St. Louis looting in June Archives

A west-central Missouri GOP congresswoman says this week’s 2020 Republican National Convention in Charlotte will focus on optimism.

U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler, R-Harrisonville, spoke at the Food Bank for Central and Northeast Missouri in Columbia on August 21, 2020, along with two USDA officials (photo courtesy of Brownfield’s Julie Harker)

While U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler, R-Harrisonville, isn’t a delegate this year, she’s excited about the convention.

“And looking at the great American heroes that we have in our local communities, and how we together collectively have made this the greatest country in the world,” Hartzler says.

She predicts Americans will be inspired by their stories. The convention, which begins Monday, will primarily be virtual.

Congresswoman Hartzler says law-and-order will be a theme at the convention. She is praising President Donald Trump’s leadership.

“Making us safer as a nation and contrasting that to what we’re seeing on the other side of chaos and lawlessness versus law and other. I don’t think we want to go there,” says Hartzler.

The widow of retired St. Louis Police Captain David Dorn will be addressing the nation on Thursday evening. Mr. Dorn was killed during June looting on a night where four other St. Louis police officers were also shot, in the line of duty.

St. Louis Public Safety Director Jimmie Edwards told St. Louis reporters the next day that more than 200 people engaged in “persistent criminal activity” overnight. He also announced that the FBI, ATF, the Missouri National Guard, Missouri State Highway Patrol and other agencies had arrived to help patrol St. Louis, after the early June incidents.

Hartzler, who serves on the House Armed Services Committee, says this week’s convention will also focus on the military. Her district includes Fort Leonard Wood in southern Missouri’s Pulaski County, and Whiteman Air Force Base in western Missouri’s Knob Noster.

“I think it’s going to look at the amazing achievements that have been done in the last three or four years, to grow the economy, to rebuild our military,” Hartzler says.

Hartzler, who was elected to the House in 2010, is finishing her fifth term on Capitol Hill. Her district also includes Columbia, Moberly, Sedalia and Nevada.

Mark and Patricia McCloskey of St. Louis are scheduled to speak on Monday evening. St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner (D) filed a felony unlawful use of a weapon count against each of the McCloskeys, for a June incident outside their Central West End home. They were seen pointing guns at protesters. The McCloskeys have said they feared for their lives that evening.

Like last week’s Democratic convention, Missourinet will have coverage throughout the GOP convention.

Congresswoman Hartzler spoke to Missourinet on Friday, after an event with two top USDA officials at the Food Bank for Central and Northeast Missouri in Columbia.

Click here to listen to Brian Hauswirth’s interview with U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler, R-Harrisonville, which was recorded on August 21, 2020 outside the Food Bank for Central and Northeast Missouri in Columbia: