Beetem gets grammar lesson in court debate over governor's budget power

Judge Jon Beetem studies a chart before him as he listens to Chip Robertson argue his legal position on the behalf of Gov. Jay Nixon.
Judge Jon Beetem studies a chart before him as he listens to Chip Robertson argue his legal position on the behalf of Gov. Jay Nixon.

How important is a comma?

Lawyers for Gov. Jay Nixon told Cole County Circuit Judge Jon Beetem Monday morning that one comma - separating two parts of the sentence defining the governor's power to manage the state budget after it's signed into law - means the clauses on either side of the comma are independent of each other, giving the governor "two different powers."

Former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Edward D. "Chip" Robertson was one of three former judges representing the Democratic governor Monday in a lawsuit filed in late August by State Auditor Tom Schweich, a Republican.

That lawsuit accuses Nixon of violating the state Constitution last June 10, when he announced about $170 million in budget withholdings for the 2011-12 state business year that didn't begin until July 1.

The main issue, Robertson told Beetem during an hour-long hearing, is the constitutional sentence that defines the governor's power to control the rate of, and reduce, the state's expenditures after he's signed the budget that lawmakers approved.