State representative candidates vie for leadership

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

By James R. Campbell

Nevada Daily Mail

With seven days until the Aug. 7 primary, the three Republicans seeking to represent Missouri House District 126 next year compared qualifications and plans to succeed the term-limited Rep. Barney Fisher, during a Tuesday night forum at Nevada High School.

Four hopefuls for the 4th Congressional District seat also spoke, although incumbent Republican Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler and her top challenger, Democrat Teresa Hensley, sent notes saying their respective duties in Washington and as Cass County prosecutor had proved too pressing for them to take part.

After an invocation and the "Pledge of Allegiance" by Nevada Mayor Brian Leonard, the debate-style event began with Barbara York of East Vernon County, Randy Pike of Adrian and Bill Yarberry of Milo being asked what the state of Missouri's position should be on the healthcare reform package known as Obamacare.

An estimated 60 people heard York respond that the law "is detrimental not only to the state but also the nation."

Contending parts of Obamacare are intended to remain undecipherable, York noted that 71 percent of Missourians disapproved of it in a 2010 statewide referendum.

Adding that 75 percent of Vernon and Bates counties voters gave it a thumbs down two years ago, Pike said it will add $2 billion a year to the state's $24 billion budget and is additionally lamentable because it will increase government regulations.

Yarberry said Obamacare is more likely to get dismantled in the U.S. Congress than the Missouri General Assembly, but he said state legislators should use whatever methods are available to fight it "because the taxpayers will pay for it."

There is no Democrat in the 126th District race, so the candidate who gets the most votes Tuesday will be elected to a two-year term in Jefferson City.

All three of the candidates for state representative agreed Tuesday night that the state's 17-cent excise tax on tobacco should not be raised; and all three stated their support for early childhood education and for next Tuesday's proposed Constitutional Amendment No. 2, popularly known as the "Prayer Amendment."

Asked how her qualifications would make her effective for Vernon and Bates counties, York cited her experiences as a nurse, trucking company co-owner, wife, mother and grandmother, along with learning leadership as a leading opponent of the "Prop B" puppy mill amendment.

Pike said he has been helped by his 15 years as an Adrian School Board member, 12 years as Bates County northern commissioner, board member of the Missouri Association of Counties, president of the Kaysinger Basin Regional Planning Commission and past president of the Osage Valley Rural Conservation Development Board.

Pledging to reject all contributions from lobbyists and special interests, Yarberry said he is qualified by his background as a farmer, gun store owner, Springfield factory worker and military veteran. He said he has always been able to negotiate business deals "and stay on good terms" with his counterparts.

Asked if the major parties should compromise more, Yarberry said he would be willing to on budgetary matters but not on such issues as gay marriage, to which he is opposed.

York said she has developed good relationships with representatives of both parties, but there are some issues on which she wouldn't be flexible.

"I would compromise some, but if it comes from my heart, I'm not going to change," she said.

Pike said Missouri "needs better communication between the parties," particularly regarding economic development. "Government doesn't make jobs," he said.

"People make jobs."

The three called for making Missouri a right to work state because all its surrounding states except Illinois do not require union membership to get a job and thereby have a big economic development advantage.

In the 5:30 p.m. event's second phase at 7 p.m. with about 40 audience members remaining, Libertarians Herschel Young of Harrisonville and Thomas Holbrook of Warrensburg joined in the congressional debate with Republican Bernie Mowinski of Sunrise Beach and Constitution Party nominee Greg Cowan of Lebanon.

Young said he is running "because our constitutional rights, liberties and freedoms are being taken away from us.

"I will shake that cage and you will see what falls out," Young said.

Holbrook said jobs and unemployment are a top concern, but so is the national monetary system. "We know more about the moon than we do about the Federal Reserve System," Holbrook said.

Mowinski said most members of Congress "are doctors, lawyers and millionaires. We send 535 politicians to Washington and they forget who we are," Mowinski asserted.

Cowan said the 2012 election "is entirely about jobs.

"Fifteen percent of Americans and one in nine Missourians live below the poverty line," said Cowan.

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