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Missourinet

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Three Republicans seeking to replace term-limited Cunningham in southern Missouri (AUDIO)

August 3, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

Two current southern Missouri state lawmakers and a former lawmaker are seeking the GOP nomination in Tuesday’s primary, hoping to replace term-limited State Sen. Mike Cunningham, R-Rogersville.

State Sen. Mike Cunningham, R-Rogersville, speaks on the Missouri Senate floor in Jefferson City on February 17, 2020 (file photo courtesy of Jonathan Lorenz at Senate Communications)

State Rep. Robert Ross, R-Yukon, State Rep. Karla Eslinger, R-Wasola, and former State Rep. Van Kelly, R-Norwood, are the three GOP candidates. Ross and Eslinger both spoke to Missourinet about Tuesday’s primary. Missourinet made several unsuccessful attempts to contact Kelly.

The 33rd senatorial district has eight counties: Douglas, Howell, Oregon, Ozark, Ripley, Texas, Webster and Wright. Towns and cities in the district include Ava, Doniphan, Houston, Mansfield, Rogersville and West Plains.

The district is traditionally Republican. The winner of Tuesday’s GOP primary will face Grandin Democrat Tammy Harty in November.

State Rep. Robert Ross is finishing his eighth and final year in the Missouri House, due to term limits. He was first elected in 2012. He chairs the House Special Committee on Government Oversight and the House Professional Registration and Licensing Committee.

Ross says southern Missouri’s values are important.

“My top priority will be making sure that my constituents in southern Missouri, that their voice is heard, and to stop this onslaught on our way of life,” Ross says.

He says there has been an onslaught on conservative values, and says he’s focused on fighting for southern Missourians.

Ross, who also serves on the House Budget Committee, has been critical of the U.S. Forest Service, for their decision to close the Mark Twain National Forest to feral hog hunting. Ross has said that his Texas County constituents support eradicating feral hogs by hunting, and that residents should be allowed to hunt for feral hogs on public land.

Ross’ oversight committee also held several public hearings this year on Missouri’s medical marijuana program, a program that has been controversial.

Karla Eslinger was elected to the Missouri House in 2018, and is finishing her first term in Jefferson City. Representative Eslinger’s top priority is economic development. Her hometown of Wasola is located in Ozark County, which has a high poverty rate.

“I know that looking across these eight counties (in the district), five of those counties are in the top ten poorest counties of the state. So we have to focus on economic development,” Eslinger says.

Eslinger was raised by a single mother, who had three children. She says she learned the value of hard work from her mother. Eslinger has been a teacher, principal and school superintendent.

She’s also focused on workforce issues, rural broadband and infrastructure, including roads and bridges. Eslinger notes many of the roads in Ozark County are gravel roads.

As for former Rep. Van Kelly, he served in the Missouri House from 2001-2008. He was forced out by term limits. Kelly opposed tax increases that were proposed by then-Governor Bob Holden (D).

The GOP primary’s tone has received some media attention. Eslinger tells Missourinet that Ross’ campaign has been negative.

“I can tell you that I’m disappointed. I’m disappointed that he has run a campaign that has been so negative. You’ll notice that I don’t do that,” says Eslinger.

Eslinger is unhappy with a mailer featuring Eslinger and Kelly with an x-ray over their bodies. The mailer was profiled in a July story by Missourinet Springfield television partner KOLR-10.

Representative Ross tells Missourinet that the mailer was sent by a political action committee (PAC).

“It is absolutely illegal for a candidate to direct, coordinate, control or approve anything that a PAC does. And so, I found out about this mailer when it hit our mailbox,” says Ross.

Ross says he wouldn’t have approved the mailer, because of the skeletons. But he also says that Eslinger and Kelly don’t want to talk about the issues raised in the mailer, and says the “feigned outrage is ridiculous.”

Ross and Eslinger both describe themselves as constitutional conservatives, with Ross saying that “in this race, I am the unapologetic constitutional conservative.” Eslinger says south-central Missouri needs a strong constitutional conservative, to protect freedoms.

Ross and Eslinger are both anti-abortion, and support gun rights.

Mike Cunningham was elected to the Missouri Senate in 2012 and was re-elected in 2016. He chairs the Senate Fiscal Oversight Committee.

Senator Cunningham has endorsed Eslinger in the primary, saying “she will be a great senator.” Cunningham praises Eslinger’s work ethic and life experiences, telling Missourinet that she had been homeless at one time.

