Democratic
candidates at the rally at the Old 169 Club Saturday called for access to
healthcare, full funding for public schools, and transparency for data centers
in various speeches by candidates. Jerry Forney entertained the group of around
50 people, who came and went throughout the afternoon. There were people from
all over the area, including Gentry and Daviess Counties.
Judy
McNeece, State Senate District 12
Ms.
McNeece said that the main issue for her was public education, especially in
rural schools. She pointed out that the Missouri Constitution specifically
requires full funding of public schools. “They seem to find money for
everything else,” she told the Express. She said that the state is creating
even more red tape for local schools, which she says makes it even harder. “We
need public funding for public schools,” she said. She opposes the MO Scholars program,
which gives money to private schools. While teacher pay for the state has risen
to a $40,000 minimum, Ms. McNeece said it still wasn’t enough.
On
healthcare. Ms. McNeece said that her ideal was universal healthcare. But right
now, she said that Medicaid needs to be strengthened. As a woman with chronic
pain, she noted that the state recently cut physical therapy as of July 1st
of this year. So now, she says that when she has too much pain, she must either
go to the emergency room, get prescription pills, or deal with it. “We need
everyone a chance to be pain free,” she said. Ms. McNeece noted that out of the
18 counties in her district, only four were not maternal care deserts. “If
people want families, they have to travel all the time,” she said. “Women have
to take off work.” While the Harrison County Hospital has been expanding,
building a new building, she said that rural hospitals are dependent on
Medicare and Medicaid and that rug could be pulled on them at any time. She
noted that there are 12 that are in danger of closing in Missouri.
What
makes the situation even worse, said Ms. McNeece, is a system that allows insurance
companies to require preauthorization, a process that can take weeks or months,
and work requirements that require a doctor’s note when it is already hard to make
an appointment. “We need to stop putting big corporations first, and put people
first,” said Ms. McNeece. “When we do that, more businesses will choose to come
here.”
On
data centers, Ms. McNeece said that there should be an open and transparent
process regarding data centers, and that it should be up to a vote of the
people. She said that independent studies should be done that are not paid for
by the data centers that measure air, water, and noise quality. “We are getting
too dependent on AI,” she said. “They say they will produce jobs, but the state
only requires them to create 10 new jobs,” she said. While Missouri is getting
more and more data centers, the Missouri State Auditor’s Office recently sent
out an alarming news release saying that Missouri was going off a $2 billion fiscal
cliff, and that the state would go broke by 2029 unless the legislature made
drastic cuts. Ms. McNeece noted that a law passed in 2015 states that data
centers don’t have to pay for anything inside their facilities. She said that
they should have to pay their fair share of taxes like everyone else. She said
she was skeptical of the water being self-contained in some of these facilities.
“Water is a precious commodity,” she said.
Ms.
McNeece was using a walker Saturday to get around. “I’m not young, but I’ve got
a lot of determination,” she said. “I want voters to have a choice at the
polls.” She said she was inspired by Jess Piper, who challenged someone to step
forward to challenge Republican incumbent Rusty Black after it looked like he might
run unopposed this cycle. “I know I’m going up against big money,” she said. “I
take my donations from friends and neighbors, and I’m fine with that.”
Reid
Gibson
Reid
Gibson of Worth was the emcee for the event, which was organized by the Gentry
County Women’s Democratic Club. It served as a fundraiser for the Democratic
candidates. All of the proceeds went to the candidates. Barb Mahoney and
Bridget Gibson are the co-chairs.
Mr.
Gibson said he hoped to make this event like the Harkin Steak Fry of Iowa. It
was held at a balloon field near Indianola (IA), and all the big players of the
Democratic Party came. Bridget Gibson once shooks hands with Bill Clinton
there, and singer Cheryl Crow once did a concert there that they got to go to. “You
had to have tickets to get into that event, this is free,” said Mr. Gibson.
He
said that the goal of the party was to fight for clean air, clean water, and
hunting and fishing for everyone to enjoy. “This is a pretty neck of the woods,
it looks like southern France or better,” said Mr. Gibson. He said that we were
fortunate to have the quality of life that we do. “We have the freedom here to
do what you want to do; farm what you want, raise livestock, fish, hunt. We
have clean air, clean water, roads to drive, schools for our children, hospitals,
and we’re not too far from three mega-cities as well as a university 35 miles
out. Sure, we could use some new ideas.”
“We
don’t want no data centers to come in and ruin our peace, suck up our
resources, electricity, water, and mess up our environment for a couple of jobs
for a dubious technology that at best will steal jobs from our children and
future generations, increase government surveillance, and make handling our
personal affairs more difficult,” said Mr. Gibson. “Sounds to me like a ploy
that will make the technofascists richer and us poorer. We need our politicians
to stand up and say no.” Instead, Mr. Gibson said, we needed more projects like
Lettuce Dream, which produces lettuce locally. “Agricultural diversification
would help,” said Mr. Gibson. “Small businesses. Make funding available. Grow
blueberries, tobacco, ethanol.”
