Transcripts For CSPAN2 Campaign 2020 Missouri Governors Debate 20240712

Everyone. I am emily with komu eight news. Wepr have of komu8 in the missoi school of journalism welcome to the Missouri Press association governors forum. This is an event the press Association Sponsors every four years and we are pleased that the universe of missouri has partnered with us to broadcast this years event from historic missouri theater. Like everything in 2020, things are a little different this year begin with the factt the theater open to the public. Our massive stage desolate as one tuesday physically separated so that is why i am not wearing a mask this afternoon. Campaign staffers and members of the media are joining us today in the auditorium but i do still need to remind everyone to avoid applause or other reactions during todays forum. Joining our candidates on stage this afternoon, the executive editor of the Columbia Missourian ruby bailey, gary castor, managing editor of the Jefferson City news tribune, tricia miller, editor and publisher of the washington missourian, along with myself w representing komu8 news. Now i am pleased to introduce our moderator today, from the Jefferson City gear of the Associated Press david lieb. I would like to introduce the candidates and go over a few rules of the debate. Earlier today, candidates drew numbers to determine the order in which they will be making opening remarks. They are arranged on the stage in that order. Starting for this from me. Democratic state auditor, nicole galloway. Libertarian Party Candidate, rick holmes. But rebuttals will be reserved only for those candidates involved and in criticisms. Candidates failed to answer a question, i also reserve the right to ask them to try again during the rebuttal time. The first question will go to the candidate farthest away from us. The second question will begin with the second candidate and so forth. Candidates will receive two minutes for a closing statement, Closing Remarks will be delivered in reverse order from the opening remarks. Audio and visual notifications will occur as time is about to expire. Candidates, please adhere to the stop signs. Finally, due to the coronaviruso todays forum is occurring in front of a limited audience of media members and a few supporters of each candidate. Audience, please hold your response andnd your applause unl todays event is over. With that, lets begin. Nicole galloway, you may deliver your opening statement. Thank you. Down to whose side you are on and who you are fighting for. Im running for governor to put Jefferson City on the side of working families and ask with urgency to protect our fellow missourians. The most important thing the next governor will have to do is contain the spread of the virus and rebuild the economy. The question is will we rebuild in a way that helps them get back on their feet or continue to ignore science, distract and rebuild with special interest. Governor parson has been part of the system for years that delivers for insiders for himself in the struggle. And actually fight crime before an election year. Governor carson failed the leadership and its time for a change. I want to thank the Missouri Press association and the theater for hosting this. Our campaign is pretty simple. Its based on limited government, smaller government, more efficient government, Free Enterprise and to protect private property. With that in mind and with that said, what they have to figure out pretty soon is what type of government they want. Do they want a large government, do they want a limited government come and missourians will have that choice on november 3rd. Thank you. Thank you for having me. I thank the Missouri Press association and appreciate all the candidates for being part of the process. For me it started as a humble beginning in missouri where i grew up in a town of 356 people with a Strong Family with christian values, moral values and what hard work means and what being a Good Neighbor means and respect to an individual. I went to work at 14yearsold and served in the United States army for two tours of duty overseas and learn how to respect. I then became the local sheriff and i was a Small Business owner. Husband, father and grandparent those life skills are what make you a leader in the state of missouri. Those are the qualities i will bring to Jefferson City. Im running on a platform stressing universal healthcare and transportation accessibility and equity. My time spent without healthcare almost cost me my life three times in the last decade before i got disability medicare and the pension with medicaid. I almost lost my medicaid. I received an action notice two years ago along with 100,000 children who got kicked off of medicaid. Not everybody is so lucky. Healthcare is a human right. I promise to work cooperatively to establish cooperatives of all kind and work for universal basic income in exchange for universal basic service. Lets bring back the other work projects and have educational training for all. Thank you. We will now move to the question part of the debate. The first question will go to you, nicole. The most recent report from the White House Coronavirus task force lifted missouri into the red zone for new cases. Among the top ten states nationally, hospitalizations recently reached an alltime high in missouri. How do you rate the states response to the coronavirus and what if any additional steps should be taken . We need a reset on the strategy science backed ways to get under control and community spread. They are crumbling upon it because hospitalizations are up. When governor carson was asked if they took response ability for his governments response to the virus he said no and compared it to car crashes. I wouldnt have agreed to a stay at home order and the reason is i like the swedish model to import people to do the proper safety procedures but they didnt close anything down, and i think its not the governments position and i dont think the government has the authority to make people stay home and i dont think its the governments place to have people deemed essential or nonessential, and i think we can open the state fully, and i believe heard immunity would take control and help as far as lowering the death rate on the virus. Thank you very much. Weve taken a balanced approach from day number one and asked to reach out to Washington University and the Hospital Association and put a plan together. The Recovery Plan with testing and we went from 2,00 2,000 tesa week to over 125,000 today. In a couple of weeks we will have testing in every school in the state of missouri, the hospitals when they first come about we can build hospitals in the state in ten to 11 days. The Hospital Association has been part of this planning every day taking care of our citizens every day. The data that weve gotten from ten of the most expert Infectious Disease doctors in missouri has helped us guide our state. In april when the death rate was 8 , close to 8 today, it is at. 7. I agree with what nicole said about this. Every