Cunningham leaves the Senate in December.

Ross notes that he has been endorsed exclusively by Missouri Right to Life, the Missouri Cattlemen’s Association, the Missouri Hunting and Working Dog Alliance and Americans for Prosperity. He’s also supported by the Missouri State Trooper’s Association.

Former State Sen. Chuck Purgason, R-Caulfield, is treasurer of Ross’ campaign. Purgason served in the Senate in that district from 2005-2012.

Polls are open Tuesday from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Click here to listen to Brian Hauswirth’s full interview with State Rep. Karla Eslinger, R-Wasola, which was recorded on July 31, 2020:

https://cdn.missourinet.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/bh-repeslingerJuly2020.mp3

Click here to listen to Brian Hauswirth’s full interview with State Rep. Robert Ross, R-Yukon, which was recorded on August 2, 2020:

https://cdn.missourinet.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/bh-robertrossinterviewAugust2020.mp3

Copyright © 2020 · Missourinet

Filed Under: Agriculture, Business, Education, Elections, Legislature, News, Transportation Tagged With: broadband, economic development, feral hogs, Former State Rep. Van Kelly, KOLR-10, Mark Twain National Forest, Missouri Cattlemen's Association, Missouri's medical marijuana program, Norwood, Ozark County, poverty, State Rep. Karla Eslinger, State Rep. Robert Ross, State Sen. Mike Cunningham, Tammy Harty, Wasola, workforce development, Yukon

Haahr and Quade view Missouri’s 2020 session differently; both predict special session

May 19, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

Missouri’s House Speaker describes the historic 2020 session as “incredibly successful,” noting lawmakers lost about six weeks because of the COVID-19 pandemic. His Democratic counterpart disagrees.

Missouri House Speaker Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, presides over the chamber on May 15, 2020 in Jefferson City (photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

House Speaker Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, tells Missourinet that he’s most proud that lawmakers approved a state budget, before their constitutional deadline.

“The work that the Budget Chair (State Rep. Cody Smith) did in having to take six weeks off, try to come up with the best calculated estimate of what we believe the revenues would look like,” Haahr says.

The $35.2 billion state operating budget approved earlier this month includes $20 million for Missouri meat processing facilities, impacted by COVID-19. House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith, R-Carthage, says it’s for plants with less than two hundred employees, for support, workforce assistance and capital improvements.

The budget also contains $12 million for broadband expansion, relating to the pandemic. Both parties say that is critical.

In addition to the six weeks the Legislature lost because of the coronavirus, they also lost several days in January and February because of snow and ice in Jefferson City.

“If I look back at the beginning of the session, and I look at the things that I most wanted to accomplish and that our caucus listed as their priorities to get done, I think it’s an incredibly successful session for having lost six weeks in the middle of it,” says Haahr.

House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, disagrees, telling Capitol reporters that the GOP-controlled Legislature should have focused more on protecting Missourians from the coronavirus.

“In fact, the House spent far more time discussing feral hogs than it did talking about COVID-19,” Quade says.

The $35.2 billion state budget approved by the Legislature contains language that prohibits the state Department of Conservation from funding a federal employee at the Mark Twain National Forest in southern Missouri.

The feral hog issue was discussed in-detail during that May debate, and also came up on the House floor and during budget hearings this session.

Leader Quade says House Republicans “largely ignored” COVID-19 during the 2020 session, an issue she describes as the single-biggest crisis that Missouri has faced in at least a century.

During a floor speech just before Friday’s adjournment, Quade praised grocery employees across the state.

“To our grocery workers truly keeping us alive, I’m sorry the Legislature chose not to give you the protection of essential workers that you truly deserve,” Quade said on the floor.

One area Speaker Haahr and Leader Quade agree on is that there will be a special session this summer. Haahr believes it will involve the budget, and Leader Quade tells Missourinet she is hearing that it could happen in three to four weeks.

Haahr also told colleagues from the dais on Friday that he and Quade both share a love for Springfield. She nodded her head in approval, from her desk.

Republicans control the House 114-48.

Copyright © 2020 · Missourinet

Filed Under: Agriculture, Business, Health / Medicine, Legislature, News Tagged With: broadband expansion, COVID-19, feral hogs, House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith, Jefferson City, Mark Twain National Forest, Missouri grocery employees, Missouri House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, Missouri House Speaker Elijah Haahr, Missouri meat processing facilities, Springfield

UPDATE: Missouri House gives final approval to budget; feral hog debate gets heated

May 8, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

The Missouri House voted Friday afternoon in Jefferson City to give final approval to a $35.2 billion state operating budget, after some heated discussion earlier in the day about feral hogs and other issues relating to the Missouri Department of Conservation.

