John Brunner Archives

Former Senate candidate Brunner calls political system ‘broken’

January 21, 2013 By Mike Lear

After losing in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate, St. Louis businessman John Brunner says he’s learned the deck is stacked against political newcomers.

Former U.S. Senate candidate John Brunner.

Brunner is still busy in politics, but his focus now is on supporting others. He says there are people like state lawmakers, people who lost in the last election and those looking at getting into politics that need inspiration and guidance, which he believes he can offer.

But, he calls the political system “broken,” saying it works against the success of anyone but career politicians.

“It takes so many resources to be able to run an effective campaign, so if you are not full-time in politics spending a whole career building your name I.D., using other people’s money campaign after campaign after campaign, you’re locked out. On the other reverse, you find people who start in politics, spend their entire career and they leave multi-millionaires. That’s wrong as well.”

Still, Brunner says he believes people with backgrounds outside of politics need to get involved in their government.

“At any level, you’re going to have to find people that are willing to get involved and get engaged and see how you can help them, but I tell you … the money hurdle is very difficult and it makes me sick that that’s what’s preventing a lot of good people from getting involved in public office.”

Brunner lost the Republican nomination for Senate to Todd Akin, who went on to lose the Senate seat to incumbent Democrat Claire McCaskill. Brunner doesn’t say whether he thinks Akin’s controversial comments, including some about abortion, played a role in that outcome.

“I go back to the fundamentals. You have to be organized, you have to have a team, you have to pull people together and regrettably we didn’t have the organization and support in terms of our ability to get the ball across the goal line, and I think a lot of people have recognized that we can’t beat each other up in primaries if we plan to have any kind of victory in the general election.”

Brunner says he doesn’t know if he’ll run for anything again.

Todd Akin wins GOP primary race for U.S. Senate (VIDEO)

August 8, 2012 By Mike Lear

He said less than a week ago that he didn’t trust polls that said he was trailing in the GOP primary race for U.S. Senate. On election night, Congressman Todd Akin’s mistrust proved right. Akin received more than 217-thousand votes, to more than 180-thousand for businessman John Brunner and 176-thousand for former treasurer Sarah Steelman.

After the other two frontrunners in that race called to concede, Akin told his supporters, “Tonight, the Primary is over and tomorrow, the General Election starts.”

Akin now challenges incumbent U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill for her office. He says that campaign will be “about reclaiming our Godly values, rebuilding the American dream and restoring the America that we love.”

Akin wasted no time in returning to the themes of his campaign. That includes tying McCaskill to the Affordable Care Act. “Claire McCaskill was the deciding vote on passing Obamacare, and it’s my plan to be the deciding vote and get rid of Obamacare.”

Winner of the GOP Primary race for U.S. Senate Todd Akin (right) answers questions from Missourinet’s Mike Lear.

When asked why McCaskill’s vote should be considered “the deciding” vote, Akin says, “Well I guess that’s one of the things people talk about when somebody takes a vote, it passes by just exactly that vote, you could say that anybody in a sense is a deciding vote. That may or may not be … you could always argue, ‘Well, but if she voted another way they would have turned some other vote,” so it’s one of those … but in this case it was passed by one vote and she was the vote.”

Throughout the primary campaign, Akin touted his standing as the most conservative among himself, Brunner and Steelman. His son and campaign manager, Perry Akin, says that message won’t change now that the focus shifts to November and McCaskill. “That’s been his message from the beginning. He has a clear voting record. He’s been very clear on the campaign trail, articulating where he stands and what he sees that needs to be changed in Washington.”

Akin also continues to credit his endorsement from former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee as helping to propel him during the campaign. He told supporters Huckabee, “was with us from the start, he stayed by our side and he lifted us up in prayer and tonight he’s celebrating with us in victory.”

Akin on late-race polls, campaign finances and messages

August 3, 2012 By Mike Lear

Congressman Todd Akin says he’s not concerned by polls early this week that showed him trailing Sarah Steelman and John Brunner in the GOP Senate race.

Congressman and U.S. Senate hopeful Todd Akin contines a tour of the state today in St. Louis.

Akin says he’s been through campaigns before, and he doesn’t trust the results of polls that come out this close to an election.

“Part of it’s because, who can predict the people that are going to be … whatever, 100 degrees August 7? That are gonna be at the polls? I think it’s very hard to know. So the polling data is traditionally very tricky at this time, plus you’ve got people putting the last of their money into advertising and other kinds of campaign activities.”

Akin says he believes the race for the seat of Senator Claire McCaskill is still close between the three frontrunners.

