Four candidates who want to represent Callaway County politically came out to meet with voters at a last-minute forum Thursday evening at KACO - The Kitchen in Fulton.
Following a spaghetti dinner, the candidates - all women and all Democrats - got down to business.
Katy Geppert is running for the U.S. House District 3 against Blaine Luetkemeyer, Republican incumbent, whose office declined an invitation to debate formally later this month. Geppert's profile appears in today's Fulton Sun, and Luetkemeyer has also been made an offer for a similar personal interview.
Also at the forum Thursday was Ayanna Shivers, Mexico resident who is running to be District 10 state senator. She is running against Republican candidate and incumbent Jeanie Riddle.
Jamie Blair, candidate for Missouri House District 43, also appeared. Running as the Republican candidate is Kent Haden, who was profiled in the March 20 Fulton Sun.
Wrapping up Thursday's roster was Lisa Buhr, who is running for Missouri House District 49 against incumbent Travis Fitzwater, a Republican who was out of town.
Each candidate was offered several minutes to introduce themselves, then asked questions and given time to conclude their message.
Each of them said the topic of health care worries many voters. They also spoke of support for quality education; lobbyist influences; the right-to-work law defeated soundly by voters in August but may be brought back by Republican legislators; the importance of unions; the environment; and confined animal feeding operations (CAFO).
Ayanna Shivers
Shivers, who holds a Ph.D in education from the University of Southern Mississippi, said she has been out knocking on doors and talking to voters.
"I have learned a lot about back roads," she said.
Shivers has spent 17 years as a school counselor. She is also a pastor with a Master of Theology in Theological Studies and a Masters of Education in School Counseling, and is a city council person in Mexico. She works at the Missouri Military Academy as director of College Placement and Counseling.
Shivers believes in labor unions and in American rights, she said. She translated the Missouri State Motto: "The welfare of the people shall be the supreme law."
She also believes campaign finance should be limited and education should be funded. "I believe public education is the heartbeat of our society, and I (believe) in funding it from pre-K to graduate studies."
She talked about access to health care.
"America promises life, liberty and the right to happiness - how can we assure that without providing adequate health care?" she added.
Shivers grew up in a union household. While no one can adequately pay a person what they are worth, they can do better, she said, and unions help with that.
"It's foundational," she said. "Unions make sure there are skilled people doing the work, and there's safety involved."
She believes in supporting small family farms and regulating CAFOs.
"The job of a legislator is to protect the welfare of the people," Shivers said, adding she is endorsed by the Sierra Club.
Jamie Blair
Blair is the Democratic Party state committee woman, and while she's been able to match candidates to races, she was having a hard time finding a candidate for Missouri House District 43.
"Sometimes, you have to step up and be a great candidate," she said.
Blair was born in Colorado but moved to Missouri when she was 11, growing up on the poverty line, the daughter of a single mother. She met her husband, Samuel, in 2000 and they live in Mexico with their three children. Blair's husband worked at the Missouri Military Academy while she was a stay-at-home mom. One child is in college while the other two are in middle and high school.
She said she believes in public funding of elections to level the playing field.
"We need to have this discussion a lot," she said.
That money could better be used to fund education, instead, Blair added.
"There's way too little money," she said. "We need to invest (including in facilities and teacher salaries), and we need to invest in vocational training."
She has also heard many concerns about lack of access to health care due to the high cost and low benefit of many insurance policies. People may have insurance, but their deductibles are so high the benefit is negligible.
"Seniors are rationing (prescriptive medicine) to buy food," Blair said. "We need to find a way to get single-payer (health care) and do it as soon as possible."
She voted against the proposed right-to-work act in August that would have hindered the efficacy of labor unions in Missouri.
"Unions are the backbone of the middle class; they have been under onslaught for years and years and years," she said, adding unions help provide livable wages and worker safety.
She said minimum wage in Missouri needs to go up, in increments, if necessary.
"I think $15 (an hour) is an excellent place to get to," Blair said. "You have to give small businesses a chance to catch up. It's going to take a minute."
Local communities should be able to set their own minimum wages. And CAFOs are a bad idea, she added.
"It's not good for animals and it's not good for food safety," she said.
Lisa Buhr
A contender for Missouri House District 49, Lisa Buhr wants to use her experience as a state employee for more. She and her three children live in Holts Summit, and she's worked at the state Capitol for 18 years, including in the Department of Labor.
"I have seen the sausage made up close," she said.
Agreeing with the other candidates on discussed issues, Buhr is calling for total transparency.
"My vote cannot be bought," she said.
She's very clear in how she feels about funding for public education.
"They said they fully funded the educational formula, but that's because they lowered (the amount)," Buhr said.
Her children attend public schools, and she's talked to many teachers.
"No one's asking the teachers what they need," she said.
Buhr knows insurance deductibles have risen to a point that the insurance does little for families that need it.
"Everybody should have good, affordable health care," she added. "It's a right."
She said lobbyist influence should be checked.
"If your legislator can be bought with a ham sandwich, you need to look at your legislator," she said.
The right-to-work initiative, Buhr added, is a destructive idea.
"Right to work is terrible. Right to work is wrong for Missouri," she said. "The unions gave my family a living wage. Callaway County and Missouri said no to right to work."
Buhr also said minimum wage needs to increase in order to give working people the necessities in life.
"A rising tide raises all boats," she said. "Minimum wage was not created for teenagers working at McDonald's. I can't imagine trying to raise a family on $7.85 an hour."
As for CAFOS, she said they hurt small family farms.
"You know what else I want? I want clean air and water," she said, adding businesses must act in responsible and considerate ways.
She's also endorsed by the Sierra Club.
And like the other candidates who appeared at Thursday's forum, elimination of the state Merit System. This was a systematic process for interviewing and hiring qualified applicants, dealing with discipline and non-arbitrary termination. It was eliminated by Senate Bill 1007 in May, making it easier for individual administrations to hire, fire and reward government workers. That causes those workers to feel like their jobs are unstable, the candidates said.
"And it's wrong Missouri is 50th in the nation (in terms of salary)," Buhr said, adding Missouri state workers are paid, on average, $11,500 less per year than neighboring states' workers.
If any more candidate forums are offered in Callaway County between now and the Nov. 6 election, contact the Fulton Sun at [email protected]. The last day to register to vote is Wednesday.