Governor Eric Greitens’ State of the State Address on Wednesday night in Jefferson City has received high marks from a senior member of the Missouri House.
State Rep. Craig Redmon, R-Canton, says the governor delivered a good speech.
“I thought it was a positive message and, you know I think that’s what he was just trying to project to the people of Missouri that he thinks Missouri is going in the right direction,” Redmon says.
Missouri Governor Eric Greitens delivers his 2018 State of the State Address on January 10, 2018 (photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)
Greitens tells lawmakers Missouri’s unemployment rate is the lowest in 17 years, adding that a steel mill will be built in Sedalia.
Redmon, who’s in his eighth and final year in the House, is running for the Missouri Senate.
Meantime, a state lawmaker who represents a large section of mid-Missouri hoped to hear more about roads during Wednesday night’s State of the State Address.
State Rep. Chuck Basye, R-Rocheport, represents Columbia, which has the heavily-congested I-70 and Highway 63 interchange.
“I was hoping to hear a little bit about transportation and we were all (several lawmakers) talking about that before the (Missourinet) interview and didn’t hear much about it,” says Basye.
Basye praises Greitens’ State of the State comments about law enforcement officers and veterans.
Greitens says police officers are being harassed by “radicals”, who file liens against their homes, affecting their credit rating.
Greitens’ call for lawmakers to cut taxes is being criticized by a Kansas City Democratic lawmaker who serves on Missouri’s transportation task force.
State Rep. Greg Razer, D-Kansas City, tells Missourinet he’ll vote against the proposed tax cut.
“When we have roads and bridges that are crumbling and our kids are paying out the roof because we’re not properly funding higher education, no we’re (state lawmakers) not going to support tax cuts to corporations and the wealthiest among us,” Razer says.
Razer supports legislation to place a ten-cent gasoline tax increase on the 2018 statewide ballot.
Missouri’s fuel tax hasn’t been increased since 1996.
And a lawmaker who represents southwest Missouri’s Newton County praises Governor Greitens for leading his State of the State Address with a story about George Washington Carver.
State Rep. Bill Reiboldt, R-Neosho, says Carver walked to school from Diamond to Neosho.
“George Washington Carver and agriculture and our part of the state, you know we have a lot of respect for him and for what he did,” says Reiboldt.
The governor tells lawmakers that George Washington Carver, by some reports, “is the man who rescued American agriculture.”
Greitens notes Carver was born a slave, and that when he was a baby, he and his mother were kidnapped. Greitens says Carver never saw his mother again.
Click here to listen to the full interview between Missourinet’s Brian Hauswirth and State Reps. Craig Redmon, R-Canton, Chuck Basye, R-Rocheport, Bill Reiboldt, R-Neosho, and Greg Razer, D-Kansas City, which was recorded on January 10, 2018 at the Statehouse in Jefferson City:
