Columbia Republicans Kurt Schaefer and Josh Hawley spent almost an hour on the radio Monday morning, talking about their desires to be Missouri's next attorney general - and why each believes he is the better candidate to win the GOP nomination during the Aug. 2 election.
"(They are) two terrific candidates, I would argue," host Gary Nolan said at the beginning of the 9 a.m. Zimmer Radio broadcast. "I haven't made up my mind (who to support). They're so close in terms of qualifications."
The Missouri Bar lists Schaefer, 50, as admitted into practicing law in the state on Sept. 29, 1995 - the same year he graduated from Vermont Law School. He's a 1990 University of Missouri-Columbia graduate.
Hawley, 36, earned his bachelor's degree at Stanford University, California, and his law degree from Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, in 2006. The Missouri Bar lists him as a member since April 2009.
"If you're going to ask the people of the state of Missouri to make you the top law enforcement officer, I think you need to have some law enforcement experience," said Schaefer, in his eighth year as a state senator. "I'm a former assistant attorney general and a former special assistant U.S. Attorney, a former prosecutor.
"I've prosecuted over 100 of some of Missouri's worst criminals - rapists, murderers. For the last 20 years, on and off, I've been representing farmers and ranchers across the state of Missouri and small businesses against the overreach of the federal government."
Hawley also noted his experiences in the U.S. Supreme Court, including being a clerk for now-Chief Justice John Roberts, and arguing cases before the high court representing Hobby Lobby in a landmark lawsuit involving the federal Affordable Care Act.
"Our whole government is a mess, from top-to-bottom, from Washington, D.C., to Jefferson City - it's a disaster," he said.
"And the reason is, it is filled with people who are more interested in their careers and political advancement than they are in the Constitution of the United States and our liberties. We've got to clean it out and start over, and that is why I am running."
Both men are Missouri natives. Schaefer was raised in St. Louis County, while Hawley was born in Lexington. Both now live in Columbia.
Both were asked about controlling the attorney general's office - one of Missouri's largest law offices.
"I know what it takes to build a winning team that can go to court and fight back against the federal government bureaucrats and win," Hawley declared. "I've done that against the Obama administration.
"I've been practicing as a constitutional lawyer for several years. My practice is focused on the federal courts and, then, on the U.S. Supreme Court."
Hawley said state attorney general's office needs "a shift in priorities" after current and previous occupants "have used the office for their own political advancement."
Schaefer countered: "The attorney general's office has 440 employees. It's a $36 million budget. You can't ask people to do a job if you don't know how to do the job yourself."
And, Schaefer said, since he started as an assistant attorney general "straight out of law school - there's not a single job in that office that I can't do."
Both men pointed to their successes in supporting pro-life causes and issues.
Hawley repeated his work for the Washington, D.C.,-based Beckett Fund, including his work as part of the team representing Hobby Lobby stores in a battle over whether Obamacare could require businesses to provide certain kinds of health care insurance - for birth control - if that service violated the business owner's religious beliefs.
Schaefer pointed to his legislative work resulting in removing the state's funding for Planned Parenthood from the state budget and helping prevent abortions from being done at Planned Parenthood's Columbia clinic.
Both said they would fight "government overreach" in a number of areas that, they think, were reserved to the state to decide - especially when it comes to agriculture.
Missouri's AARP chapter co-sponsored the hour-long discussion.
"(They are) two terrific candidates, I would argue," host Gary Nolan said at the beginning of the 9 a.m. Zimmer Radio broadcast. "I haven't made up my mind (who to support). They're so close in terms of qualifications."
The Missouri Bar lists Schaefer, 50, as admitted into practicing law in the state on Sept. 29, 1995 - the same year he graduated from Vermont Law School. He's a 1990 University of Missouri-Columbia graduate.
Hawley, 36, earned his bachelor's degree at Stanford University, California, and his law degree from Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, in 2006. The Missouri Bar lists him as a member since April 2009.
"If you're going to ask the people of the state of Missouri to make you the top law enforcement officer, I think you need to have some law enforcement experience," said Schaefer, in his eighth year as a state senator. "I'm a former assistant attorney general and a former special assistant U.S. Attorney, a former prosecutor.
"I've prosecuted over 100 of some of Missouri's worst criminals - rapists, murderers. For the last 20 years, on and off, I've been representing farmers and ranchers across the state of Missouri and small businesses against the overreach of the federal government."
Hawley also noted his experiences in the U.S. Supreme Court, including being a clerk for now-Chief Justice John Roberts, and arguing cases before the high court representing Hobby Lobby in a landmark lawsuit involving the federal Affordable Care Act.
"Our whole government is a mess, from top-to-bottom, from Washington, D.C., to Jefferson City - it's a disaster," he said.
"And the reason is, it is filled with people who are more interested in their careers and political advancement than they are in the Constitution of the United States and our liberties. We've got to clean it out and start over, and that is why I am running."
Both men are Missouri natives. Schaefer was raised in St. Louis County, while Hawley was born in Lexington. Both now live in Columbia.
Both were asked about controlling the attorney general's office - one of Missouri's largest law offices.
"I know what it takes to build a winning team that can go to court and fight back against the federal government bureaucrats and win," Hawley declared. "I've done that against the Obama administration.
"I've been practicing as a constitutional lawyer for several years. My practice is focused on the federal courts and, then, on the U.S. Supreme Court."
Hawley said state attorney general's office needs "a shift in priorities" after current and previous occupants "have used the office for their own political advancement."
Schaefer countered: "The attorney general's office has 440 employees. It's a $36 million budget. You can't ask people to do a job if you don't know how to do the job yourself."
And, Schaefer said, since he started as an assistant attorney general "straight out of law school - there's not a single job in that office that I can't do."
Both men pointed to their successes in supporting pro-life causes and issues.
Hawley repeated his work for the Washington, D.C.,-based Beckett Fund, including his work as part of the team representing Hobby Lobby stores in a battle over whether Obamacare could require businesses to provide certain kinds of health care insurance - for birth control - if that service violated the business owner's religious beliefs.
Schaefer pointed to his legislative work resulting in removing the state's funding for Planned Parenthood from the state budget and helping prevent abortions from being done at Planned Parenthood's Columbia clinic.
Both said they would fight "government overreach" in a number of areas that, they think, were reserved to the state to decide - especially when it comes to agriculture.
Missouri's AARP chapter co-sponsored the hour-long discussion.