Turning
to the recent primary election, Mr. Gibson said that Missouri is a conservative
state in the classic sense. “We value our freedom, our constitution for the
people of Missouri, and reject radical ideas like replacing state income tax
with higher sales taxes and limiting our right to petition,” he said. “And I
think that the primary elucidated that Governor Mike Kehoe and the Republican
administration are out of touch with the people of Missouri. He wants to turn
us into a new Texas. Well, I lived in Texas, and it sucks! WalletHub just rated
Texas as the crappiest state in the nation; low homeownership rates, low
percentage of college graduates, property taxes twice what they are in California,
toll roads everywhere, they don’t believe in labor unions so wages are far
lower than other states, their power grid is a mess.” By contrast, said Mr.
Gibson, “We the people of Missouri voted to raise the minimum wage, and as a
result, people are moving to Missouri to work.”
He
concluded, “That’s why we are endorsing these candidates. This is the party,
and these are the candidates who will fight to protect our way of life here,
they will fight to preserve your freedoms, your rights, public schools, public
roads, and not back radical ideas that seek to line the pockets of the politicians
working for the ultra-wealthy. And keep the government out of your bedroom and
doctor’s office.”
Josh
Smead, 6th District, US Congress
Josh
Smead is the Democratic nominee for the 6th District congressional
race, which has gotten more money than at any time in two decades. He told the
Express that it was a lot more dangerous to live in Northern Missouri because
of what he saw as lack of access to healthcare and affordable housing. He said
that he supported fully funding education at both the national and state levels
and would support a national ban on the funding of religious schools. He said
he supported more investments in infrastructure.
On
Iran, he said that President Donald Trump’s policy was so bad that it made
George Bush II, who led the country into the conflicts into Iraq and
Afghanistan, look like a genius. He said that it was a national embarrassment that
the President had to sneak out of Turkey following a NATO conference in a truck
and noted that the US already had a deal in place with Iran to keep them from acquiring
a nuclear weapon before President Trump tore it up during his first term. “It
has only emboldened our enemies,” he said.
On
data centers, Mr. Smead said that he supported more transparency on data center
development. As an architect, he noted that there were no codes for data
centers and said that our rural areas were not equipped for such massive
developments. He said that the problems that data centers pose are solvable,
but that standards had to be in place for them to follow.
He
compared his opponent, Chris Stigall, to Sam Graves 2.0, overseeing the
destruction of Northwest Missouri.
Casey
Scott, Candidate for 2nd District Missouri House
Casey
Scott spoke briefly to the Express before the speeches started. She said that
as a single mother, access to healthcare, especially maternal care, was the main
issue. She said that she was fortunate to have that when she had her two
daughters, who were with her at the rally, but that many other people don’t
have it. She spoke from first-hand experience, having been in healthcare for 15
years.
Josh
Smead
Mr.
Smead got up and spoke to the audience. He said that as a father of four, he decided
that if he wanted to see change, he couldn’t wait until someone else stepped
up. “These issues are not going to wait,” he said. He said that the upcoming
November election was important because an abortion ban is on the ballot two
years after Missouri voters enshrined the right to choose in the state
constitution. In addition, the measure bans transgender surgery before one is
18.
He
said that the choice is clear. While he supports bodily autonomy, he said Sam
Graves was pushing Congress for a federal abortion ban. “My daughter has less
rights than people did 30-40 years ago,” said Mr. Smead. In addition, he said
he would support an amendment to end big money in politics.
Mr.
Smead noted that he had raised the most money in the district since 2008 and
that the most Democrats had voted in the recent primary since 2004. “We’re slowly
growing at the grassroots level,” said Mr. Smead. He promised to be a uniter
and not a divider. “I don’t believe in rural versus urban,” said Mr. Smead. “People
all over the district are worried about access to healthcare. It’s gotten a lot
more dangerous to have a baby. I’ve spoken to people who have driven 100 mph to
get to the hospital because of an emergency.” He noted that he spoke with
people who have had to drive one hour for routine prenatal appointments. “That
is unacceptable,” he said.
He
said he would fight for the working class. “Many people don’t see homeownership
as a realistic possibility,” he said. Turning to infrastructure, he said, “Sam
Graves is the chair of the House Infrastructure Committee, but you can’t tell
it by driving over these roads.” And he said that for all the talk about
high-speed internet and 5G coming to the area, there were too many dead spots. “People
are trapped in bureaucracy with no solutions,” he said.
Mr.
Smead said that his opponent, Chris Stigall, was Sam Graves’ hand-picked
successor and he had already spent over $1 million on ads and TV. “A lot of his
money comes from out of state,” he said. “And he’s not going to question the $2
billion spent on Iran.”
Turning
to school funding, Mr. Smead said that private schools have no school boards
that answer the people who elect them.
Returning
to Iran, Mr. Smead said that President Trump’s policies have only emboldened
Iran, who will only get worse and worse, and that we have already spent $8
trillion in wars in the Middle East. “Graves supported Afghanistan and Iraq,”
he said. “We can’t afford to surrender to the MAGA interests who are destroying
Rural Missouri.”
Casey
Scott
Casey
Scott stepped up to the microphone next and talked about her 2nd
District Missouri House campaign. “I know people who put off healthcare all the
time because they can’t afford it,” she said. Ms. Scott said that as a person
with 15 years of experience in the field, it has gotten to the point where “we
cannot deliver a baby.” She noted that hospitals were ending maternity care
right and left due to abortion bans and OB-GYN’s were afraid of practicing for
fear of repercussions. She said she knew of one woman who had a fetus whose brain
did not develop and had to carry it to term.
She
said that people were afraid of seeing their savings disappear due to a medical
emergency. She said she talked to someone who had a busted water heater and
couldn’t afford to replace it. She had recently canvassed Worth County and that
people were receptive. She said her goal was to go door to door as much as
possible.
Judy
McNeece
Judy
McNeece got up and spoke next. She talked about how she was playing with her
grandson when she fell backwards and injured her back. Occasionally, she says
she now must go to the doctor to get her back set again. She said that she was
speaking on healthcare as a participant in the system.
“The
state needs to do better for all of us,” she said.
On
public education, she said that she was against private school vouchers. “That
means you’re paying for someone else’s education,” she said. In the meantime,
she said, small schools were closing, which leads to communities shutting down.
“When kids have to travel to school, businesses close,” she said. She said it doesn’t
matter how small a school is, if the people wanted it open, it should stay
open. On the other hand, she said if schools are fully funded, people will want
to move there.
If
elected, Ms. McNeece said she would seek to repeal the capital gains tax
eliminations which she said led to less school funding. “25% of it went to
public schools,” she said. She opposed tax breaks for the rich. “Good for them,”
she said, “But it doesn’t help the rest of us.”
She
said her campaign was open to input and ideas. As a banker and loan officer,
she said that she knew how to listen to people. “If there was a way we could
make it happen, we did,” she said.
Casey
Scott
After
Ms. McNeece finished her speech, Ms. Scott came back to the microphone with
more things to say. “For eight years, I drove from Trenton to Gallatin and
Bethany to drop off my kids, because I couldn’t find childcare any closer,” she
said. She noted that in Grundy County, there was a big data center fight as
there is no zoning there. She encouraged people to reach out to their city
council people and county commissioners about looking into zoning. “They could
very well come to your neighborhood,” she said. “I’ve seen situations where
they make you upgrade your system and then not come in.”
Alisha
Dodd
Ms.
Dodd is running for Gentry County Collector and Treasurer. She pledged to do
all she could to save money for the county and make sure tax dollars went to
where they were supposed to go.
Tracey
Steele
Mr.
Steele, a Worth County grad, is running for House District 12 in Parkville, in
a district just north of Kansas City. The DLCC ranked his race as one of the top-tier
races for breaking the GOP supermajority in Missouri. In the previous race, the
Democrat lost narrowly and the seat is in Republican control. But Mr. Steele
said he has had people come up to him and tell him they’ve voted Republican all
their life, but they were fed up and angry and not voting for them again.
He
said that education was just as big of an issue in the suburbs as it was in the
rural areas. He noted that Missouri is 49th out of 50 in school
funding. “We don’t treat our kids like they priority they need to be,” said Mr.
Steele to the Express. “The state should pay its share so we don’t have to.”
The
problem, said Mr. Steele, is that the people in charge have been cutting taxes,
which leads to less funding for schools, roads, and healthcare. “They don’t
care because they are driven by their rich donors, not seeking to make our
lives easier,” he said.
He
said that any data center development has to be done responsibly. He said that
the current wave of development was a matter of big corporations taking
advantage of tax breaks. “And then the people don’t see the benefit,” said Mr.
Steele. “We can’t let these big corporations come here in secret and then
threaten to go somewhere else if they don’t get breaks. The people don’t
deserve this.”
Mr.
Steele said he was not against all development. “I’m pro-labor. I want to see
opportunities for good-paying jobs. But it all has to be done responsibly.”
He
said he was a Democrat because he wanted to do what was best for the people if
elected. “The Republicans enact policies that are forced on them by their
billionaire donors, and people are tired of it,” he said, citing the massive
rejection of the elimination of the income tax and restrictions on initiative
petitions in the state. “They don’t just appear on the ballot. They were put
there by the people who are in charge.” The Republicans have had a 14-year
supermajority in the legislature and have controlled most of the state offices
since 2016. “If we can elect people like Casey Scott, Judy McNeece, myself, and
Josh Smead, we can start to bring common sense back to the government,” said
Mr. Steele.
