Politics
Governor’s race forum highlights rifts within the Missouri GOP

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KANSAS CITY — The top Republican candidates for governor provided the clearest glimpse of what’s to come in the primary campaign during a forum Saturday at the party’s Lincoln Days gathering — and it featured some sharp elbows.The verbal blows onstage reflect a new reality for a party that’s been dominant in state elections for nearly eight years. Republicans now face noticeable factionalism in their legislative supermajority and on the campaign trail.Lincoln Days weekend in Kansas City is one of the biggest events for the party each year. Much of the weekend features speeches from top elected officials, mingling opportunities for party activists and officeholders, and the chance for aspiring candidates to meet some of the party’s most ardent volunteers.The forum featured four gubernatorial candidates: Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe, Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, state Sen. Bill Eigel and Joplin businessman Chris Wright. Kehoe, Ashcroft and Eigel have raised millions of dollars in their bids to succeed retiring Gov. Mike Parson, while Wright has raised about $20,000.Despite forum organizers placing restrictions on how candidates could attack or criticize each other, the roughly 45-minute event included several passive-aggressive barbs.For instance: Ashcroft and Eigel both alluded to Kehoe’s support for boosting either sales taxes or gas taxes to fund the state’s transportation infrastructure. Eigel said “to have somebody stand up on this stage today, who has backed the largest tax increases in Missouri history, tried to present themselves as a tax cutter — that’s why people hate politicians, folks.”Ashcroft also said proceeds from the gas tax were “unaccountable” to the public since they are under the control of appointed Highways and Transportation Commission members — as opposed to the legislature. He also chastised the growth in the state budgets over the past few years, driven largely by an influx of federal money coming to the state.“And when people talk about wanting to have low taxes, you can’t have low taxes and double and triple the size of your government,” Ashcroft said. “It doesn’t work when people say they want lower taxes, but they grow your government. Well, they’re just saying something that just ain’t true.”
Dominick Williams
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for the Kansas City BeaconAttendees at the GOP Lincoln Days governor candidate forum on Saturday listen to the candidates.
For his part, Kehoe noted that he has supported more than $2 billion in tax cuts for Missourians. He also said after the forum that funding the state’s transportation infrastructure is an important economic and public safety priority. “It’s critical to Missouri families, school buses, ambulances that drive across those roads and bridges,” he said.While Kehoe largely refrained from directly or indirectly criticizing the other candidates, Eigel dinged both Ashcroft and Kehoe in his closing statement when he said, “Don’t be afraid of the message that we can’t take our state back because I don’t have enough lobbyist money or I don’t have the right last name for my dad.” Ashcroft is the son of former Missouri Gov. John Ashcroft.“I got involved with politics when I realized that our government is out of control. And there’s a reckoning needed all over this country,” Eigel said. “And I think that I got into this, just like millions of Missourians are getting into this political discussion right now, because of everything that is wrong in our government, everything that they’re hearing from politicians and all the broken promises that they’re tired of seeing.”Ashcroft replied that despite coming from a political family, he initially aspired to be an civil engineer as opposed to running for office. But he said that in 2014, he chose to get involved in the political arena by running for state Senate because he felt he could do better than others running on the GOP ticket.“Now’s the time for choosing: Are we going to pick words, or we’re going to pick actions?” Ashcroft said.
Missouri Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe, left, answers a question during the GOP’s Lincoln Days governor candidate forum in Kansas City. The other candidates at the forum were, from left, Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, state Sen. Bill Eigel and Joplin businessman Chris Wright.
