my fingertips.

About age 12, I routinely walked 20 minutes from my home on Sunshine Drive to the library in the downtown area of Festus. Browsing the shelves was always fun as I looked for authors published in my mother’s quarterly volume of Reader’s Digest Condensed Books (which my sister and I also read cover to cover).

But the most exciting part of each trip was perusing a shelf near the library entrance, where books were offered for sale.

Maybe the library had more copies than needed, or a new edition had become available. However they ended up on that last-chance shelf, the books were always primo and cheap, most costing a quarter or 50 cents.

The cream of the crop came home with me and remain on my bookshelves to this day. My husband just read one of those books: “The Guns of August,” by Barbara W. Tuchman, about a seminal month in the history of World War I. I blew my budget on that Pulitzer Prize-winning classic – sticker price, $1.50.

Amato didn’t have the opportunities I had.

“We didn’t do term papers (at Fox High School), because there wasn’t a public library to do research,” he said. “I was at a disadvantage in college.”

Amato never forgot it, and as an adult, he helped bring public libraries to northern Jefferson County, serving on the Jefferson County Library District’s board for more than 30 years.

To my thinking, the Missouri House of Representatives offers up a number of “Seriously?” moments each legislative session. But one vote this year really took my breath away (as in, I gasped in horror when I learned of it and looked for my phone in case I needed to call 911 to be resuscitated).

The Republican supermajority voted to strip from the budget $4.5 million intended for state aid to public libraries. Jefferson County’s share of that money amounts to at least $250,000.

The vote appeared to be political retaliation after two volunteer state library associations joined with the American Civil Liberties Union (offering its services pro bono) to file suit over a 2022 law that threatens librarians and other officials with imprisonment or fines if they are deemed to have provided minors with sexually explicit visual material.

Hundreds of books reportedly came off school and public library shelves afterward.

Some will say, well, that’s good. Others will say, well, no it’s not. Definitions of explicit material vary and taking books off shelves is censorship.

The courts will have to figure it out, and I’m OK with that, but I’m not OK with using the state budget to petulantly punish libraries.

Rep. Cody Smith, R-Carthage, serves as House budget chair and reportedly removed the library funding. In interviews, he tied his decision to the lawsuit.

Libraries are too vital to our society to toy with. In rural areas of Missouri, libraries provide crucial access to the internet, and in all areas, they are centers for the community, providing opportunities to gather, learn and grow.

Ever since Benjamin Franklin got the first U.S. lending library up and running in 1731, providing access to books has been the core. Today that still includes print-on-paper versions as well as digital ebooks.

Amato used to be a Democrat. But he got the memo in about 2015 to change his initial from “D” to “R,” in plenty of time to win election as a Republican in the 2022 election to represent the 113th District in the state House.

I wondered how he responded when library funding went on the chopping block. As a freshman (at age 68, the oldest one in the House’s 2023 freshman class), and a somewhat new Republican, it would be hard to swim against the stream.

But he put on his trunks and lit out.

“I went to leadership and told them I could not vote against library funding,” Amato said.

He asked for permission to address the caucus and made a speech in support of libraries, too.

But on March 30, the House voted 103-50 (with 8 absent and 2 voting “present”) to strip the funding as part of the overall budget.

All five of the county’s other state reps voted with the majority.

I talked with three of them and left messages with the two others. I heard a lot of support for libraries in those conversations and assertions that all were confident the Senate would put the funding back.

That did happen, and our county reps all supported the Senate revision, with Gov. Mike Parson signing a budget leaving the $4.5 million in place.

But that first vote is hard to explain or support.

Don’t we all wish politicians would stop game-playing and try harder to do the right thing – to serve their constituents instead of their party’s leadership? At all levels, conscience should matter more in politics.

Amato put his to the test – and got an A.

Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.

Error! There was an error processing your request.

Receive classifieds every morning.

Receive an email every Wednesday when the Leader's e-editions are posted online.

Get updated on upcoming Leader Senior Expos and news just for seniors.

Get the latest headlines on local sports in your inbox on every Friday.

Receive top local news headlines every day.

Receive a list of local obituaries every day.