Missouri Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder (R) will leave office in January, after serving in that position since 2005. He was re-elected in 2008 and 2012. Kinder also served in the state Senate from 1992 to 2004. He leaves office after an unsuccessful bid for Missouri governor.
Kinder says during his time in office, the number of Missouri low-income seniors on a program to assist them with paying for prescription drugs has increased from about 17,000 to 200,000. The Missouri lieutenant governor is considered the advocate for the state’s senior population.
“For a way more than 10-12 increase in the number of low-income Missourians getting assistance each month. I’m very proud of that,” says Kinder.
He also touts returning an average of 7.5% of unspent funding from his office’s budget each year for the past twelve years.
Kinder says the most critical issue that Missouri must address is economic development. He thinks by the end of March 2017, Missouri will pass Right-to- Work legislation. The election of Republican Eric Greitens as governor and both chambers of the state legislature operating with Republican supermajorities increases the chances of making Missouri a Right-to-Work state.
“That will be the single biggest economic shot in the arm to our state’s business climate and investment climate in the 195 years of statehood,” says Kinder.
The legislation would bar unions from requiring workers to pay dues as a condition for employment.
Kinder, of Cape Girardeau, is considering what to do when he leaves office in January.
“I’m investigating a couple of different opportunities in the private sector that do not include lobbying,” says Kinder. “I’ve also had some encouragement, but nothing concrete, to join the Trump administration.”
State Senator Mike Parson (R-Bolivar) has been elected as Missouri’s next lieutenant governor. Parson must resign as state senator in order to assume his position as lieutenant governor.