Kehoe alluded to his successful tenure running car dealerships throughout mid-Missouri before being elected to the Senate and becoming lieutenant governor. He also stressed his direct connection to agriculture as a first-generation cattle farmer.“I’m not a professional politician. This is not something I dreamed about ever doing,” Kehoe said. “Government is not super smart. They don’t need to tell you what to do every day, they need to get out of your way and let you grow and prosper. And I need your help.”Wright said that regardless of how the Aug. 6 primary turns out, Republicans need to rally together — especially if Democrats are motivated and unified.“As Republicans, we’re all good candidates up here,” Wright said. “Some people are going to choose one or the other for a variety of reasons. But again, we’ve got to stop fighting and stick together.”Candidates call for interventions in St. Louis and Kansas CityDuring the forum, Ashcroft, Kehoe and Eigel all stressed their desire for more state intervention to fight crime in St. Louis and Kansas City.Kehoe said he would be in favor of using a court process known as quo warranto to remove prosecutors who he contends aren’t being aggressive at going after criminals. He said he wants to avoid more situations like what happened last year in St. Louis, when former Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner was widely criticized for mismanaging her office.“Always give people the opportunity who have voted these people in to make it right. That’s always going to happen,” Kehoe said. “But if it gets to a point like it did in St. Louis, where crime was rampantly out of control, somewhere along the line, somebody has to step in and be an adult and say: ‘We need our community safety back.’”All three candidates are in favor of having a board appointed by the governor oversee the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. (Missouri voters in 2012 granted St. Louis local control of its police department after 150 years of state oversight.) When asked if that was a practical solution to fighting crime when Kansas City has faced record homicides while its police department is under state control, Ashcroft said, “I’m not saying that it’s perfect, but it’s better than where we are.”“I’m a big believer in local control,” Ashcroft said. “But when the local government isn’t doing its job, the state needs to step in.”Eigel said he would restrict money going to major cities if they enact certain policies. He pointed to St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones’ proposal to curtail certain types of guns within the city’s borders.“I’m prepared to use the state budget as a tool to make sure that if they’re not going to protect the rights of their citizens, they’re going to start suffering consequences for all this government down in the city of St. Louis,” Eigel said.
Dominick Williams
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for the Kansas City BeaconAttendees listen to U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, speak at a pancake breakfast in Kansas City.
Hawley rallies ahead of reelection bidAll statewide offices up for grabs in November feature crowded Republican primaries. For instance, the race to become the next lieutenant governor has more than a half-dozen candidates — and Sen. Lincoln Hough of Springfield is considering jumping into the contest.The only race that doesn’t feature a serious primary so far is for U.S. Senate, where incumbent Josh Hawley is likely to be renominated for a second term. He spent part of Friday and Saturday revving up attendees at Lincoln Days by criticizing President Joe Biden’s administration and contrasting himself with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.Hawley has publicly feuded with McConnell for years and on Friday noted his vote against McConnell to remain the GOP Senate leader, blasting the Kentucky Republican’s support of providing military aid to Ukraine.“I think this president is one of the … worst presidents in American history. But I’m not going to support Republicans who are not much better,” Hawley said on Friday evening. “And this is why I’ve said it before. I will not vote for Mitch McConnell to be the leader of Republicans in the Senate. Not last time, not next time. Not ever. Not ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever? No. Because we need a change. We need something different.”
Dominick Williams
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for the Kansas City BeaconU.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, speaks with potential voters at a pancake breakfast in Kansas City.
Hawley said on Saturday he wasn’t concerned that crowded primaries for statewide posts would make the Missouri GOP weaker, explaining that he thinks it shows the party has a deep bench.“The Republican Party in this state is strong and getting stronger,” he said. “It doesn’t appear to be the same for our Democrat friends in the state.”As of now, Hawley will likely face either Lucas Kunce or state Sen. Karla May in the general election. While refraining from attacking either candidate, he dispelled assumptions that he may get a free ride since the state has trended Republican in recent years.“Do I think it’s going to be a tough race? Absolutely. Do I think it’s going to be a hammer and tongs fight? Absolutely,” Hawley said. “But at the end of the day, the seat is not for sale. I think the Democrats are going to try to buy the seat. I think you’ll see unbelievable amounts of cash, unbelievable amounts of special interest groups playing with dark money and everything else. And, you know, we’re not here for sale.”
