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In the Senate, there was a kerfuffle over a pair of overalls. Sen. Mike Moon, R-Ash Grove, was punished by Senate leadership because a few days back he had under his suit jacket. That violated the unwritten dress code rules of the Senate, where men wear suits and ties, and women wear dresses or pantsuits. No jeans allowed.

You could call it a dress code mandate, but Sen. Dave Schatz, R-Sullivan, the Senate president pro tem who removed Moon from his committee assignments over the violation, probably wouldn’t use those words. No sir. There will be no mandates in the Missouri Senate, where there has never been a decree from leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic that members wear masks to protect the lives of senators, staff members and taxpayers.

Dress codes are different, it seems.

That, too, was Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s testimony in the House on Wednesday, under questioning from state Rep. Peter Merideth, D-×îÐÂÐÓ°ÉÔ­´´. Merideth was asking Schmitt about his ongoing frivolous lawsuits against school districts throughout the state, in which Schmitt argues that a lawsuit his office lost has taken away the ability for school districts or counties to issue mask mandates of any kind.

“Can school districts require shoes?� Merideth asked.

“I’d have to look at dress code issues,� Schmitt answered. “It’s not anything I’ve looked at.�

Like many things Schmitt has said since he started running for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, the statement was not true. In Schmitt’s various lawsuits against school districts, he cites Chapter 167 of state law, which involves school districts. Schmitt argues there is no element of that chapter that allows districts to impose mask mandates.

That same chapter of state law has a provision about school uniforms. It was last amended in 2010. Schmitt was in the state Senate then. He voted for the bill — — that amended that section of law. Among the things it did was allow every school district in the state to impose a school uniform upon its students, if the school district was interested in doing so.

Call it a dress code mandate.

“A public school district may require students to wear a school uniform or restrict student dress to a particular style in accordance with the law. The school district may determine the style and color of the school uniform,â€� . Before the bill passed, the ×îÐÂÐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ Public Schools was the only district in the state that could impose a school uniform. Now every district in Missouri can. Every member of the state Senate, including Schmitt, voted for that bill.

So when Schmitt told Merideth that he had never looked at dress code issues, he was either lying, or he was once again being very forgetful about his very public record as a public official, where votes last forever online, easy enough for voters and taxpayers to find if they know where to look.

This is the thing about Schmitt’s alleged conversion to being an anti-vaccine, anti-mask mandate culture warrior as he runs for the U.S. Senate. It completely contradicts his record. As I pointed out in a column a few months ago, Schmitt also voted for vaccine mandates for students as recently as 2014. Now he calls them the tools of “dictators� and “tyrants.�

The school uniform bill had another interesting provision. It allowed school officials to spank children.

“Spanking,� the law says, “is not abuse� if it involves “reasonable force� and is administered in front of a witness.

Corporal punishment is illegal in 31 states in the U.S., but not Missouri, and when lawmakers last addressed the issue, with Schmitt in the Senate, they made sure that in the Show-Me State, a principal or a teacher can bring his or her hand, or a paddle, down forcefully on your child’s backside. So much for freedom and parental rights.

Back to Merideth’s question. Can schools require shoes?

Yes, they can, and thanks to Eric Schmitt, they can spank your child if they come to school without them.