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Missourinet

Your source for Missouri News and Sports

You are here: Home / Archives for former Governor Mel Carnahan

Missouri Secretary of State says presidential preference primary is a waste of money

February 10, 2021 By Alisa Nelson

Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft says the state’s presidential preference primary does not really matter. During a House Budget Committee hearing on Monday, Ashcroft, a Republican, says the delegates for president are determined at party caucuses – not the presidential primary.

“I just hate the idea of presiding over an election when we’re telling people to vote in the primary when I’m saying ‘No you should really vote in the caucus. That’s where your vote matters.’ Legally, the presidential primary is not required in any way to determine where the delegates are apportioned,” says Ashcroft.

Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft (file photo courtesy of the Secretary of State’s office)

He says that election is a waste of taxpayer dollars.

“We’re spending about $8 million this year of Missouri taxpayer dollars and I just don’t think there’s a good return for the people of the state,” he says. “Now, if we weren’t going to do the caucuses and the presidential preference was what determined it, that’d be a different story.”

In 1986, the Missouri Legislature adopted a bill to hold a presidential preference primary in 1988. Some at the time said it was aimed at helping then-U.S. Rep. Richard Gephardt, D-St. Louis County, in his 1988 bid for president.

Then in 1998, the Legislature approved a bill with no expiration date that holds a presidential preference primary every four years. Senate Bill 709 was signed by then-Governor Mel Carnahan, a Democrat.

The state has held presidential preference primaries six straight times: in 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2020.

Missouri used presidential caucuses, like Iowa, in 1992 and 1996.

Copyright © 2021 · Missourinet

Filed Under: Elections, Legislature, News Tagged With: former Governor Mel Carnahan, former U.S. Rep. Richard Gephardt, Missouri House Budget Committee, Missouri legislature, Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, Presidential preference primary election

Wilson: Governor Carnahan was one of the most positive political figures in Missouri history (AUDIO)

October 16, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

Friday is the 20th anniversary of the deadly plane crash that killed then-Governor Mel Carnahan (D), his son Randy and campaign aide Chris Sifford.

The Missouri Capitol in Jefferson City

Their plane crashed during a storm and fog in the small town of Goldman, in eastern Missouri’s Jefferson County. Lieutenant Governor Roger Wilson (D) became governor for the last three months of Carnahan’s term. The crash made national news for several days.

He says Mel Carnahan was one of the most positive political figures in Missouri history.

“His attention to elementary, secondary and higher education has only been matched by one or two governors,” Wilson says.

Governor Carnahan championed the Outstanding Schools Act, which passed in 1993. Wilson also says agriculture and corrections were two other major priorities for the governor. Governor Carnahan guided the state through the historic flood of 1993, and joined President Bill Clinton at a major flood summit in 1993 in Arnold, south of St. Louis.

Carnahan’s funeral service that week in 2000 drew thousands of people to the State Capitol in Jefferson City, including President Clinton, First Lady Hillary Clinton and Vice President Al Gore. Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-South Dakota, U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Massachusetts, and Governor John Engler, R-Michigan, also traveled to Jefferson City for the service. So did U.S. House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-St. Louis County.

At the time of the crash, the Democratic governor was finishing his second term, and was locked in a heavyweight U.S. Senate race against Republican incumbent John Ashcroft. Wilson is proud of how Missourians handled the tragedy, and he praises Ashcroft as well.

“The rancor that you see now in politics was not evident,” says Wilson. “John Ashcroft suspended his campaign ads.”

Missouri voters elected Carnahan to the Senate posthumously. Governor Wilson appointed Carnahan’s widow, Jean, to the Senate seat. During a Thursday interview with Missourinet, Wilson says she was the only reasonable person to appoint to the position.

“The reason being is that she was politically astute, she was Mel’s partner, she knew every in and out of the large decisions that were being made,” Wilson says.

Wilson says Jean Carnahan didn’t have much time to grieve. When Governor Carnahan was elected posthumously, Wilson wanted to give her as much time as she needed to decide whether to accept the appointment. He says Jean Carnahan said yes to Mel’s legacy, adding that she served the state extremely well. Wilson says he will always be grateful.

Mel Carnahan was born in southern Missouri’s Birch Tree, and served in the Missouri House from 1963-1967. He was elected state treasurer in 1980, serving from 1981-1985.