time i go outside Walking Around on the street, i wear a mask even though it is probably not strictly necessary, just because i want to set a good example. The model, the university of pennsylvania. There should be some recourse but people have to want to do it and we have to set a good example for each other. Governor, can you respond in 30 seconds . I never said that i wasnt responsible. When youre the governor you are responsible for everybody. You have to go to work and make sure that you are doing your job in the beginning. We have to worry and have been since day number one and we will continue to do that and we put everything on the table that we can. We bring all the experts into the state and make sure people are safe and by doing that, we can earn 200 businesses to make ppe in the state simply because they were trying to help us at that time. I think those businesses for what they are doing every day. The governor denies that are never stated that. Back to you, nicole. Asked by a reporter for the governments response and he said no and he compared it to car crashes. You know, he mentions working every day, but what he is doing every day isnt working because we continue to be in a red zone. We have to act urgently to contain the spread of the virus so we can get our economy open again and get our schools open again and folks can get back to life and we can go back to the zoo again. We continue to fall in the wrong direction. We are living the governors coronavirus fighting strategy right now and it is not working. We need to go to questions from the panelist. I didnt invite anybody to look at the calendars and see whos at work for the last five months. The last question comes for you. Weve seen different hotspots around the states when it comes to covid19, how much so would the state have over local control on topics such as local stayathome orders. With the business shutdowns and things like that its an aggregation of the responsibility. As governor i would encourage strongly municipalities, counties and the like to open know one person should try to make mandates for the entire state. Its a very diverse state whether you have the urban or the rural areas we should support the local levels. We had the money out the door in ten days to get to the testing and make sure the states could start back up to move forward on that. Its a partnership with the state and local communities but the people at home should have a say in the rules and regulations and should have representation for that. We stated that balanced approach from the beginning. I certainly agree we need a balanced approach to everything. As much local control as possible, but also a rational sciencebased policy. And the State Government certainly has an Important Role not just to make rules for everybody but especially to set a good example. But also to be very flexible and responsive. Thank you. And also, responsive to new acts that we learned about and to keep the public informed. The politicians shouldnt be at the podium. It is a science backed improvement way to contain the spread of the virus. They dont respect party lines or town lines. Some of the highest surges in cases are in the areas. When hes in the Governors Office during the week he encourages folks to wear a mask. He is telling them to ignore that local government guidance and they can ignore it and dont have to wear a mask if they dont want to. We need a leader that is more engaged in containing the virus. I will give you 30 seconds. Do as i say not as i do approach, response . Its starting to look like the bickering on the national level. I think that people in missouri ive never said those things in my career, nor would i. Every day we want the safety of missourians but every day we do that altogether. And to try to blame somebody for the virus, theres a lot of people out there doing incredible things in the hospitals, the nurses and the doctors. It is a virus that is dangerous. We said that from day number one to take the necessary steps and we will continue to do that. We do have Incredible Health carhealthcare workers, First Responders that are front line of the virus and leaders in the hospital groups, physician leaders are asking for a statewide rule because it is a proven way to contain the spread of the virus and protect the Public Health, get the economy going again. We need a governor that will act with urgency to protect us from this virus. The next question comes from emily. What has the pandemic exposed about the healthcare system, whether it is strengths or weaknesses and what would you do to improve it . You are first on this one. We were way too dependent on the Foreign Countries to start with. The other thing you had to realize theres nothing on the internet that tells us how to deal with the virus and the experts didnt know. We had to develop our own data plan and the high school association, using those Infectious Disease doctors. There was a model dashboard i might add to be able to implement policy such as mobile testing sites, where do they go and to deliver hundreds of thousands of masks when executive director in Jackson County asks we delivered them the next day but we knew how to do that. We learned what the strategy was for the nursing home and the Meat Processing plants and people at high risk, the africanamerican community. Thats what we did in the balanced approach. The nation once had a first rate Pandemic Response task force. Especially Washington University to the very first rate medical schools and it really intrigued to learn that. What covid has done is shown cracks in the system that have existed for a long time but theyve gotten wider and deeper with covid19, and particularly on the issue of healthcare. We have a quarter working that dont have access because we have yet to expand medicaid so the voters did approve that in august and its estimated because of this pandemic, 100,000 have lost their healthcare that they got through their employer. I supported implementing it in a way to keep our hospitals open and to make sure that working people have access to healthcare particularly in the midst of this pandemic. Where you live shouldnt dictate where you can get your healthcare. The ones im familiar with are in Jefferson City where we live and i do agree we have a reliance on the foreign equipment and the medicines. One of the things i thought of as it got started. With depression and suicide and a whole lot of other issues. Jerome, you are first. Well, i would have universal basic income for all we can do better than Medicaid Expansion. We really need medicare for all and a singlepayer system. How are we going to pay for that . The economic platform that we passed four years ago recommend a transaction tax and i personally dont know how to implement that. I am not a Computer Scientist but this is an idea thats been floating around for quite a while. So, having a universal healthcare. Nicole. Our state and local budgets are hurting because of the Economic Impacts of covid. So the first thing to do is take action to