by Mary K. King
Missouri’s next Governor will be determined by voters on
Tuesday, November 3. In order to help with that decision, the Missouri Press
Association, in conjunction with newspapers across the state and KOMU-8 in
Columbia, held a gubernatorial debate on Friday, October 9.
Originally scheduled for Friday, September 25, the debate
was postponed due to Governor Mike Parson’s diagnosis with COVID-19 that week. He,
along with his wife, First Lady Teresa Parson, were quarantined after
discovering they were positive for the virus. The Governor experienced no
symptoms, while the First Lady’s symptoms were mild.
Invited to speak at the debate were Auditor Nicole Galloway
(D), Rik Combs (L), Parson (R), and Jerome Bauer (G). Each candidate was
provided an opportunity at the beginning and end to offer remarks based on
their respective campaign’s platform, while questions were asked by panelists
from KOMU, the Columbia Missourian, the Jefferson City News Tribune,
and the Washington Missourian. The forum was moderated by David Lieb of
The Associated Press.
With Missouri listed in the red zone for COVID-19, the state
is among the top 10 nationally for cases. Galloway, the democratic candidate,
stated that she feels Missouri needs a reset on the coronavirus response and
strategy. She said the four-pillar plan that Parson has laid out is crumbling,
and called it a failed test of leadership.
“I have outlined a plan based on data, on containment, on
mitigation, on masks,” Galloway said. “Science-backed, data-proven ways to get
this virus under control and prevent community spread.”
However, Parson, the republican incumbent, said his response
was balanced from day one. His office consulted with leading healthcare experts
in Missouri for the COVID-19 response plan, and he says the state is now
testing over 125,000 Missourians each week.
“That data that we’ve got from 10 of the most expert
infectious disease doctors in Missouri has helped guide our state,” said
Parson. “We are on the right track in this state, but we have to do a
combination of fighting a virus, fighting the economy, and getting our kids
back in school.”
Libertarian Combs said that he would not have agreed to the
stay-at-home orders. He also said that deeming workers essential or
nonessential is not up to the state government to decide.
“I think it’s not the government’s position and I don’t
think that the government has the authority to make people stay home,” said
Combs. “I think what we could do is open the state up fully, and I believe that
herd immunity would take control.”
Bauer, the Green party candidate, stressed the importance of
mask-wearing in Missouri to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. He said that it
is important for him to wear the mask when out in public in order to set a good
example.
“Let’s have a mask mandate,” Bauer said. “We can’t enforce a
law if people don’t voluntarily follow it.”
The impact of COVID-19 has created an economic downturn across
the state. Bauer said that, if elected, he would instill a universal basic
income for all citizens, and will look beyond Medicaid expansion efforts, to
help combat the dwindling economy in Missouri.
“We need a single-payer system,” Bauer said. “This is an
idea that’s been floating around for quite a while. We can do much better than
Medicaid expansion and we can do much better than Obamacare. Those are stop-gap
measures, and we really need to recognize that healthcare is a human right.”
Galloway said that state and local budgets are hurting due
to the economic impact of COVID-19. She said her plan is to take action to
contain the spread of the virus in order to jumpstart the economy again.
“We’ve seen an increase in jobless claims even this week,”
Galloway said. “We’re continuing to slide backwards. We also have hundreds of
millions of dollars of CARES Act money that is just stuck at the state. As
Governor, I would be much more engaged in deploying these resources to help our
local communities.”
As a Libertarian, Combs is a proponent of free enterprise,
and he feels there is currently an over-reliance on government to control and
run the lives of the citizens. He said he puts his trust and faith in Missouri
businesses and people to overturn the economy for the better.
“I think the free enterprise system needs to be unleashed,”
said Combs. “We need fewer regulations, fewer rules. We need to get the
government out of healthcare and other aspects of the economy as much as
possible.”
Parson said that Missouri is 12th in the country
for getting people back to work. He added that Chewy Pet Food just opened a
facility in Belton, creating 1,200 new jobs in the state. That, along with
other new businesses, he says are part of his balanced approach to mitigating
the virus and stimulating the economy.
“We left our businesses open,” Parson said. “We got our
economy going back. As of last month, consumer spending was up 6.3 percent. We
continue to bring businesses to our state. We continue to move forward in this
state.”
Missouri as a whole has seen a surge in crime, especially in
the state’s more urban areas. Governor Parson called a special session devoted
specifically to addressing the violent crime across the state. The question was
asked of the candidates if they would propose anything additional to help
combat crime, and whether or not the special session was effective.
Parson touted his 22 years in law enforcement, saying that
he doesn’t believe there has been another Governor to take more interest in the
issue of crime in the state. He said that he has helped to obtain a grant to
combat crime, and is working hand-in-hand with metro police on both sides of
the state.
“(We need) to meet people in the streets; boots on the
ground,” said Parson. “We need more police officers. We need to be able to do
that to fight violent crime. We need to partner with the federal, the state and
the locals, which is exactly what we’ve done.”
He added that the number-one issue seen across the state
from mayors dealing with violent crime in their cities has been the
establishment of a witness protection program, which was the reason for his
special session. However, Combs doesn’t agree that Parson had the right idea
with calling the special session.
“I don’t think our emphasis is in the right place,” said
Combs. “Our emphasis needs to be on drugs and gangs. I think that’s a big part
of what we’re seeing in our metro areas. What I would like to do is get
together a big task force involving federal agents, and for the state police
and locals to go in and start working on some of these gang issues and some of
these drug cartel trafficking routes.”
Bauer said he would like to see a different approach that
doesn’t involve over-policing the communities, which he feels exacerbates the
issue. Galloway said that as a mom, she feels that nothing is more important
than the safety of the state’s communities.
“I have introduced a comprehensive plan to get to the root
causes of crime,” said Galloway. “I stand with 90 percent of Missourians who
want to see some common-sense gun safety rules like background checks. Violent
crime has been rising for years under Governor Parson’s watch, and last year as
communities were begging for action, he called a special session to give tax
breaks for used car and boat trade-ins.
“When we needed him to step up to the plate,” she added, “he
didn’t hit a homerun, he struck out. The witness protection fund doesn’t even
have funding.”
Parson disagreed with Galloway’s assessment on the special
session, however, saying that the state gave the police departments the
protections they needed to fight crime.