Carnahan was elected lieutenant governor in 1988, and was elected governor in 1992, beating GOP Attorney General Bill Webster. Carnahan was re-elected governor in 1996, defeating Republican Auditor Margaret Kelly.

Click here to listen to Brian Hauswirth’s full nine-minute interview with former Missouri Governor Roger Wilson, reflecting on the 20th anniversary of Governor Carnahan’s death and on Carnahan’s legacy. The interview was recorded on October 15, 2020:

https://cdn.missourinet.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/bh-rogerwilsonOctober2020.mp3

Copyright © 2020 · Missourinet

Filed Under: Agriculture, Education, History, News, Politics / Govt, Weather Tagged With: Arnold, Birch Tree, Chris Sifford, former Governor Mel Carnahan, former Missouri Governor Roger Wilson, Goldman, Michigan Governor John Engler, Missouri Congressman Richard Gephardt, Outstanding Schools Act of 1993, President Bill Clinton, Randy Carnahan, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, U.S. Sen. Jean Carnahan, U.S. Sen. John Ashcroft, Vice President Al Gore

Kinder describes the late Wayne Goode “as one of the real giants in the Missouri Senate” (AUDIO)

October 6, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

Political figures on both sides of the aisle are praising the legacy of longtime Missouri lawmaker Wayne Goode, D-Normandy, who died Saturday at the age of 83. The “St. Louis Post-Dispatch” reports Goode died from leukemia.

The late State Sen. Wayne Goode, D-Normandy, speaks on the Missouri Senate floor in Jefferson City in 2002 (file photo courtesy of Jonathan Lorenz at Senate Communications)

Goode served 42 years in the Legislature, from 1963 to 2005. Most of that was before term limits took effect in 1994. Goode served in the Missouri House from 1963 to 1984, and in the Senate from 1984 to January 2005.

Goode served 12 years in the Senate with former State Sen. Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, who was President Pro Tem for Goode’s final years in the chamber.

“Wayne Goode was plainly and justifiably recognized by all as one of the real giants in the Missouri Senate, and for that matter, the General Assembly in the second half of the 20th century and into the 21st century,” Kinder says.

Kinder praises Goode’s encyclopedic knowledge of Missouri’s complicated education foundation formula and of the budget. He notes Goode served as a House Budget Committee chairman.

“Wayne was a great storer of institutional knowledge and wisdom all to himself. He was a guy people on both sides of the aisle looked to for guidance on a lot of issues,” says Kinder.

Kinder credits Goode and the late State Sen. John Russell, R-Lebanon, for helping Missouri through tough budget years from 2001-2004. Kinder notes Goode and Russell entered the Missouri House together in 1963, and that while they shared different political philosophies, they put the state’s interest first.

The “Post-Dispatch” reports one of Goode’s first pieces of legislation in the 1960s allowed the University of Missouri to acquire property in Normandy to establish the University of Missouri-St. Louis. After leaving the Senate, then-Governor Jay Nixon (D) appointed Goode to the UM Board of Curators from 2009-2014.

“The respect from every member of the (Missouri Senate) chamber and every member of the House chamber and the executive branch was always there for Wayne Goode,” Kinder says.

Brad Ketcher, who served as Governor Mel Carnahan’s (D) chief of staff, describes Senator Goode as an extraordinary legislator, tweeting Sunday that “Missouri was so much better for his decades of public service.”

Goode also was known for his legislation involving the environment, including the issue of emission testing on vehicles in the St. Louis area. And he expressed concerns several times about speeding and increasing traffic deaths on Missouri highways.

Click here to listen to Brian Hauswirth’s full five-minute interview with former Missouri Lt. Governor and former Senate President Pro Tem Peter Kinder (R-Cape Girardeau) about State Sen. Wayne Goode’s service and legacy. The interview was recorded on October 5, 2020:

https://cdn.missourinet.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/bh-kinderinterviewOctober2020.mp3

Copyright © 2020 · Missourinet

Filed Under: Education, History, Legislature, News, Transportation Tagged With: Brad Ketcher, former Governor Mel Carnahan, former Missouri Governor Jay Nixon, former Senate President Pro Tem Peter Kinder, former State Sen. John Russell, Former State Sen. Wayne Goode, Missouri House Budget Committee, Normandy, UM Board of Curators, University of Missouri-St. Louis



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