contain the spread of the virus to get the economy going again. We have seen an increase in jobless claims even this week so we are continuing to fly backwards and we also have hundreds of millions of dollars stuck at the state. As governor, i would be much more engaged in deploying these resources to help our local communities and Small Businesses and those that have lost their jobs through no fault of their own because of the Economic Impact of covid. The state auditor, ive seen waste and fraud and abuse and ad government. Ive identified over 73 million worth we could have the resources needed to help the communities. When it comes to the economy i think we have as Everybody Knows by now im a big proponent of the Free Enterprise system. I think theres an over reliance on the government and over reliance on government to answer the Big Questions and to control and run our lives. I think the Free Enterprise system needs to be unleashed and we need to get the government out of healthcare and other aspects of the economy as much as possible. I have trust and faith in the missouri businesses and people and theres nothing they can do if they put their mind to something. We are 12 in the United States of america getting people to work. Experts in the states that we would get 16point unemployment. It is at seven. To get back to School Safely and by doing the plan we had in place, we had accomplished all of those and we continue to move forward in the state. A. We have one more question before we take a break. That comes from gary castor. A loss this spring to promote learning due to the pandemic what strategies to regain. Nicole. My kids go to school up the street from my house. I want our schools to open. Its vital for our kids and our economy so parents can get back to work. Ive outlined a plan for appropriate learning models to keep kids safe and teachers safe so we can keep the schools open and positivity rates [inaudible] schools made a toug the tough dn early this spring to shut down. The governor did little planning to help that fully reopen this fall and instead went on the radio in july and said it doesnt matter how bad it is, the kids will get it when they go back to school and they will just get over it. That isnt good enough. We need a plan to open up our schools and if that was his plan, it isnt working because thousands of children are learning online or only in school with on one or two days. I think schools opening is a very important thing. We should have the schools open. I am a proponent of local control. Once again, i think that theres too much state and federal control over the education systems. But we have to get the schools opening to get these kids back in school. For a myriad of reasons i do believe we need to get kids in school. We do get our children educated. 85 of our schools are open, 75 of kids are in class or a hybrid version because of the actions we took. I think the administrators around the state for their input making sure the kids could go back. I trust the local levels and board members. I trust them to do the job. 900,000 kids in the state of missouri. When everybody said shut it down, 465,000 of those kids are on free and reduced lunches. 125,000 of them are disabled, learning disabilities. Youve got to have a plan in place how you are going to beat them and get healthcare and keep them safe. Its not as easy as just shutting things off and going home and putting the covers over your head thinking everything will be okay. You need to have those plans in place. Nothing is more important than giving the kids safe. Weve done it all summer long since this started and that is why kids are back in school and in a safe environment. Jerome. Sending kids back to school is really important but i think its important to keep the pandemic and perspective. Its not going to last forever. Its important to error on the side of safety when our Childrens Health is at stake, so i think its really important that School Administrators be flexible and do the right thing and close the school down or go back to Distance Learning if an outbreak occurs. To make that effective, everybody, all students all across, every income level have to have access to computer equipment and Broadband Internet and it should be accessible so people like me who really cant see can use it as well. One thing ive learned since going blind, since losing my eyesight is we are an afterthought. Almost nothing is really set up for us. A. That concludes the first round of questioning. We will take a short break and when we return we will be opening up with a new topic. Stay tuned. Welcome back to the 2020 Missouri Press association Gubernatorial Debate. We are ready to begin the next round of questions. The first question will come from tricia miller. Missouri has seen a rise in crime primarily in the states or urban areas. The state recently held a special session devoted to addressing violent crime. As governor, do you believe additional steps are necessary to address crime, and if so, what would you propose . This goes first to you, rick combs. A big issue especially in the metro areas i dont think that its in the right place though. I think the emphasis needs to be on drugs and gangs and that is a big part of what we are seeing in the metro areas. What id like to do is get together a good task force involving federal agents for the state police and locals to go in and start working on some of these issues and some of these drug cartel trafficking routes that we have through kansas city, st. Louis and now even a springfield. There is even more in columbia and Jefferson City than whats been admitted to or what we want to believe. Thats what id like to do is do a joint combined effort on the gangs and drugs and these drug cartels. I dont think theres any governor that took more interest in this simply because i got 22 years of Law Enforcement experience and the urban areas more in two and a half years. Working people to find solutions on the street. Working with the urban league. Additionally we had a Million Dollar grant to help deescalate crime, to help work with the clergy in st. Louis to understand what the events are, to meet people in the streets. Boots on the ground, but we need more Police Officers. We need to be able to do that and fight violent crime. We need to partner with the federal, state and locals which is exactly what weve done. Yesterday we were going to get more Police Officers because of the special session we did. The number one issue for all mayors, st. Louis, kansas city, colombia was the Witness Protection Program and the reason i called a special session and we got those two things done, why we are fighting crime every day, and i will continue to do that to support the men and women that wear the uniforms every day. Jerome. I co organized a panel in st. Louis on gun violence, and we had a couple speakers from the program that the city of std this is based on epidemiological models and involves people from the Community Working to interrupt violence when it occurs. So can we make that work instead of trying to send in more Police Officers and over policed communities of color because that only makes it worse. It escalates the situation. Concerning crime in general, i believe, the green party believes addiction problems of all kinds should be treated to the extent possible more as Mental Health and Public Health issues and not so much as criminal justice issues. As a mom, nothing is more important than the safety of our communities, which is why ive introduced a comprehensive plan to get to the root cause. The lack of opportunity, education and healthcare happening for a long time and i stand with 90 that want to see [inaudible] its been rising for years under Governor Parsons watch and last year as communities were begging for action, he called a special session to give tax breaks for used cars and boat tradeins. This year on the eve of an election on law and order and even his own party rejected the majority [inaudible] he struck out. The Witness Protection Fund doesnt even have funding. A. Im going to give 30 seconds. You said you struck out in the special session. Would you like to respond . We didnt strike out. We did the things we needed to give the tools. Number one, i might ask the state auditor its because of this from decade to decade to decade, and in two and a half years, we did everything we can and we will continue to do that for the state of missouri. We have done just that and weve tuned into the federal government were nobodys done that. The state levels, the local levels to put the resources together and we have good results and we will continue to do that when it comes to fighting crime in the state. Your local agenda, would you like to respond . Hes been governor for two years and Lieutenant Governor lr for years before that and legislature before that. He wants to point the finger at everyone else instead of taking responsibility for his own actions. Look, i know what hes referencing. I dont support defunding the police. The only person on the stage that has defunded the police is Governor Parson. 1. 8 million cut from the state police force. Its about priorities, and we need to prioritize getting resources to the Law Enforcement. We have one rebuttal opportunity but we are going to move onto the next question here and that comes from emily. The black lives Matter Movement has captured the countrys attention after the death of george floyd in minnesota. To bring our state into the national spotlight. If elected governor what if any social justice changes would you advocate for . Weve been working on that from day number one. Black lives matter. All lives matter in this state no matter who you are, where youre from, rich or poor, when you are in the military like i was, it doesnt matter what color somebodys skin is or your gender. Its about taking care of one another and thats what weve done in the state. We are doing reforms. The Commission Just did some reforms across the state in missouri. We teamed up with lincoln up with Lincoln University to have the first africanamerican Police Academy in the state. By putting more Police Officers on the ground, to making sure were doing better in policing around the state. All of those things have been enacted. All of those things in my administration, were not talking about plan and there is no plan. Were talking about action and doing things for people that need it the worst. Jerome bauer. I do support reparations, maybe perhaps not by that name is reparations has a bad connotation from the past century, perhaps restitution or something, but serious attempt to redress the legacy of slavery and racism. Race is, well, we really need to abolish that idea. Stop thinking in terms of black and white and i know its easier said than done and it maybe take another 400 years to abolish race and racism and maybe then go on to address class and income equality. Hope it doesnt make 400 years to do that, but we really need to think differently. Nicole galloway. After the killing of george floyd, there have been rightful calls for change in some really amazing demonstrations of unity, with Law Enforcement and members of their Community Standing together, asking and calling for change. I have put forward a comprehensive criminal justice and policing reform package that can build trust between Law Enforcement and the communities they serve. Now, governor par son has implemented some of these recommendations just this week at the same time though his campaign is engaging in racially divisive tactics. We cant go down this path. It is hurting our state. Its holds us back. So lets just call it for what it is. When his campaign and his apparatus wants to try to divide us on racial lines, they think were pointing the finger at each other and then well be too busy to point the finger at home and hold him accountable for his failures to address violent crime. Rik combs. I think first and foremost, missourians, are missourians, no matter what their sex is and race it. I view them as missourians, and ive never been into that. And when it comes to antifa, i am for all lives matter. Ill never be marxist, i spent over 20 years in the air force to oppose communism, socialism and i will be until the day i die. Thats my promise to missourians. Nicole galloway, you said that the governor was his campaign was encouraging in racially divisive tactics. I want to give you 30 seconds to actually explain what youre referring to and the governor 30 seconds to respond. What are you referring to there . Sure, his Campaign Apparatus put up websites saying incorrectly im pro crime and listed pictures of many prominent black leaders in the state. He was called out, his campaign and his Campaign Apparatus and allies were called out in the media for engaging in racially divisive tactics. Governor parson. First of all, my campaign has never run a negative ad about the state auditor. My campaign has not. But i will tell you the truth, Elizabeth Warren was endorsed by our state auditor who does support defund the police. Cory bush was the first person she went and enforced who does support defund the police the head democrat in the state of the missouri is walking down the street with bull horn with cars being broken into and on fire, thats the truth of whats going on. You may not say it in the forum with everybody, it does matter who you run it and it matters when you run with those who want to defund the police in the state. I will never defund the Police Officers and stand up for them in the state of missouri. Moving on to the next topic. Questions for you. Certainly. Stay on this topic, i do wonder whether any of the candidates support refusing the amount of funding going to local and state Law Enforcement agencies and shifting some of that money to other types of community service, which is what some would refer to as the intent of defunding. Jerome bauer, youre first. Absolutely, i support that. I mean, thats what were doing in st. Louis with the cure violence project. I mean, the police its not fair to them to expect them to be psychiatrists and social workers and marriage counselors and everything. I mean, really they should be expected to do what theyre trained to do and defund the police is really a rhetorical deescalation from ftp and im not going to say what that is because i dont plain like that awful fword so deescalation that works out better on the street. No justice, no peace, and revisit Public Safety and health doesnt quite work. Defund the police, what does it mean . Does it mean cut the salary or stop paying them . What would happen if they actually did that. They would go to work for private University Police forces and private security and in gated communities and the rest of our cities would be, you know, vigilante justice and thats not right. Nicole galloway. To be clear, i do not support defunding the police. Theres only one person on this stage who has actually defunded the police and that is Governor Parson when he cut 1. 