“The fact that we’ve had Huckabee supporting us has been very strong for us … and I think the fact that I have a proven record and people know what they’re getting with me, and the fact that I was willing to vote against my own party in some very high-profile votes indicate that I’m trying to put principle first.”

Akin’s campaign has focused much of its attention on its message in recent weeks, and accuses his opponents of turning to negative attack ads. “We don’t really think that running other Republicans down to build yourself up is really a very honest or good way to do things, and so we’ve rejected that and decided that we’re going to talk just about what’s positive and where we need to be going as a nation.”

Akin says his campaign has surpassed those of his opponents in grassroots efforts and message, but financially it’s been more of a challenge.

“I’ve raised more money five quarters running than my two opponents, but both of them have received … one has written himself seven million dollars, so he’s trying to buy the race, and the other one has gotten some very big contributions in the super PACs, so it’s like one or two people giving big, big blocks of money.”

Of the endorsement of Steelman by former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, Akin says it could cost him votes. “Sarah Palin has tended to endorse women around the country and so it doesn’t surprise us that she might jump into this race … She’s not very predictable a lot of times where she jumps or who she jumps but it seems like there is a pattern that she’s very much more of the sort of the feminist side of jumping into … the women running in various races.”

GOP Senate candidates debate at Lincoln Days (AUDIO)

February 20, 2012 By Mike Lear

The Republican party candidates for United States Senator have for the first time been together in a debate, Saturday at Lincoln Days in Kansas City’s Crown Center. The trio said more on stage about the President than they did about Senator Claire McCaskill or one another.

: GOP Senate Candidates (from right to left) John Brunner, Congressman Todd Akin and Sarah Steelman

All three said the president’s health care reform plan must be repealed. Congressman Todd Akin said a new approach must be taken. “The way to attack Medicare is to get rid of the government price setting and use the Medicare dollars so that people actually have purchasing power and can make choices.”

Former state treasurer Sarah Steelman says Republicans are going to have to recognize that there is a health care problem in the U.S. “The cost of paying for insurance keeps going up and up and up and it takes more of families’ discretionary income.”

Businessman John Brunner told the audience not to forget that Senator McCaskill’s was the tie-breaking vote in favor of the health care reform package, and he told Republicans to stop calling it “Obamacare.” “I think we just need to call it the Obamacare program and go forward with that and keep those two together and repeal both of those folks.”

Infrastructure

The three were asked to consider what they would do to provide funds for highways and infrastructure. Congressman Akin says before he would raise the federal gas tax, he would look at an idea that has been promoted by the Director of the Missouri Department of Transportation. “I think we’d do better to copy what the governor or Indiana did, and that is to simply put some toll booths on, say, Highway (Interstate) 70, because when you do that it’s a user fee. If you don’t use it, you don’t pay the fee.” Brunner and Steelman both say they oppose the toll roads idea.

Steelman brought the infrastructure conversation back to one of the main budgeting ideas she supports. She says the government has plenty of money already, but needs to re-prioritize it through zero-based budgeting. “We need to go in to each program in the federal government and look at it and find out what it’s about. Is it constitutional? If it is, do we really need it? If we really need it should it be at the federal level, the state level or at the local level?”

Brunner says he would repeal the federal gas tax. “Why is the money going to Washington D.C. and then coming back in the forms of earmarks and political decisions in terms of what really needs to be fixed in different parts of the state?”

Federal farm policy

Citing the possibility the likelihood that the reformulation of the federal farm bill will be pushed back to next year, thereby falling to the winner of this campaign, the three were asked what they would do with it. The candidates focused on regulations, land use issues and restricting the hours that children can work on farms, saying those issues are the ones farmers are concerned with the most, though none of those are farm bill issues.

Congressman Akin said he would try to phase out direct payments over time, where he says the government is doing “sort of bail-outy types of things.” He also wants to separate out social programs, like food stamps, from the farm programs in that legislation.

Off-stage conflict

While the debate on the stage was low-key and congenial, the fireworks came to the row of reporters covering the event. A Brunner campaign staffer handed out a release criticizing Steelman’s plan for what she would do in her first 60 days in office. It said her plan contained no new ideas, calling it a “cut and paste” platform.

Brunner was asked why he didn’t bring the issue up on the stage. He said he wanted to keep a friendlier tone in front of fellow Republicans. “We’re gonna move down this campaign trail. It’s still early. We’ll have plenty of opportunities.”

Steelman questioned why Brunner did not bring the issue up in front of the audience. “He didn’t show up for the first two debates. Here, he had a chance. He didn’t take it.” She added, “Maybe he’s worried about me.”

AUDIO: Listen to the debate, 1:19:18