Claire McCaskill has seen a trend in Jefferson City that she doesn't like and the Democratic candidate for governor vows to do something about it if elected.
I really believe that in many respects there is a tendency in Jefferson City to kind of leave rural Missouri, leave out-state Missouri behind, said McCaskill, who spent the early years of her life living in the small Missouri communities of Houston and Lebanon. I don't really believe that it's possible for this state to move forward unless we can bring Missouri together. The issues that divide urban and rural are really very, very limited.
One area, however, where noticeable differences exist is education.
I would say that the equity issues on school funding are huge for rural Missouri. That has not been addressed. That was one of our major audits, said McCaskill, the current state auditor. "There is no question that the gap between the very rich schools and the very poor schools has widened. It has not narrowed; it has gotten worse, not better. That has to be addressed."
Another point of concern for McCaskill is transportation.
If you look at our transportation system and the impact that has on the ability to economically develop out-state Missouri, it is huge, she said during a visit to Hannibal on Tuesday. If you look at the lack of progress we've made over the last decade on transportation, that alone I think will convince out-state Missourians that a new direction is appropriate.
Many believe the education and transportation problems are funding related. While McCaskill will not take Gov. Bob Holden to task for the states financial woes, she does suggest that he has not done all he could have as a leader.
When times are toughest is when you need strongest leadership. The easiest thing is to lead when everything is going well. The hardest thing is to lead when it's time to find creative solutions, bring people together and thats what I think we can do, said McCaskill. I am not going to say the problems that the state faces are Gov. Holden's fault. I am going to say that I believe I am better equipped to tackle those problems. We shouldn't be about attacking people, whether it's attacking the Legislature, or the Chamber of Commerce, or Farm Bureau, or somebody who challenges the governor, it shouldn't be about attacking people, it should be about attacking the problems.
McCaskill believes that as governor she might fare better dealing with the Legislature's GOP majority.
"The Republicans and I are going to disagree about a lot, but hopefully that will be after we've figured out everything that we can agree on," she said. "Where we disagree I will stand up and stand strong, but the first thing that needs to happen is to find as much common ground as possible. Republicans want strong schools. Republicans want safe roads. Republicans want economic development.
"I think what happened last session, in my honest opinion, is both sides were so anxious to make the other side look bad, nobody was really focused on getting anything done. I mean this (session was) about partisan, political one-upsmanship and meanwhile the people's problems kind of got kicked to the curb."
If elected governor, the first problem McCaskill will tackle for Missourians is financial.
"We have to get our fiscal house in order. In order to do that, we've got to implement a bunch of audit findings that haven't been implemented. There are recommendations we've made that have been ignored," she said.
Part of her fiscal plan includes a review of the state's tax system.
"We've got to really evaluate our tax structure and where it is that we're giving away money right now," said McCaskill. "In a decade, we've gone from about million a year in tax credits to closer to million in tax credits a year. We have repeatedly done audits telling Economic Development, 'Hey, you've got to figure out if these tax credits are actually producing the economic activity that they are designed to produce.'
"I'm not saying that tax credits aren't an important instrument in economic development and clearly we've got to compete with other states. There have to be incentives, but we need to be a lot more business-like about the way we are giving these credits and I think we've got to evaluate our give-aways before we start asking for more."
McCaskill has no inclination to hit Missourians up for a tax increase to help ease the state's tight finances.
"Our first reaction when we get into an economic downturn shouldn't be a knee-jerk deal, 'OK give us more money,' and that's what it feels like to Missourians," she said. "I don't think they are going to give us any more until we show them that we're using what we've got as wisely as we possibly can. I think it's unrealistic, after you look at what happened in elections for more taxes over the last 18 months. Missourians are in no mood to give us more money. I don't think they trust us with what we've got right now."
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