8 Million Dollars from our States Police force earlier this summer. I have proposed reforms to build trust between Law Enforcement and the communities that they serve. Our Law Enforcement are expected to do incredibly difficult work. And they need support, they need resources. But there shouldnt just be one slice of the pie. You know, we should fund our police and fund support services, thats why i support things like Medicaid Expansion. So folks can have access to health care. I support funding our School System to the highest amount so folks can have access to a good education. Unfortunately we rely on quick revolution instead of deep problems through the state, the attention that they deserve. Rik combs. When it comes to defunding the police or shifting funds, i think shifting funds is another term for defunding, i suppose. Im against that. Spoking with peace officers and Police Officers in the state one of things happen, they lose officer or it hits the training budget. I think that training is at the corps of a lot of what were talking about, thats training of Police Officers and law officers and how they treat and interact with the people. Those training dollars are so important and i think that losing Law Enforcement officers or prospect of doing that is not in the best interest of missouri and certainly not in minority communities. Mike parson. I would never defund the police and never have defunded the police, we just put in a Million Dollars with the urban and you dont have to do both. You can get social workers out there. Weve strengenned our social workers and continued to do that. Every law officer in the state of missouri endorsed my candidacy for governor. Two weeks after they did that, she released an audit criticizing officers for doing their jobs working overtime in the middle of a pandemic and civil unrest, these guys are working their tail ends off to keep missouri safe. And to criticize when youre 160 officers down, the entire state is having trouble hiring Police Officers. The state Highway Patrol the last they think we need to do is take anything from the Law Enforcement officers in the state im not going to do that. Im going to put more Law Enforcement on the street. The governor cited an audit in which he says you criticized police for working overtime. 30 seconds to respond to that. Governor parson must be confused or not understand how audits work. I released an audit requested by the city of state police who look how the Police Departments were following their rules and procedures to keep officers safe that theyre not working too much overtime and not working too much to protect ourselves and when theyre healthy they can protect the communities that they serve. Ive worked hand in hand with Law Enforcement at the state, local levels, Highway Patrol might be having a hard time hiring officers because he cut their budget. I dont know what shes talking about cutting the 0 budget on that. All im going to tell you, ive been in support of Law Enforcement all the time. I dont think you use your political position to attack and use your office for political gain, whether its the attorney general, whether its writing opeds on abortion, whether its criticizing our Police Officers for working overtime. Nobody knows more than about the Police Working overtime than i do and i just dont believe what she just said how that audit took place. You dont get this cleared off the clock at 5 00 when youre a Police Officer domestic, when youre working a homicide, when youre working wrecks, people on the local levels know how to handle that. The administration, the Police Departments, the cities do that on that. The next question comes from gary castor. All right, we are going to change the subject a bit to clean missouri. In 2018 voters passed the clean missouri amendment which changed the states lobbying laws and candidates finance limits and redistricting. And this year there was an amendment to reverse part of the measure. Do you support amendment 3, why or why not . Nicole galloway, youre first. I support clean missouri, i do not support amendment 3. In november of 2018, voters said they wanted a fair and transparent government and wanted to get rid of gerrymandering. I support the voters to support clean missouri. Governor parson did an interview and said voters got it wrong, they were confused didnt doesnt what they were doing and Governor Parson is going to fix it for you. He doesnt trust the vote, he couldnt respect their voice, i do, and thats why i am not supporting amendment 3. Rik combs. Thats a tough call on amendment 3. On one hand you have the clean missouri which i thought it was wrong to begin with because it merged a whole bunch of issues together in one Ballot Initiative and i didnt think that was right to do that to the voters. Sort of a package deal. This is going to be good for missouri and how it was promoted. On the other hand, the people of missouri responded, and i dont want to upset the wishes of the people and we want to abide by their wishes. At this time all ill say is, im leaning toward a yes vote on 3 and if somebody can compel me to vote the other way i might be compelled, but right now im leaning toward a yes on amendment 3. Mike parson. Yeah, i agree with mr. Combs. You know, theres a lot of things on these ballots nobody talked p none of the big money behind this talked about how the redistricting would work. They talked about everything but that. This is a major shift how we do elections in the state of m iz ms. I dont know what anybody stood or did understand, going back the second time making sure the voters understand what its directly voting for, how that looks is not a bad to take a second look how were changing elections in the state and now we can talk about redistricting for the state of missouri and make it clear and not have four or five different issues in there to be able to talk about. Thats what they always do on the petition, its never the main issue, its a lot of other things. And to ask the vote e, hey, is this what you want . I dont think its bad. People will live with what they vote with. Im against it and the green party strongly endorsed