Emails show Missouri lobbyist’s efforts to help expelled son

By SUMMER BALLENTINE
May 2, 2019

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri lobbyist strategizing how to advance a measure to help college students like his son who have been disciplined for sex-discrimination complaints suggested pushing the idea that the real problem on campuses is not rape but women regretting casual sex, emails obtained by The Associated Press show.

The documents offer a glimpse into how the connected Capitol insider worked to craft legislation and lobbied lawmakers to change how colleges and universities across the state handle claims of sexual harassment and rape after his own son’s expulsion. The proposals, which appear unlikely to pass this year, have been slammed by one critic as “revenge legislation.”

The emails, obtained through an open-records request, show that lobbyist Richard McIntosh sent detailed edits last year to legislative staffers writing the House version of the Title IX overhaul. One edit that appears to be from McIntosh recommends adding “specific language allowing decisions prior to this legislation to be reviewed.” That would enable McIntosh’s son to appeal his expulsion to a state panel on which his mother sits .

The federal Title IX law bars sex-based discrimination in education, including sexual harassment and assault.

In one November email, McIntosh asked staffers to add a provision to make the changes take effect immediately if signed into law.

-snip-