The Speaker of the Missouri House of Representatives is hoping to become the next Secretary of State. Dean Plocher, R-Des Peres, is one of 12 candidates running for the statewide spot in Tuesday’s primary election.
Plocher told Missourinet that his desire for election integrity is the reason why he is running.
“I’m the only candidate that actually has led,” he said. “I’ve led the House of Representatives, a 163-member body. If you look at what we’ve accomplished over those nine years when you run as a conservative, as a Republican, you often run on reducing taxes, reducing the size of government, protecting life, protecting the Second Amendment, and we’ve done all of that.”
The term-limited Plocher has served for nine years in the House of Representatives.
Voters, however, could hold against Plocher the corruption allegations tied to a House Ethics Committee investigation. A lawsuit has been filed against Plocher and his chief of staff, accusing them of retaliation, abuse of power, mismanagement, wasting the public’s money, and a variety of policy violations.
The confident Plocher is not concerned.
“Look at President Trump. I mean they’ve convicted him of felonies,” Plocher said. “They’re continually relentlessly going after him because he’s trying to fight for our freedoms and for the United States. Just as that in the Capitol, they were coming at me. The bureaucrats were coming at me because I fired some people.”
But Plocher said that his accomplishments speak for themselves.
“We’ve passed tax cuts. You don’t have to pay taxes on your social security benefits once you’re 62 years of age or older,” he explained. “We’ve reduced the income taxes. We’ve grown the size of the economy. Our general revenue is up $4.6 billion while we reduced taxes. We cut 13,000 people off our state payroll, so our tax dollars are not funding government workers.”
Plocher is running in the August 6th Republican primary against Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman, Sen. Denny Hoskins, Rep. Adam Schwadron, Greene County Clerk Shane Schoeller, activist Jamie Corley, and attorneys Mike Carter and Valentina Gomez.
Three Democrats are running for Secretary of State: State Rep. Barbara Phifer of St. Louis; Monique Williams, a former auditor with the State Auditor’s office and the city of St. Louis; and Haley Jacobson, a registered nurse in St. Louis. One Libertarian is in the race: Carl Herman Freese of Foristell.
Missouri’s primary election is August 6. Beginning at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Missourinet will have election night results at the top and bottom of the hour on Missourinet.com.
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