clean missouri in the first place and our party is really democratic and we work as a team. So i, in line with the Missouri Green Party am opposed to amendment 3 and you know, a clean missouri passed by over 60 of missouri voters. So to overturn that before its even been implemented is really, well, its an insult to the voters. So lets implement clean missouri and then if there are issues with it, there could be other Ballot Initiatives with a lot of discussions and tweak it and fix it and make it work properly instead of trying to overturn it. Thanks. We are going to move to our next round of questions. This comes from trisha miller. So lets talk transportation. The Missouri Department of transportation says it needs hundreds of millions of dollars for roads and bridges. Voters defeated a fuel tax increase two years ago. Since then the coronavirus has further impacted state revenues. What is your plan to improve the states transportation syst system . Rick combs, youre first. Yes, thats very, very important as a lot of people know and many dont know. Missouri is in the top 10, i think six or seven in the country in road mileage and bridges and all that. Its quite an exexpansive system and anybody out and about the state as all of us have, all the candidates, you see the roads are deteriorating, the bridges are deteriorating. I dont think that new texts are the answer, and one of the things i think about taxes, it seems like if we do a tax, in missouri somehow it ends up in the general fund and gets squandered on something else, but with that said. With a budget of over 35 billion dollars, you cant tell me you cant find money in the budget to fund 100, 300 Million Dollars, its there in the budget and we need to cut the fat and pay for our roads and bridges. Mike parson. Theres no question weve been working on it and its one of the priorities of my administration when it started. Thats why when we had to do the general revenue we did the banding plan that we did. 250 new bridges in the state of missouri, over a billion dollars of construction in the state of missouri. We made 5050 money to partner with them on projects in their town and everything, and the last Revenue Bonds that we did, that we just renewed, 178 million were renewed at. 038. Those are Wise Investments in our state, but we have to keep moving forward whether its the highway system, whether its the airports, whether its the rail. The rivers or broadband and we have to continue to do that. We just released 22 million from broadband to help with infrastructure, to help with telemedicine, telehealth and weve been doing that from day one since i was governor and we will live within our means and still do as much as we can for infrastructure in this state, but we definitely need a Funding Source at some point to address this issue. Jerome bauer. Lets do this in exchange for universal basic service. And that can include not only revised conservation clause, but also, getting people at work, rebuilding roads and bridges, in exchange for free college well, theres nothing free, you pay for it with your labor. Definitely, we need infrastructure. I mean, paying more taxes to build it that, you know, id be fine with that because im not averse to paying for with public works. And we could do, bicycle paths in rural area, not just the trail, but bias casts and rural car pool cooperatives. Nicole galloway. The first thing we can do to help our state and local budgets to pay for transportation is to contain covid because its Economic Impacts are putting our budgets in peril and as state auditor, i have found giveaways and loopholes with no value to taxpayers. The corporations give awas away 121 million last year. Not om have i found waste and abuse in government. Governor parson cannot lead in a conservative way because hes not a fiscal conservative. Hes asked the state to pay 10,000 for a personal driver, renovated his office. Airplane flights back and forth between his home and jefferson citiment we need this especially in an economic down turn. Governor, ill ask you to address her saying you need a personal driver and airplane flights. The truth is to hire somebody so the Capital Police didnt have to park statewide elected officials like the state auditor to legislature and senator reps. We had the Capital Police parking cars. They need to be upstairs protecting people and school kids you dont need to have your Police Officers Walking Around to park for you. I never asked that thats not what i was alluding to, he asked for 10,000 for a driver and the legislature responsibly said no to that. Im told its time to take another break. Stay tuned, well be back with another round of questions. Questions. Welcomee back to the missouri Gubernatorial Debate. Were ready for our next round of questions. This is from emily. What are your response to increase Economic Development and bring jobs to the state of missouri and how would your plan support rural areas of our state . Governor parson, youre first. Work force development is hugest in the state. Its why our state has the lowest unemployment at 3. 1, why the africanamerican unemployment was at all time record lows, thats why 40,000 new jobs were created. Why businesses were coming to missouri. Even during the pandemic weve had essential services in st. Louis, 1400 new jobs. Chewy pet food opened up a distribute bowings belt in missouri. Our is up. And unemployment 7 when it was predicted to be 14, 16 . Were doing the right things because were keeping our businesses open and were getting people back to work. 365,000 being on unemployment. 200,000 people are back in the work force because were leading the way in this nation. As i said earlier, 12th in the nation getting people back to work and you have to focus on two things, infrastructure and work force development. Thats not a democrat, thats not a republican issue. Thats a missouri issue and thats how were going to prepare our kids for the future of this state. Jerome bauer. I would have loan Debt Forgiveness for graduates who want to buy farm land and start organic farms. New york state has that. Why cant we . I have a former roommate a recent graduate of Webster University whose many biggs is to be an organic farmer, but hell never be able to afford farm land with his student loan at the time. Thats one thing that i would do and, yeah, and also investing in Rural Infrastructure such as our b bod broadband, for example, bicycle paths and building roads and bridges would certainly employ a lot of people. Thanks. Nicole galloway. Unfortunately, we still have record high unemployment. And often times our Quick Development strategies focus on chasing big out of state companies to come and i think that we need to refocus on our Small Businesses, our Community Businesses that are rooted in the community to provide good paying jobs for folks close to home. And we need to focus on work force development. That means providing a good education for our children, kthrough 12 and Higher Education. Its so unfortunate that the government had to cut 100 million