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Poll: Support for Missouri abortion rights amendment growing

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A proposed constitutional amendment legalizing abortion in Missouri received support from more than half of respondents in a new poll from St. Louis University and YouGov.That’s a boost from a poll earlier this year, which could mean what’s known as Amendment 3 is in a solid position to pass in November.SLU/YouGov’s poll of 900 likely Missouri voters from Aug. 8-16 found that 52% of respondents would vote for Amendment 3, which would place constitutional protections for abortion up to fetal viability. Thirty-four percent would vote against the measure, while 14% aren’t sure.By comparison, the SLU/YouGov poll from February found that 44% of voters would back the abortion legalization amendment.St. Louis University political science professor Steven Rogers said 32% of Republicans and 53% of independents would vote for the amendment. That’s in addition to nearly 80% of Democratic respondents who would approve the measure. In the previous poll, 24% of Republicans supported the amendment.Rogers noted that neither Amendment 3 nor a separate ballot item raising the state’s minimum wage is helping Democratic candidates. GOP contenders for U.S. Senate, governor, lieutenant governor, treasurer and secretary of state all hold comfortable leads.“We are seeing this kind of crossover voting, a little bit, where there are voters who are basically saying, ‘I am going to the polls and I’m going to support a Republican candidate, but I’m also going to go to the polls and then I’m also going to try to expand abortion access and then raise the minimum wage,’” Rogers said.Republican gubernatorial nominee Mike Kehoe has a 51%-41% lead over Democrat Crystal Quade. And U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley is leading Democrat Lucas Kunce by 53% to 42%. Some GOP candidates for attorney general, secretary of state and treasurer have even larger leads over their Democratic rivals.
Brian Munoz
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St. Louis Public RadioHundreds of demonstrators pack into a parking lot at Planned Parenthood of St. Louis and Southwest Missouri on June 24, 2022, during a demonstration following the Supreme Court’s reversal of a case that guaranteed the constitutional right to an abortion.
One of the biggest challenges for foes of Amendment 3 could be financial.Typically, Missouri ballot initiatives with well-funded and well-organized campaigns have a better chance of passing — especially if the opposition is underfunded and disorganized. Since the end of July, the campaign committee formed to pass Amendment 3 received more than $3 million in donations of $5,000 or more.That money could be used for television advertisements to improve the proposal’s standing further, Rogers said, as well as point out that Missouri’s current abortion ban doesn’t allow the procedure in the case of rape or incest.“Meanwhile, the anti side won’t have those resources to kind of try to make that counter argument as strongly, and they don’t have public opinion as strongly on their side,” Rogers said.There is precedent of a well-funded initiative almost failing due to opposition from socially conservative voters.In 2006, a measure providing constitutional protections for embryonic stem cell research nearly failed — even though a campaign committee aimed at passing it had a commanding financial advantage.Former state Sen. Bob Onder was part of the opposition campaign to that measure. He said earlier this month it is possible to create a similar dynamic in 2024 against Amendment 3, if social conservatives who oppose abortion rights can band together.“This is not about reproductive rights or care for miscarriages or IVF or anything else,” said Onder, the GOP nominee for Missouri’s 3rd Congressional District seat. “Missourians will learn that out-of-state special interests and dark money from out of state is lying to them and they will reject this amendment.”Quade said earlier this month that Missourians of all political ideologies are ready to roll back the state’s abortion ban.“Regardless of political party, we hear from folks who are tired of politicians being in their doctor’s offices,” Quade said. “They want politicians to mind their own business. So this is going to excite folks all across the political spectrum.”
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Democrat Mark Osmack makes his case for Missouri treasurer

