Yates

UPDATED: The governor’s office says it’s too late to put the 56th District seat on the Feb. 2 ballot. The final certification date for that ballot was Nov. 24. April 6 is a more likely election date.

JEFFERSON CITY — The Missouri House will lose another member at mid-term when Rep. Brian Yates submits his resignation tomorrow.

Yates, R-Lee’s Summit, said Monday he was dropping out of politics to spend more time with his wife and 19-month-old son.

“My young son changed my perspective,” Yates said. “I’d like to be home.”

Yates said he recently changed jobs, leaving private law practice to work “a 9-to-5 job in Kansas City” for QC Holdings, which owns about 585 payday loan stores.

Chairman of the House Insurance Policy Committee, Yates could have served one more year before he would have hit his eight-year maximum under term limits. He had been expected to join a crowded field of Jackson County Republicans vying for a vacant state Senate seat next year.

By getting out of the House early, Yates said he would give his successor “a leg up” on seniority. Republicans are hoping Gov. Jay Nixon will call a special election in February to fill the seat.

Yates said Republicans are already lining up behind Mike Cierpiot. Cierpiot, who works for AT&T, has raised $23,359, including a $10,000 loan, for the 2010 House race.

If the Cierpiot name is familiar, it’s because Mike’s wife, Connie Cierpiot, served in the House from 1994 to 2002 from a different Jackson County district. She is now a lobbyist.

Yates will be the fifth House member to resign this year. Two — Republican Dennis Wood and Democrat Ed Wildberger — left for other government jobs. Two others — Democrats Steve Brown and T.D. El-Amin — left after pleading guilty to criminal charges.