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McCaskill and Hawley clash at Missouri U.S. Senate debate

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Missouri’s two major U.S. Senate candidates clashed over tariffs, tax cuts, the minimum wage and guns during a televised debate Thursday night in St. Louis.

U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill and Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley debate at KETC-TV in St. Louis on October 18, 2018, as people watch in an outdoor public viewing area. (Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI)

U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D) and GOP Senate nominee Josh Hawley debated before a live studio audience of Missourians at the KETC-TV studios.

Some analysts believe Missouri’s race could determine which party controls the U.S. Senate in January.

The Trump Administration’s tariffs highlighted a key difference between the two candidates, a difference both highlighted during separate August presentations to the Missouri Farm Bureau in Jefferson City.

Senator McCaskill says tariffs are “brutal” for Missouri, adding that there’s not a bean farmer in the Show-Me State who’s going to break even this year.

“Our economy is so dependent on the exporting of agricultural goods,” McCaskill says. “These tariffs have killed commodity prices.”

McCaskill also says tariffs have hurt manufacturers, saying that the Mid-Continent nail factory in southeast Missouri’s Poplar Bluff is “hanging on by a fingernail.”

GOP Senate nominee Hawley, the Attorney General, notes that he’s been endorsed by the Missouri Farm Bureau, adding that McCaskill won’t return Farm Bureau President Blake Hurst’s phone calls.

“We are in a trade war,” says Hawley. “It’s a trade war that we did not start. Certainly our farmers didn’t start it, China started it many years ago. But if we’re going to be in the war, I’m for winning it.

Hawley also praises President Trump’s recent trade deals with Canada and Mexico, saying 75 percent of our ag exports go there.

The two candidates agree on one key issue: both oppose cutting Social Security and Medicare.

That was the first issue that PBS Newshour’s Judy Woodruff, the moderator, asked about during the debate. Hawley says Americans have paid into the system.

“I don’t support any changes to those programs for anyone who is currently receiving benefits or who is going to be receiving benefits,” Hawley says.

Hawley tells the audience that Senator McCaskill voted to cut $716 billion from Medicare in order to pay for the Affordable Care Act. McCaskill responds by saying that was not a Medicare cut, but instead was a cut to the profits of health insurance companies.

“And what did we do with that $715 billion, we filled the donut hole for Medicare prescription program part D,” says McCaskill.

McCaskill says Missouri seniors can now enjoy more prescription benefits.

While both say they support the Second Amendment, McCaskill and Hawley also clashed over the issue of guns during the debate.

McCaskill notes she was raised in rural Missouri, and that her father was a hunter. She notes she supports universal background checks and a ban on bump stocks.

“But what the NRA (National Rifle Association) has peddled for years is that you can’t support the Second Amendment and gun safety at the same time, and you can,” McCaskill says.

Hawley favors legislation to include health records in the background check system, and says McCaskill voted against that.

“I think we need to fix the national background check system,” says Hawley. “We have a background check system, a national system, but it doesn’t work that well because there’s a giant loophole right in the middle of it. And that is, it doesn’t include mental health records.”

Hawley also calls for guns to be kept out of the hands of criminals and “dangerous people.”

The two candidates also clashed on the federal tax cut and on the minimum wage. Neither the U.S. Supreme Court nor the Brett Kavanaugh hearings came up during the debate.

The “Missouri 2018 Senate Debate” was presented by KETC, St. Louis Public Radio KWMU and KSDK Channel 5. KETC is St. Louis’ PBS affiliate.

In addition to facing questions from Woodruff, KSDK’s Mike Bush and KWMU’s Jo Mannies, McCaskill and Hawley also took questions from the audience.

McCaskill and Hawley also debated near St. Louis in September, at the Missouri Press Association’s candidate forum.

(audio is courtesy of St. Louis Public Radio, KWMU)

Copyright © 2018 · Missourinet

Misinformation about absentee ballots leaves voters in southeast Missouri confused

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Voters from several Southeast Missouri counties have been receiving text messages and paper mail with inaccurate information about the upcoming election.

KFVS-TV reports it received two examples from viewers that said their absentee ballots were “pending” and to immediately send in a ballot in order for their vote to count.

Allen Seabaugh is the supervisor of elections in Cape Girardeau County.  He said a common piece of mail listed a false absentee ballot turn in deadline and noted that a handful of voters were confused by it.