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Mark Osmack has been out of the electoral fray for awhile, but he never completely abandoned his passion for Missouri politics.Osmack, a Valley Park native and U.S. Army veteran, previously ran for Missouri’s 2nd Congressional District seat and for state Senate. Now he’s the Democratic nominee for state treasurer after receiving a phone call from Missouri Democratic Party Chairman Russ Carnahan asking him to run.“There’s a lot of decision making and processing and evaluation that goes into it, which is something I am very passionate and interested in,” Osmack said this week on an episode of Politically Speaking.Osmack is squaring off against state Treasurer Vivek Malek, who was able to easily win a crowded GOP primary against several veteran lawmakers including House Budget Chairman Cody Smith and state Sen. Andrew Koenig.While Malek was able to attract big donations to his political action committee and pour his own money into the campaign, Osmack isn’t worried that he won’t be able to compete in November. Since Malek was appointed to his post, Osmack contends he hasn’t proven that he’s a formidable opponent in a general election.“His actions and his decision making so far in his roughly two year tenure in that office have been questionable,” Osmack said.Among other things, Osmack was critical of Malek for placing unclaimed property notices on video gaming machines which are usually found in gas stations or convenience stores. The legality of the machines has been questioned for some time.As Malek explained on his own episode of Politically Speaking, he wanted to make sure the unclaimed property program was as widely advertised as possible. But he acknowledged it was a mistake to put the decals close to the machines and ultimately decided to remove them.Osmack said: “This doesn’t even pass the common sense sniff test of, ‘Hey, should I put state stickers claiming you might have a billion dollars on a gambling machine that is not registered with the state of Missouri?’ If we’re gonna give kudos for him acknowledging the wrong thing, it never should have been done in the first place.”Osmack’s platform includes supporting programs providing school meals using Missouri agriculture products and making child care more accessible for the working class.He said the fact that Missouri has such a large surplus shows that it’s possible to create programs to make child care within reach for parents.“It is quite audacious for [Republicans] to brag about $8 billion, with a B, dollars in state surplus, while we offer next to no social services to include pre-K, daycare, or child care,” Osmack said.Here’s are some other topics Osmack discussed on the show:How he would handle managing the state’s pension systems and approving low-income housing tax credits. The state treasurer’s office is on boards overseeing both of those programs.Malek’s decision to cut off investments from Chinese companies. Osmack said that Missouri needs to be cautious about abandoning China as a business partner, especially since they’re a major consumer of the state’s agriculture products. “There’s a way to make this work where we are not supporting communist nations to the detriment of the United States or our allies, while also maintaining strong economic ties that benefit Missouri farmers,” he said.What it was like to witness the skirmish at the Missouri State Fair between U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley and Democratic challenger Lucas Kunce.Whether Kunce can get the support of influential groups like the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which often channels money and staff to states with competitive Senate elections.
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As Illinois receives praise for its cannabis equity efforts, stakeholders work on system’s flaws

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Medical marijuana patients can now purchase cannabis grown by small businesses as part of their allotment, Illinois’ top cannabis regulator said, but smaller, newly licensed cannabis growers are still seeking greater access to the state’s medical marijuana customers.Illinois legalized medicinal marijuana beginning in 2014, then legalized it for recreational use in 2020. While the 2020 law legalized cannabis use for any adult age 21 or older, it did not expand licensing for medical dispensaries.Patients can purchase marijuana as part of the medical cannabis program at dual-purpose dispensaries, which are licensed to serve both medical and recreational customers. But dual-purpose dispensaries are greatly outnumbered by dispensaries only licensed to sell recreationally, and there are no medical-only dispensaries in the state.As another part of the adult-use legalization law, lawmakers created a “craft grow” license category that was designed to give more opportunities to Illinoisans hoping to legally grow and sell marijuana. The smaller-scale grow operations were part of the 2020 law’s efforts to diversify the cannabis industry in Illinois.Prior to that, all cultivation centers in Illinois were large-scale operations dominated by large multi-state operators. The existing cultivators, mostly in operation since 2014, were allowed to grow recreational cannabis beginning in 2019.Until recently, dual-purpose dispensaries have been unsure as to whether craft-grown products, made by social equity licensees — those who have lived in a disproportionately impacted area or have been historically impacted by the war on drugs — can be sold medicinally as part of a patient’s medical allotment.Erin Johnson, the state’s cannabis regulation oversight officer, told Capitol News Illinois last month that her office has “been telling dispensaries, as they have been asking us” they can now sell craft-grown products to medical patients.“There was just a track and trace issue on our end, but never anything statutorily,” she said.
Dilpreet Raju
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Capitol News IllinoisThe graphic shows how cannabis grown in Illinois gets from cultivation centers to customers.
