Republican candidate for governor John Brunner sat down with the Fulton Sun on Friday to talk about what he plans to do if elected. Brunner is a former Marine and has an extensive background in business. He is running against fellow Republicans Catherine Hanaway, Eric Greitens and Peter D. Kinder in the Aug. 2 primary.
How would Callaway residents benefit from your term as governor? How do you plan on bringing more jobs to Callaway County?
We're losing jobs; businesses are shutting down. There are pockets of opportunity across the state. Missouri's economic growth is 47th out of 50. Why are we on the bottom?
Missouri has the potential and a significant, sustainable competitive advantage as a distribution hub of America. With more roads than Kansas and Illinois, the biggest river system and second-largest rail depot, we need to support our infrastructure. I'm going to talk to CEOs around the country and put billions of dollars of business back in Missouri. I could be the No. 1 salesperson.
We also need regulatory reform and labor reform. We need to pass Right To Work. We know that Indiana and Michigan, respectively, have gained 30,000 jobs. Missouri needs a business person to bring these best ideas. We also need tax reform to be more competitive.
What do you think is the biggest issue with Callaway residents, and how would you plan to solve it?
I keep going back to jobs. There's always room for improvement with our schools. Every superintendent I talk to across the state comes back to tell me one word: flexibility. There are too many people who try to make too many "one size fits all" decisions from Washington, D.C., to Jefferson City. Every community has unique issues. My No. 1 goal is to look at the jobs - that's where my strength is. My job as governor is to say, "What do you need? How do I help?"
How would address the issue of police shootings, and how would you improve training?
It truly is a leadership issue in the state here. I have been to local police departments and sheriffs across the state. Unfortunately, it was a failure of our governor and attorney general to take any action through all the looting and destruction of property and risk of life. A lot of it is the funds of these sheriff's offices aren't sufficient.
What are we training them to do? There are headlines at one of the major papers here asking if we're asking them to do too much. It's tremendous demands. Of course as governor, the No. 1 priority is to protect the lives and property of citizens.
We're having challenges in this country. People talk back about the breakdown of the family and the breakdown of the community, and someone taking a step further and asking, "What happened to our basic moral code?" What are people learning from that?
What do you mean by "breakdown of the family?"
Obviously, when there was a time and we had to look back and decide, is society more fractured? Is there more risk today? Are people getting along better? What are some of the roots that are happening? I remember Ray Lewis came on and said, "Where's the dads growing up and being the role models?"
Were things really that great? Back in those "good ol' days," women were beaten regularly behind closed doors, among other problems. More people now have more freedoms and opportunities. And Ray Lewis may not be the best example to use, but he was brought up on charges years ago for involvement in a murder.
I'm not saying it's just the good ol' days. We need to look at what's working and have a conversation about that and ask, "What do we see what's going on?" and is there any correlation between the breakup of families and the fractured communities that we didn't have a problem before.
If we want to provide the best training for police, we aren't going to find the best police officers and teachers being 46th in the nation.
So are you saying that fixing the problem is just throwing more money at it?
Of course not. It's like a business; there's no silver bullet on these issues. A lot of politicians think you just say "Right To Work" and it's going to improve. No, it isn't. There's a lot of factors that happen here. That's why I'm not a good politician. I don't come up with simple answers.
What is one thing about you people don't know?
One thing people don't know about John Brunner is that I'm not trying to jump start a political career. There's a problem to fix, and John Brunner is the only one with the specific leadership skills to solve it.