“It is concerning when information is released by groups that may be inaccurate,” said Seabaugh. “Because voters then start to question how elections are done in their area. Our job is to run elections in a fair and efficient manner and that is what we are here to do. We want to give voters the most accurate information.”

Seabaugh says calling your local county clerk’s office is the best place to confirm your voter registration and your absentee ballot status.

“We are able to directly access their information and get a direct answer for them, and make sure that it is accurate,” Seabaugh said.

Absentee voters in Cape Girardeau County have until Halloween to order their mail-in ballot, and the deadline to turn it back into the clerk’s office is 7 p.m. on November 6th, the date of the election.

Victor Gunn with the Cape Girardeau County Republican Central Committee says inaccurate election information was sent out by a National GOP group.  Gunn thinks the group realized the mistake and stopped sending the messages.  He said the Missouri GOP informed him through email that it has the correct information for absentee voting in the state.

Separately, southeast Missourian Dave Binger says he’s been getting spam about the mid-term election in his email and now on his phone.

“One of the parties texted me about like ‘Who are you voting for? Blah, blah, blah, here is some information. I was like “What” I texted them back and was like respect my privacy,” Binger said. “I’m sure it pisses a lot of people off when they get an email. How did these people get my email address? I didn’t share that with them or your phone number.”

Missourinet media partner KFVS-TV contributed this report

McCaskill campaign claims hidden camera video is fraud, demands investigation with Hawley recusing himself

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Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill’s campaign claims the right-leaning Project Veritas committed fraud in its production of hidden camera video of her and her staff.

Campaign manager David Kirby Wednesday called on the state Attorney General’s office to investigate the activities as a violation of the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act.

Kirby said Attorney General Josh Hawley should recuse himself from the probe because as McCaskill’s Republican challenger in the Senate race, he’s celebrated and circulated the videos in campaign emails.

Kirby further stated that a special prosecutor should be appointed to investigate the allegations and noted the McCaskill campaign had retained an attorney.

Hawley quickly responded, saying that if McCaskill had any evidence of a crime to please come forward with it immediately, otherwise stop politicizing the legal process for political gain.  Hawley also referenced the hidden camera videos, stating that McCaskill and her staff had been caught on tape telling the truth.

The secret video attempts to portray McCaskill as more liberal than her campaign implies through hidden camera recordings of her acknowledging her preference for gun laws and through footage of her staff embracing former President Barack Obama.

Campaign staff also appear in the hidden camera footage erroneously claiming that Planned Parenthood did not support her campaign.  The organization has contributed to McCaskill’s campaign.

The videos were orchestrated by Project Veritas head James O’Keefe, who is known for his right-leaning hidden-camera-style investigations.

Kirby mentioned two people close to Hawley he said had previous knowledge of the video.  One is conservative St. Louis radio talk show host and former state Republican Party chairman Ed Martin, who Kirby said is prominently featured in the video.  The other is St. Louis based Republican operative Gregg Keller.

Keller said he had nothing to do with the production and distribution of the video, but wished he had.

Kirby claimed the hidden camera video was captured under false pretenses and misrepresentations, which he said is fraud under Missouri law and a violation of the state Merchandising Practices Act.  He also said the campaign believes other legal violations occurred that are outside the scope of the attorney general’s office that may be pursued with the attorney the campaign retained.

McCaskill’s campaign backed off a Tuesday night statement implying that Hawley had played a role in fraudulently embedding someone on her staff.  Kirby wouldn’t specify that Hawley took part in any alleged illegal activity but knew of its illicit nature and actively promoted it.  He said, “That’s a question for Josh Hawley. What did he know? When did he know it.”

Kirby went on to say that the campaign has knowledge of when the fraudulently embedded person may have been functioning on behalf of Project Veritas.

He said Hawley, as attorney general, had failed to identify a fraudulent act, but instead had engaged in “gutter politics”

Hawley was a guest Wednesday night on the conservative Fox News cable TV show Hannity, the same outlet where the Project Veritas video first appeared in front of a wide audience.

The Republican challenger continued to attack McCaskill as misrepresenting herself as a moderate while host Sean Hannity said the video exposed her bragging about being anti-second amendment and lying to Missouri residents after embracing the policies of former Democratic President Obama.

Hawley appeared on the program with Arizona Republican Congresswoman and Senate candidate Martha McSally.