No notice has been posted, but Johnson’s verbal guidance comes almost two years after the first craft grow business went online in Illinois.It allows roughly 150,000 medical patients, who dispensary owners say are the most consistent purchasers of marijuana, to buy products made by social equity businesses without paying recreational taxes. However — even as more dispensaries open — the number available to medical patients has not increased since 2018, something the Cannabis Regulation Oversight Office “desperately” wants to see changed. Johnson said Illinois is a limited license state, meaning “there are caps on everything” to help control the relatively new market.Berwyn Thompkins, who operates two cannabis businesses, said the rules limited options for patients and small businesses.“It’s about access,” Thompkins said. “Why wouldn’t we want all the patients — which the (adult-use) program was initially built around — why wouldn’t we want them to have access? They should have access to any dispensary.”Customers with a medical marijuana card pay a 1% tax on all marijuana products, whereas recreational customers pay retail taxes between roughly 20 and 40% on a given cannabis product, when accounting for local taxes.While Illinois has received praise for its equity-focused cannabis law, including through an independent study that showed more people of color own cannabis licenses than in any other state, some industry operators say they’ve experienced many unnecessary hurdles getting their businesses up and running.The state, in fact, announced last month that it had opened its 100th social equity dispensary.But Steve Olson, purchasing manager at a pair of dispensaries (including one dual-purpose dispensary) near Rockford, said small specialty license holders have been left in the lurch since the first craft grower opened in October 2022.“You would think that this would be something they’re (the government) trying to help out these social equity companies with, but they’re putting handcuffs on them in so many different spots,” he said. “One of them being this medical thing.”Olson said he contacted state agencies, including the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, months ago about whether craft products can be sold to medical patients at their retail tax rate, but only heard one response: “They all say it was an oversight.”This potentially hurt social equity companies because they sell wholesale to dispensaries and may have been missing out on a consistent customer base through those medical dispensaries.Olson said the state’s attempts to provide licensees with a path to a successful business over the years, such as with corrective lotteries that granted more social equity licenses, have come up short.“It’s like they almost set up the social equity thing to fail so the big guys could come in and swoop up all these licenses,” Olson said. “I hate to feel like that but, if you look at it, it’s pretty black and white.”Olson said craft companies benefit from any type of retail sale.“If we sell it to medical patients or not, it’s a matter of, ‘Are we collecting the proper taxes?’ That’s all it is,” he said.State revenue from cannabis taxes, licensing costs and other fees goes into the Cannabis Regulation Fund, which is used to fund a host of programs, including cannabis offense expungement, the general revenue fund, and the R3 campaign aiming to uplift disinvested communities.For fiscal year 2024, nearly $256 million was paid out from Cannabis Regulation Fund for related initiatives, which includes almost $89 million transferred to the state’s general revenue fund and more than $20 million distributed to local governments, according to the Illinois Department of Revenue.Medical access still limitedThe state’s 55 medical dispensaries that predate the 2020 legalization law, mostly owned by publicly traded multistate operators that had been operating in Illinois since 2014 under the state’s medical marijuana program, were automatically granted a right to licenses to sell recreationally in January 2020. That gave them a dual-purpose license that no new entrants into the market can receive under current law.Since expanding their clientele in 2020, Illinois dispensaries have sold more than $6 billion worth of cannabis products through recreational transactions alone.Nearly two-thirds of dispensaries licensed to sell to medical patients are in the northeast counties of Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake and Will. Dual-purpose dispensaries only represent about 20 percent of the state’s dispensaries.While the state began offering recreational dispensary licenses since the adult-use legalization law passed, it has not granted a new medical dispensary license since 2018. That has allowed the established players to continue to corner the market on the state’s nearly 150,000 medical marijuana patients.But social equity licensees and advocates say there are more ways to level the playing field, including expanding access to medical sales.Johnson, who became the state’s top cannabis regulator in late 2022, expressed hope for movement during the fall veto session on House Bill 2911, which would expand medical access to all Illinois dispensaries.“We would like every single dispensary in Illinois to be able to serve medical patients,” Johnson said. “It’s something that medical patients have been asking for, for years.”Johnson said the bill would benefit patients and small businesses.“It’s something we desperately want to happen as a state system, because we want to make sure that medical patients are able to easily access what they need,” she said. “We also think it’s good for our social equity dispensaries, as they’re opening, to be able to serve medical patients.”Rep. Bob Morgan, D-Deerfield, who was the first statewide project coordinator for Illinois’ medical cannabis program prior to joining the legislature, wrote in an email to Capitol News Illinois that the state needs to be doing more for its patients.“Illinois is failing the state’s 150,000 medical cannabis patients with debilitating conditions. Too many are still denied the patient protections they deserve, including access to their medicine,” Morgan wrote, adding he would continue to work with stakeholders on further legislation.Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government. It is distributed to hundreds of newspapers, radio and TV stations statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, along with major contributions from the Illinois Broadcasters Foundation and Southern Illinois Editorial Association.
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