After a successful primary election campaign against two opponents, former highway patrol officer and current small business owner Jeff Myers is the presumptive successor to represent Warren County and eastern Montgomery County in the Missouri State House of Representatives.

Although Myers, a Republican from Warrenton, still technically needs to get through the November general elections, he has no challengers on the ballot. Instead of any heavy campaigning, Myers is looking ahead to begin planning for his time in office.

Although many political candidates make sweeping pronouncements about what eye-catching changes they’re going to make to government, Myers’ attitude is more like a mechanic preparing to get under the hood of a car. It’s the underlying mechanisms of state government, the parts few people see, which need to be fixed in order to work efficiently and transparently, Myers told The Record.

“If I never get a bill with my name on it, I’m fine. My biggest focus is to do the legislative process better,” Myers said. “Right now you end up with huge bills where they tack on 50 amendments and it becomes a huge piece of legislation.”

He explained that this is an issue because rampant, unrelated amendments getting added can often kill a good proposal. Or, just as bad, “junk legislation” can get passed as part of overly-bloated bills that get voted into law without citizens having a clear idea of what’s in them.

“Let’s (instead) focus on single issues and get those done, and prioritize them so we can get them passed. Then if there’s time left over for other things, then put those up as well and let people vote on them individually,” Myers said.

This type of change sounds like a simple idea, but Myers acknowledged that this would actually be a long, uphill push to change the underlying rules of Missouri legislation. It’s a goal that would likely require him to win multiple terms in office.

Another change Myers wants to see is one that’s been echoed among many Republican candidates this year, which is a reform to the initiative petition process that allows citizens to put constitutional amendments on statewide election ballots.

Right now, petitions only need to meet a threshold of public signatures in six out of Missouri’s eight U.S. Congressional districts in order to get on the ballot. That system puts undue emphasis on Missouri’s more densely populated suburban and urban districts, Myers said, leaving the voters in rural areas less represented in the process.

Myers said he supports a proposal to instead require a certain number of signatures from every single U.S. Congressional district.

“It adds more balance to the equation,” Myers commented, adding that he’d also like constitutional amendments to receive majority voter approval in every district in order to pass, rather than an overall state majority.

Since he’s unopposed for the general election, Myers said he’s begun the process of meeting and learning from other representatives he’ll be serving with. He hopes some early learning will make for a quicker transition into office, and said his other areas of legislative interest would be public safety, transportation and insurance.

Once in office, Myers said he wants to remain in active communication with residents throughout the area, both to meet their needs and to help them understand what’s happening in their state government.

“I think the most important thing I can do is be a conduit of state resources to our area,” he stated. “I’m thankful to folks in this district for the support I received (in the election) ... and I want to maintain that as I go forward.”