McCaskill and Hawley are locked in a tight battle for U.S. Senate seat that could determine which party controls the chamber after November’s election.

 

McCaskill and Hawley to debate again Thursday in St. Louis

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Missouri Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill and GOP Senate nominee Josh Hawley will debate Thursday night in St. Louis.

The debate will be moderated by PBS Newshour’s Judy Woodruff, and there will be a live studio audience of Missourians at the KETC-TV studios. There will be questions from the audience and questions from social media, which will allow Missourians to participate.

The “Missouri 2018 Senate Debate” is being presented by Nine Network (KETC), St. Louis Public Radio and KSDK Channel 5. KETC is St. Louis’ PBS affiliate.

Thursday night’s debate begins at 7, and the election is November 6.

Some analysts believe Missouri’s McCaskill-Hawley race could determine which party controls the U.S. Senate in January.

Copyright © 2018 · Missourinet

McCaskill responds to right leaning group’s hidden camera effort to target her

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A video by a team known as Project Veritas has been attempting to expose Missouri’s Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill as more liberal than her campaign implies. Veritas is led by James O’Keefe, who may be best known for his right-leaning hidden-camera-style investigations. Two of his high profile projects aimed to discredit ACORN, the former low-income advocacy organization, and Planned Parenthood.

Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill speaks to reporters at Missouri Farm Bureau headquarters in Jefferson City on August 10, 2018 (file photo from Jason Taylor)

This week, O’Keefe, who is a self-described guerilla journalist, targeted McCaskill, who is in a tight re-election fight against Republican challenger and state Attorney General Josh Hawley. O’Keefe’s organization claims it has video of McCaskill revealing more liberal positions on policy issues than she’s expressed to the public.  The footage was featured on the conservative cable TV program “Hannity” Monday night.

McCaskill was interviewed Tuesday in Springfield, where she countered that she’s always been transparent about her views and said Veritas was trying to dupe her into making insincere comments.

“’I’ve been very upfront about all my positions,” McCaskill told KOLR-TV. “In fact, now I remember that very individual talking to me, trying to get me to say, trying to get me to tell him to say something different than what my positions are. And I said ‘No, you’re just going to tell the people in the doors it is what it is,” she said.

The Veritas video attempts to reveal McCaskill and her staff hiding her views on guns and former President Obama from Missouri voters.

The two-term Senator said her preference for gun safety is well known and expressed dismay over the tactics used by Veritas.

“I’ve made no secret that I think we can support the second amendment, and universal background checks, and banning bump stocks. My gun record is out in the open for everyone to see. What’s really telling about this is how far they’re willing to go to fraudulently embed somebody in my campaign,” said McCaskill. “That’s startling. I’ve never seen that in a U.S. Senate campaign before in the state of Missouri.”

The impact the video footage will have on McCaskill’s re-election is unclear.

After the footage ran on conservative cable news network Fox News Monday night, Hawley featured the Veritas video in a campaign email.

McCaskill and Hawley are locked in a statistical tie in the Senate race that’s drawn nearly $50 million in spending from outside groups, the most of any political contest in the midterm election, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Missourinet media partner KOLR-TV contributed to this report

McCaskill out-raising and spending Hawley by big margin in Missouri Senate race

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Missouri’s incumbent Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill outraised Republican challenger Josh Hawley by a roughly 4-to-1 margin in the latest required filing with the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

In contributions for the entire election cycle for the hotly contested race, McCaskill has taken in $27.6 million versus about $7.4 million for Hawley.  In her filing late Monday afternoon, McCaskill reported total receipts of just below $31 million compared to Hawley’s $8.5 million.

McCaskill also far outraised Hawley in contributions for the latest reporting period from mid-July through the end of September.  The two-term Senator took in $7.1 million versus $2.6 million for Hawley.

Because McCaskill has also vastly outspent Hawley, the challenger has several hundred thousand dollars more cash-on-hand – $3.5 million compared to $3.2 million.

McCaskill has spent $11.2 million over the last two-and-a-half month reporting period while Hawley has paid out roughly $2 million, a greater than 5-to-1 margin.  Over the course of the campaign, McCaskill has similarly dwarfed Hawley’s expenditures – $28 million-to-$5 million.

The Center for Responsive Politics, which reports outside money, has tagged Missouri’s total at nearly $48 million for the Senate race, with a roughly even split for both sides.