Missouri House Speaker Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, (right) and House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith, R-Carthage, discuss the state budget in Jefferson City on May 8, 2020 (photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

The budget is now in the Missouri Senate, which must approve it by 6 p.m. tonight.

House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith, R-Carthage, says the compromise budget between the House and Senate contains $20 million for Missouri meat processing facilities, impacted by COVID-19. Smith says it’s for plants with less than 200 employees, for support, workforce assistance, equipment and capital improvements.

The bipartisan funding for the plants is aimed at helping them address supply chain disruptions and to mitigate health and environmental impacts as a result of the pandemic.

The budget also contains $12 million for broadband expansion, relating to the pandemic. Budget Chairman Smith and ranking Democrat Kip Kendrick, D-Columbia, say that is critical.

It also includes $2 million for the Missouri Lottery to advertise. The original House budget cut it to $100,000, but the Senate allocated $3 million. Budget negotiators settled on the $2 million.

There was also heated discussion today on the Missouri House floor, after State Rep. Deb Lavender, D-Kirkwood, blasted the Senate, saying they took $100,000 out of the budget for hungry women/children. Lavender called that decision shameful.

State Rep. Hannah Kelly, R-Mountain Grove, and Representative Lavender then had a heated discussion about “setting the record straight”, but disagree on what that record is. They spoke over each other at times.

State Rep. Robert Ross, R-Yukon, described Lavender’s floor comments as “factually wrong”, saying the budget expands the “Share the Harvest” program to $300,000. Ross also blasted the Missouri Department of Conservation, saying they tried to put $100,000 in the budget for a new forest service employee.

Ross tells the House that employee would have “harassed” feral hog hunters at the Mark Twain National Forest.

Normally, the Missouri Capitol’s public fourth-floor galleries are packed with lobbyists and schoolchildren, during budget debate. However, due to COVID-19 concerns, there was just one person observing today.

Copyright © 2020 · Missourinet

Filed Under: Agriculture, Business, Health / Medicine, Legislature, News, Outdoors Tagged With: Carthage, Columbia, COVID-19, feral hogs, House Budget Committee ranking Democrat Kip Kendrick, Jefferson City, Missouri Department of Conservation, Missouri House, Missouri House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith, Missouri Senate, state budget, State Rep. Deb Lavender, State Rep. Hannah Kelly, State Rep. Robert Ross

Missouri lawmakers draw attention to feral hog issue during budget hearing (AUDIO)

January 28, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

Two southern Missouri state lawmakers are unhappy with a letter the state Department of Agriculture (MDA) director has sent to the U.S. Forest Service, in support of their decision to close the Mark Twain National Forest to feral hog hunting.

State Rep. Robert Ross, R-Yukon, speaks at the Missouri Capitol in Jefferson City on August 22, 2019 (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

The issue came up during Monday afternoon’s Missouri House Budget Committee hearing in Jefferson City, when State Reps. Robert Ross, R-Yukon, and Scott Cupps, R-Shell Knob, mentioned the issue to MDA Director Chris Chinn, during her budget presentation.

Chinn testifies that Oklahoma has gone away from an approach Missouri was using, including hunting.

“One of the things that we learned from them (Oklahoma) is that, that above-all approach that we had been taking, they had tried as well and it didn’t work,” Chinn tells Representative Ross.

“Especially not when your (Missouri) Department of Conservation is actively working against the private landowners,” Ross responded.

The above-all approach that Director Chinn is referring to is a policy that some hunters and ranchers near the Mark Twain National Forest want to continue. It involved trapping by Conservation officials, but also hunting by residents.

Ross, who chairs the House Special Committee on Government Oversight, serves on the Budget Committee. He questions Chinn’s letter.

“That’s what really surprised me is that your agency (MDA) would take a position that was in directly in opposition of working with the private landowners, following along with the misguided approach the Missouri Department of Conservation is now pushing,” Ross tells Director Chinn.

Ross says his Texas County constituents support eradicating feral hogs, by hunting. He and Cupps say residents should be allowed to hunt for the hogs on public land.

The Missouri Department of Conservation says allowing residents to hunt feral hogs has increased the number of the animals, along with their range. Conservation agents say there have been illegal releases by people who wanted to hunt feral hogs for recreation.

