Isn't the Lieutenant Governor suppose to oversee the Senate?

In Missouri, and in most other states that have the post, the Lieutenant Governor serves as President of the state's Senate. This emulates the role the Vice President of the United States has as President of the U.S. Senate, the supposedly higher chamber in a bicameral legislature. In this role, the Lieutenant Governor breaks ties when needed and serves as a liaison between the executive and legislative branch.

It seems the bridge is with a different chamber of the legislature recently. Today, House Republicans did a 180 and blasted Governor Jay Nixon's proposal to issue capital improvement bonds totalling $700 million. During the recent General Assembly session, the GOP and House Speaker Ron Richard expressed support for it, citing it as not requiring a tax increase along with previous bonds issued by former governor Kit Bond nearing full repayment.

Today, the GOP issued a news release calling the bond issue another attempt to establish Big Government. And at the helm of the change in course appeared to be Speaker Richard. This change, however, comes as Lt. Governor Peter Kinder expressed his disapproval. Also interesting to note, as pointed out by Tony Messenger of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, is that a similar turnabout occurred already this year when Richard initially opposed federal economic recovery funds for St. Louis's Metro rail system, but signed onto it after Kinder began campaigning for it.

Missouri's Republicans have larger majorities in the House and Senate but only two elected officials statewide: Senator Bond and Lt. Gov. Kinder. I thought Kinder was suppose to oversee the Senate, not direct the House.

With this turnabout, a greater risk now exists that Nixon may call a special session of the General Assembly in September to tackle the issue. This after Nixon struck from the state's budget last week several line-items, including several capital improvement projects and $33,000 for MoDOT in response to their attempt to lobby Nixon to veto Senate Bill 202 concerning motorcycle helmets.

Then again, with Richard running for State Senate next year, he might be getting ready for a role as President Pro Tempore.