The overwhelming majority of outside money is spent against rather than for candidates because the groups, Political Action Committees, can spend unlimited sums as long as they don’t coordinate with a candidate or political party.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the Missouri Senate race leads all contests in outside money, followed by Senate races in Florida, Indiana, Nevada and Arizona.  Besides Missouri, only the Florida race has topped the $40 million mark in outside money at $42.5 million.

McCaskill estimated there would be $70-80 million in outside money spent on the Missouri contest.  Such groups could see a reason to keep money flowing into the race, which polls have shown to be in a statistical tie with three weeks left until the November election.

The next deadline for candidates to file with the Federal Election Commission is next Thursday, October 25th.

Minimum wage ballot measure among the big contests in upcoming election

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Missouri voters will have a chance to raise the state’s minimum wage in November’s election.  The measure – Proposition B – would hike minimum pay gradually for five years and top out at $12.00 per hour in 2023.

The current minimum wage in Missouri is $7.85, which is higher than the federal minimum of $7.25.  Since 2006, the state wage has been tied to annual changes in the Consumer Price Index and has increased $0.15 from 2016 and $1.20 since 2008.

Boosting minimum pay any faster will require a change from the legislature or through a ballot measure.  The Republican-dominated General Assembly has moved in the opposite direction, however, passing a bill to squash local wage hikes in 2017.  The measure preempted a city ordinance in St. Louis that would have set wages at $11.00 this year.  It also prevented an increase to $15.00 by 2022 in Kansas City that city voters had approved by a 75% margin.

Minimum wage ballot measures have had mixed results in Missouri.  In 1996, more than 71% of voters rejected Proposition A, that would have increased the state wage from $4.25 in 1996 to $6.25 in 1997 and an additional $0.15 each year thereafter.  But Proposition B in 2006 was approved by a 76% margin.  It increased minimum pay from $5.15 in 2006 to $6.50 in 2007 and ushered in the Consumer Price Index adjustment.

There’s only been scattered polling on Proposition B, although a Missouri Scout survey from early August showed strong support with 60% of likely voters in favor of its passage while 28% opposed it.

Between the two candidates in Missouri’s marquee Senate race,  Democratic incumbent Claire McCaskill supports the ballot measure while Republican challenger Josh Hawley has said it might result in lost jobs.

Tony Wyche is with Raise Up Missouri, the campaign committee supporting Proposition B.  He says Missouri’s minimum wage, which adds up to $314 for a 40-hour work week, is unsustainable for most people.  “The cost of everything from food, shelter, clothing, transportation has gone up and wages haven’t kept pace,” said Wyche.  “And that’s what this really is all about.  It’s making sure that people who work fulltime are able to provide for their families and take care of their families just like everybody else who works hard is able to do.”

Patrick Toohey with the St. Louis based free-market group Show-Me Institute contends that raising the minimum wage is the least effective way to raise people out of poverty.  “Even President Obama’s chair of the Economic Advisory Panel said that if we want to fight poverty, minimum wage legislation is a really bad way to do that,” said Toohey.

Toohey points to a study conducted by the Show-Me Institute that actually shows hiking minimum pay primarily benefits middle-income households rather than low-income people because the larger percentage of minimum wage workers are members of middle-income families.

In data compiled for the study, only 12.7 percent of workers earning a wage less than $7.25 were in poor families, while 44.6 percent — or nearly half, which Show-Me Institute contends are likely teenagers or other secondary workers — were in families with incomes three times the poverty line (or approximately $63,000 in 2008 for a family of four) or higher.

Toohey contends there are too many negative factors that stack up against any sort of minimum pay increase, and further points out a 2015 study which shows that hiking minimum pay hurts first-time job seekers.

Still, there are plenty of studies showing how minimum wage doesn’t have the perceived negative impact on jobs or the economy. One study from UC Berkeley researchers, suggests that California will actually gain jobs because of its minimum wage hike by 2023.

A 2011 study, “The Spending and Debt Responses to Minimum Wage Increases” by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago stated that “every dollar increase in the minimum wage results in $2,800 in new consumer spending per household over the following year.”

According to Raise Up Missouri’s Wyche, 460,000 residents who live outside the metro St. Louis and Kansas City areas make minimum wage.  He contends business owners also benefit when they pay their workers more money.  “They know that it’s better for their bottom line,” said Wyche.  “It helps them retain employees who are happier and more loyal.  They don’t have to go through all the staff turnover and retraining costs.  And it makes for a better work environment overall in their establishments.”