The Conservation Department has launched a new plan, which aims to eliminate feral hog damage by trapping and killing the hogs themselves.

Director Chinn says feral hogs are a threat to Missouri livestock. She backs the Forest Service’s decision to close the Mark Twain National Forest to feral hog hunting.

Chinn testifies that MDA’s job, through its Animal Health division, is to protect Missouri from diseases. She says if African swine fever were to hit Missouri through the feral hog population, it would be a threat to livestock producers and agribusiness.

“A lot of these livestock eat the corn and the soybean that are raised on many of these farms, and if we should have a disease threat like that hit Missouri, it’s not only going to hurt the livestock industry, it’s going to hit our row crop as well as our grain elevators,” Chinn testifies.

Chinn emphasizes that what’s been done previously isn’t working.

After several minutes of questioning, State Rep. Hannah Kelly, R-Mountain Grove, who chairs the House Subcommittee on Appropriations for Agriculture, asked Ross and Cupps to save the feral hog discussion for another date, when both MDA and the Conservation Department can attend. Kelly wanted Chinn to have time to present her budget.

The issue has been a big one at the Missouri Capitol. Just last week, about 150 southern Missouri hunters and ranchers protested quietly outside the governor’s office, saying the MDC-federal approach won’t work.

Click here to listen to Brian Hauswirth’s interview with Missouri Department of Agriculture (MDA) Director Chris Chinn, which was recorded at the Missouri Capitol in Jefferson City on January 27, 2020:

https://cdn.missourinet.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/bh-chinninterviewJanuary2020.mp3

Copyright © 2020 · Missourinet

Filed Under: Agriculture, Health / Medicine, Legislature, News, Outdoors Tagged With: feral hogs, Mark Twain National Forest, Missouri Department of Agriculture, Missouri Department of Conservation, Missouri House Budget Committee, State Rep. Hannah Kelly, State Rep. Robert Ross, State Rep. Scott Cupps, Texas County, U.S. Forest Service

Hunters at odds with Missouri Department of Conservation, US Forest Service over feral hog restrictions

January 24, 2020 By Ashley Byrd

The federal government has closed Mark Twain National Forest to hunters of feral hogs – at the same time, Missouri’s Department of Conservation has launched a new plan in 2020 to try to eliminate feral hog damage by trapping and killing hogs themselves. They are trying to help landowners and farmers who have had property and cropland torn up. The MDC says a social group of ten hogs can destroy 10-20 acres overnight. MDC website

Bell of Summersville joined about 150 at the Missouri Capitol to speak to lawmakers about hunting rights.

But that approach is not sitting well with some hunters and ranchers who want to hunt the hogs themselves.  Dustin Bell is from Summersville, at the edge of the Mark Twain National Forest.

“We think it takes an all-effort, everybody combined, hunters, trappers whatever it takes to control these hogs to prevent them from further damage on our land around for our friends and neighbors and we think that it’s absolutely unrealistic that they can trap all of them out and eradicate the hogs and we think it’s just an overreach of power by MDC,” Bell told Missourinet.

About 150 gathered in a quiet petition signing and protest outside the governor’s office at the state capitol Wednesday, saying the MDC-Federal approach won’t work.

Conservation’s Feral Hog Incident Commander Jason Jensen says letting hunters eradicate the wild hogs did not work.

“We actually encouraged people to hunt feral hogs for several years and that didn’t work,” Jensen said in an interview with Brownfield Ag News. “What we saw during that period of time was that numbers exponentially increased and the range of feral hogs increased. We feel that was mostly due to illegal releases by people who were wanting to hunt feral hogs for that recreational value.”

The department is considering increasing enforcement in some areas so that more of the animals are not released behind MDC staff as they trap hogs.

Bell and the protestors disagree, insisting that hog hunting on public land should not be a crime, but a part of the solution.

“It is our land, taxpayers lands and not MDC’s land. We thoroughly believe that we have the right to ride horses, everything. We should not have to have a permit to ride horses, or hunt hogs or whatever it is.”

The Conservation Department says Missouri has had feral hogs since the 1990’s – and the population has grown. Their trappers disposed of more than 10,000 last year.

Filed Under: Agriculture, Crime / Courts, News, Outdoors Tagged With: Dustin Bell, feral hogs, Mark Twain National Forest, Missouri Department of Conservation, Missouri Working Dog Alliance



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