JEFFERSON CITY — A little less than a month ago, House Speaker Ron Richard was throwing water on the plan to spend state money (via the federal stimulus) to help out Metro’s transit system in St. Louis.

Now he’s taking credit for it.

Yesterday, the House passed HB22, a federal stimulus spending bill that includes $12 million for Metro. The bill had already failed in the House once because Republicans called it a “pork” filled bill. After passage, Richard is blaming Gov. Jay Nixon and Democrats for opposing it and trying to argue that the Metro money was the culprit.

From a House news release:

“We are now one crucial step closer to restoring funding for Metro,” said Speaker of the House, Ron Richard. “With the possibility of many of the closed routes re-opening, we can look forward to rebuilding our state’s workforce and improving public safety.”

It continued:

Richard finished by saying, “We are hopeful that the Governor will take a stand on this issue and urge our friends in the Senate to follow our lead and pass House Bill 22 so that we can begin the road to economic recovery and improve the lives of hard-working Missouri citizens.” he added.

Richard is right that Nixon hasn’t exactly been making his opinions known publicly on this, and many issues before the legislature. And the governor has been criticized by members of his own party on the floor of the Senate and the House for this.

But this is what Richard said less than a month ago, when first asked about funding for Metro:

“There’s 100 and some odd million dollars that was mismanaged at Metro,” Richard said. “I still have some heartburn about it.”

“I’m not prepared to do what Washington did and give them a bailout,” Richard said. “The people made a decision and they have to live with it.”

The Metro vote is clearly politically charged. Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder held a news conference in St. Louis this afternoon to praise the House for passing the bill. Kinder is widely believed to be the likely challenger to Nixon for the governor’s seat in 2012.

HB22 still faces what is likely to be a long and difficult debate in the Senate.