Missouri Business for Fair Minimum Wage is part of a national group that advocates for hikes in minimum pay across the country.  It’s been supporting Proposition B along with Raise Up Missouri.

$1.74 million has been donated to Raise Up Missouri for Proposition B.  A majority of that sum, $1 million, has come from Sixteen Thirty Fund, a nonprofit 501 (c) (4) organization that is not required to disclose the name and address of any contributors.  As of October 4, Raise Up Missouri had spent $1.08 million.

 

Missouri’s governor hopes to see more young people get involved in agriculture

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Governor Mike Parson proclaimed October as Missouri Pork Month during a Monday ceremony in Jefferson City, to recognize the commitment of the state’s pork producers.

The Pork Place restaurant at the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia (2017 file photo courtesy of the Missouri Pork Association)

Parson presented the proclamation at the state Department of Agriculture (MDA) headquarters in Jefferson City. Missouri Pork Association (MPA) Executive Vice President Don Nikodim says the state’s pork industry contributes $1 billion annually to the state’s economy.

“Agriculture we know is the backbone of the state when you think about who the economic driver is,” Nikodim says. “And the pork industry is a big part of that. We rank seventh nationally in pork production here in Missouri.”

Nikodim praises Parson, saying he understands what happens in rural Missouri. MDA Director Chris Chinn and Missouri Pork Association President Francis Forst of Lamar joined Parson and Nikodim for Monday’s ceremony.

MDA says the average age of a Missouri farmer is 58.

Governor Parson hopes to see more young people get involved in agriculture. The Bolivar Republican tells Missourinet this ties-in with his workforce development efforts.

“Ag (agriculture) is going to play a role in that, and how do we make sure that we’ve got young men and women in school and high school for example, that understand agriculture and what all those jobs are out there,” says Parson.

The governor notes Missouri pork producers raise more than 3.4 million hogs in the state, and tells MDA employees that agriculture has changed for the better.

“The reality of it is today we can’t farm like we used to, we just can’t,” Parson says. “And do you what’s going to be the new thing to all of us that’s going to have a little hard time accepting that, but technology is going to play a huge role.”

Agriculture Director Chinn says high-speed internet is crucial to attract next-generation farmers, adding that they want to come home and use it on the farm and ranch.

U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt (R) addressed the Missouri House in April in Jefferson City, telling them that 51 percent of rural Missourians don’t have access to broadband.

Chinn also notes this is the first time her staff can remember a governor personally coming for the October proclamation. Nikodim tells Missourinet he believes Governor John Ashcroft was the last governor to do it.

Parson says it’s important for him to support the state’s top industry.

Copyright © 2018 · Missourinet

St. Louis area Democratic officeholders slam Missouri AG’s appeal of voter ID law decision

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Some Missouri Democratic officeholders held a press conference Monday in which they sharply criticized Republican Attorney General Josh Hawley’s court filing to block a judge’s decision striking portions of Missouri’s voter ID law.  St. Louis-based U.S. Congressman William Lacy Clay joined State Senator Minority Leader Gina Walsh of Bellefontaine Neighbors, and Senator-elect Brian Williams of Ferguson at the gathering in St. Louis.

Congressman Lacy Clay (D-St. Louis)

Cole County Circuit Judge Richard Callahan’s decision issued last Wednesday does away with the requirement for those who don’t present a photo ID at the polls to sign an affidavit.  Representative Lacy Clay told Missourinet that the ruling returns the law to its original form where voters could show a utility bill, bank statement or anything that’s verifies their address and cast a regular ballot.

He said the Republican-led state legislature failed to consider how low voter turnout is when it passed legislation aimed at making the practice more difficult.  “In presidential elections, only 50 percent of the American people show up to vote, said Lacy Clay.  “So, this is just a canard.  This is just a way to suppress people from voting.”  The eight-term Congressman thinks the law the state legislature passed was intended to prevent voter impersonation which he contends never happens, given the existing low turnout.

Attorney General Hawley quickly filed an appeal and emergency stay petition with the Missouri Supreme Court on behalf of Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft.  Ashcroft based much of his 2016 election campaign on implementing the voter ID law passed earlier that year by lawmakers.  Last Thursday, the Supreme Court requested that the prevailing party in the circuit court case, Priorities USA, submit suggestions in opposition to the motion for the stay by 5 p.m. Tuesday.