from our Higher Education budgets this year after it was restored by the legislature and 250 million was cut from our k through 12 education budgets this year. Its very shortsighted because we often hear that our Small Businesses, Large Businesses are wanting a skilled work force more than anything else. And i do everything i can. Rik combs. The important state about the economic condition in the state of m iz ms. My wife and i moved here three years ago and from there to the estimated census from 2010 to 2020. Missouri really hasnt grown. As governor, i would look with the legislature to try to get rid of our draconian income tax and personal property taxes which are regressive and do away with corporate taxes. What that will do, that will encourage businesses, encourage people to move to missouri. If you get rid of the corporate taxes, get rid of the good old boy system of tax credits. Thank you. Good morning, i heard the auditor mention that she would restore cuts that youd made. Would you like 30 seconds to explain that . First of all you have understand what the balanced budget means. Number we caught 221 out of the education funds because everybody in missouri had to tighten their belt. What we were doing with panic and the state. The government doesnt get a free pass on that. Were thank rfl that we could because of the policy we put in to get these back up. Everybody had to make a cut in the state of missouri given the pandemic. Nicole galloway, 30 seconds. Lets talk about illegal gambling machines popped across our state. And the operators have given his Campaign Apparatus thousands of dollars as a result he cuts investigators for illegal gambling machines. Under Governor Parsons watch, he finds a way to benefit himself and education continues to struggle. Our next question from ruby bailey. Missouri certainly has some of the lowest tax rates in the country. Does the state need to raise more tax revenue to support your agenda and if so, how much and where is it going to come from . Jerome bauer, youre first. Well, i would certainly raise corporate taxes and also syntax syntaxes, including taxes on recreational drugs, which we would like to legalize tax and regulate. It doesnt that does not mean anything goes, but to the extent possible, drug problems should be treated as Mental Health and Public Health issues. So certainly raising taxes from taxing drugs and a stock market transaction tax, thats something that we greens would like to experiment with. So how we can make that work, but certainly thanks. Enicole galloway. I am not proposing increases for the agenda ive laid out. As state auditor ive found and identified loopholes and giveaways that provide no value to our taxpayers whatsoever. We have the timely discount in the country. These are taxes that people pay. They pay sales taxes and they think that its going to their roles or to Public Safety, but instead, Big Box Stores get to keep it and for turning their sales tax to the state on time. We dont get a break for paying our taxes online, why should they have the most generous discount. That does the state 121 until last year. We can to it in a way to prote protect they get a dollar for every dollar they put into government. Rik combs. I think as i said before, if we reduce some of the taxes, some of these terrible taxes, draconian income taxes, and personal property tax and do away corporate taxes, i think youll see businesses and industries, it will help our Small Business people across the state and people will have more disposable income. When they take that money and spend it, hopefully in the state and local communities. As they say, a rising tide raises all ships. When you slash taxes, when you slash taxes and cut state spending, right now our state spending and local government spending, seemingly out of control, once we get that under control and start cutting some of that, makes life a whole lot easier to live under and i think youre going to see a missouri thats very much more prosperous than now. Thank you. Mike marson. I wont raise taxes unless people in the state say they want their taxes raised. Ill look at fraud and waste. Like the medicaid system. When i first came to office i put it in there and as state auditor and kick 100,000 kids. That didnt happen. We didnt kick 100,000 off the roles. We looked at whether theyre verified to be on there. And which is supposed to be done by the state auditor according to mccaskill. For 10 days under the state very much, we had one 650,000 and owned six homes. We paid for a child in florida that didnt live in missouri and shes receiving our benefitsment we had people in illinois coming to missouri signing up for our benefits and nobody was auditing and havent for one decade. By that you can find a way for this and get the waste and fraud out. Time for one more question if we move quickly. Gary. Approached medical expanse for lowe income. And how would you cover the states share of the funding . Nicole galloway, i support expansion just as the majority of missouris do. And it can be done without raising taxes or gutting accounts. We can look at independent studies that Medicaid Expansion in missouri is budget newell tra and save our tight billions of dollars. And look at the 37 other states that have expanded medicate and we can have those weve seen in other states here in our state. Governor parson has a terrible record with health care and did kick children off. And a look at preexisting condition and opposes med dade expansion in this time of the pandemic. Its one of the most permanent of socially mobility. Rik combs. I think that some people can see the benefits, but on a ledger basis, when you start looking at the money its going to cost the state of missouri thats got to go somewhere. My plan is no reachdown. That said the danger of doing expanded medicaid, i know the federal government. There may be a day when they say we dont have money to you. And the entire bill will fall, missourians, thats a lot of money. The state awe tores research she left out one part 0 to 200 million was going to be the estimated cost there and i think the question is do you ask the question why didnt we audit the roles before . Why didnt we look at medicaid. The people voted for this. Its not going to be free. Anytime theres an expansion in State Government, it is never free. Trust me, ive been around long enough to realize that every Program Expands and costs more money and so fast medicaid. Even in normal settings. It would engage between 200 million a year under the old familiar la in the state of missouri that we have to count for. What the people voted for, we are going to put it in place and do that and balance the budget at the same time. Jerome bauer, i wrote because thats an improvement. 