In his decision striking the requirement for those without photo ID to sign the affidavit, Judge Callahan said the document, on its face, is contradictory and misleading.

The affidavit says the voter acknowledges that he or she doesn’t possess a photo ID and states that he or she is required to present approved photo ID in order to vote.  It also specifies that the person signing the document does so under penalty of perjury.

Callahan called the affidavit an “outright misstatement of law.”  He said the requirement for a voter to sign the document is a violation of a citizen’s right to vote that’s guaranteed under the Missouri Constitution.

Congressman Clay said the 2016 legislation by Missouri lawmakers is part of a concerted effort across the nation by the GOP to keep certain types of residents from voting.  “I see this as an overall attempt nationally to suppress the vote, to impede or block those voters who the Republican Party knows will probably not vote for them,” Clay said.

University of Wisconsin Political Scientist Kenneth Mayer offered expert testimony for the plaintiff, Priorities USA, in the court case.  Mayer said extensive research in the numerous states that have enacted voter ID laws since 2006 shows the statutes suppress turnout and disproportionally impact poor people, minorities and the elderly. “Vulnerable populations are less likely to possess the most common forms of ID and are in less of a position to completely understand and be able to comply with what amount to complicated administrative requirements,” Mayer said.

Congressman Clay views Attorney General Hawley’s court filing is a misuse of public funds in an 11th-hour effort to suppress voter turnout.  “Josh Hawley is choosing to use your tax dollars to file this ridiculous appeal in a last-minute effort to disenfranchise thousands of Missouri voters,” Clay said.

Hawley is also locked in a tight race for the U.S. Senate seat held by Democrat Claire McCaskill.

His office representing his position as Attorney General didn’t directly respond to Congressman Lacy Clay’s comments, but his spokesperson, Mary Compton defended his Supreme Court filing.  She said the lower court’s decision will harm the integrity of the November election while referencing a constitutional amendment passed by voters in 2016 which enabled the law approved by the legislature to be implemented.

“We respectfully disagree with the Circuit Court’s decision and we are deeply concerned that issuing an injunction this close to an election will cause confusion and disruption in the orderly administration of election procedures,” said Compton.  “We have promptly sought a stay of the ruling and requested clarification from the Missouri Supreme Court to preserve the integrity of the upcoming election. We will continue vigorously defend the commonsense voter ID law that 63% of Missourians approved in 2016.”

In addition to doing away with the affidavit, Circuit Court Judge Callahan’s ruling places other restrictions on the Secretary of State’s office.  It also forbids the state from advertising or distributing information that photo ID’s are required to vote.  It further bars publicizing materials that tell voters they’ll be asked to show photo ID without stipulating the other forms of ID that can be used.

MoDOT Director: Nets used on I-270 to keep bridge pieces from falling on cars and people (AUDIO)

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The Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) director says the agency is using nets on heavily-traveled I-270 in St. Louis County, to keep pieces of bridges from falling and hitting people and vehicles below. MoDOT Director Patrick McKenna made the announcement about the nets during last week’s meeting with planning partners in Jefferson City.

This is a photo of the nets being used by MoDOT at I-270 and Florissant Road, to keep pieces of bridges from falling off (photo courtesy of the Missouri Department of Transportation)

“It’s one of the oldest segments of our interstate system,” McKenna says. “It’s in desperate need of repair. We need to be working on that. We need to be working on it soon.”

I-270 loops around St. Louis, and connects with I-70, I-64, I-44 and I-55. McKenna describes I-270 as an “incredibly important aspect” to the region, Missouri and the nation. He says about $700 billion in products are moved on that highway annually.

“The age and condition of that infrastructure, on a given day we can have 140, 150,000 vehicles a day on that, and probably 25, 30% of that is commercial vehicles,” says McKenna.

He says passage of a ten-cent gasoline tax on the November ballot is crucial. Missouri’s gasoline tax hasn’t been increased since 1996. Missourians will cast ballots on Proposition D on November 6.

Missouri’s 21st century transportation system task force submitted a report to the Legislature in January, and recommended improvements on 270.

Click here to listen to Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) Director Patrick McKenna’s full interview with Missourinet’s Brian Hauswirth and KY-3 reporter Andrew Havranek, which was recorded on October 9, 2018 at Jefferson City’s McClung Park:

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