100,000 kids should not have been kicked off of medicaid with notices and i almost lost my medicaid, too, so i feel so strongly about this. And health care is a human right and lets we can do better than Medicaid Expansion. We could have single payer for all and thats for the green party and weve discussed with panels how to do this with missourians for single purpose most mostlily wrote and weve got to look at how its going to work. It does work in many European Countries and really, health care for all will pay for its sear its itself. We now need to move to our closing payments. Debate as we indicated at the start, candidates will be delivering in the reverse order that they delivered their opening statements. That means that the first to deliver Closing Remarks is Green Party Candidate jerome bauer. Why vote green . Isnt that a wasted vote . Well, no its not. We seem to be running to the left of just about everybody on just about everything, but were fiscally quite conservatives. And to pay for boondoggle trolley and stadium and other boone doggles and we cant aforward, we didnt afford to feed, house transport our peop people. We dont take corporate money and for that reason were not beholden. Ed to corporations or others and well raise issues that others will not raise and thats the function of an american third party, and raise interesting ideas and talking points and get the discussion going. When we get Choice Voting youll be able to vote for all four of us in the order of your choice. Unfortunately, we dont have that yet so youre going to have to make a chance and i want to thank the voters who total me personally theyll vote for me every time on the valley. Valley. But we people expect the top of the ticket races, president s and governors to be close this year, if you want to vote for our down valley candidates for the green party then well be able to build concepts and then id like to recommend that you might want to cast a vote or two for the libertarians to keep them on the ballot because the more voices the better. Republican Party Candidate governor mike parson. Thank you, thanks for everybody listening today ap thanks for all on the stage. Its a part of the process. For me it started with a humble one about commission values, moral cals and what the flag of the country means and people before me that died for this country to give us the constitution, the bill of rights, the declaration of independence. Nobody on this stage will have more Law Enforcement than i will. 22 years from losing an officer. The line of duty. Having shot six teams and losing a brotherinlaw as an emt. Those reallife experience is what makes you a bedder. Understanding and what it takes for years to be able to do that and to be able to raise a family, to be a good husband, good father. Have six grandchildren, to make sure you understand the value of all missourians, no whaert that color your skin is, no matter youre a woman or a man. One i think thing i know as far as where we are for women in the work force we have to do something every day to make sure that we have a fair and balanced approach to that. 16 of my candidates numbers, 10 of the 16 are women. Half the appointments ive made are women. Not because they were women, because they were qualified to do their jobs. Everybodys i believe within has the right to the american dream. The only way to protect individuals rights ap make sure that next generations, my kids. Your kids. My grandkids have the same opportunity and you have to fight that every day. Thats why i want to run for governor. And its an honor and privilege to be the 57th governor of the state of missouri. Libertarian Party Candidate rick combs. Fellow missourians, youll have a chance who your next governor will be. My campaign is based on Free Enterprise, smaller government, more efficient government, freedom, slashing taxes, reducing waste and cutting and extended personal property. Its ideal for working people and the middle class. Ranchers and Small Business men across the state that are suffering through hard times. Make nos mistake about it, the middle class is result, politically, socially, culturally all across the country and includes missouri. Im a champion of the middle class and i few myself in that light. Do you feel disaffected, ignored, taken for granted by the two Major Political parties . Were a choice for you. The quint ception question for missourians, what type of government to you want in the future . Do you want a large eexpansive government or do you wants freedom . Do you want independence, what do you choose. Our special interests and lobbyists are going too rue the day as they have done or do we have freedom. As an officer, i spent over 20 years fighting for this country. And very, very proud of that. Im very honored to be able to run in missouri for governor. Growing up on a cattle form if you told me id be running for governor of missouri many decades hence, id say youre out of your mind, but this has been a wonderful ride and shows how Great America is. I ask for your note on november 3rd, thank you and god bless. Democratic Party Candidate state auditor nicole galloway. When i launched this campaign a year ago, i could never imagine the challenge and crisis wed be facing in 2020. I knew then that milwaukees working families need a change and i am more certain of testify now. Facing many incidents, the virus, in education, and health care, and persistent gun violence and how to make murder more equitable and justice. The governors solutions are too small. He failed the test of leadership, hes in over his head. And the corruption of politics is how governor par zoran got to where he is, he rose through the ranks with powerful friends, spending millions to hold onto power and get what they want while missourians struggle. Im offering a new way where the working people of the state and their needs are at the center of everything i do with working people at the table. As state auditor, i have looked under the hood of government. Its broken, not working. 307 million in government waste, abuse, fraud and worked hand in hand against corrupt officials in the state. Republicans and democrats. Ive demanded efficiency, accountability and transparency. Ive put toward comprehensive plans to lower the cost of health care, provide more missouri economic activity. We cant just go back to where we were, it wasnt good enough for too many people. As governor ill put the health and wellbeing of every missouri at the center of what i do. Gin me at nicolegalloway. Com. Thank you. This concludes the 2020 Gubernatorial Debate sponsored by the Missouri Press conversation in cushion coming from you missouri theater in columna. I want to thank each of our candidates for participating in this debate and for the voters. The next division is yours. You can make your voice be heard by casting a ballot. Thank you for being with me today. Our campaign 2020 coverage continues with candidates campaigning and debating. Cspan, your unfiltered view of politi politics. Next, a discussion on the future of democracy after the november elections. The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace looked at various scenarios that could take place after the election, including delayed counting of ballots. The this runs an hour. Im Aaron David Miller senior at the endowment, women