State Auditor Nicole Galloway Archives

Galloway bashes Parson on Right-to-work stance

October 20, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

State Auditor Nicole Galloway made a stop in southwest Missouri’s Joplin Monday afternoon. Galloway, a Democrat who is running for governor, criticized her opponent, Republican Governor Mike Parson, about his stance on making Missouri a Right-to-work state.

Gov. Mike Parson and State Auditor Nicole Galloway

In 2018, voters overwhelmingly opposed passing such a law that would ban mandatory union fees in the workplace.

“You know what those powerful special interests want – they want Missouri to be a Right-to-work state. We voted no on Prop A. Why aren’t they listening,” asks Galloway. “As Right to Work was going down in flames, Governor Parson’s administration was trying to figure out how to implement Right-to-work county by county.”

In 2018, KSDK-TV in St. Louis reported that Parson’s office began looking at options for Right-to-work to happen at the county level – before voters rejected the ballot measure.

Missourinet reached out to Parson’s campaign and is awaiting a response.

Right-to-work supporters contend that such laws improve the economy and create jobs. Opponents of Right-to-work say banning mandatory union fees would lead to a decline in wages and safety measures.

Ty Albright of Missourinet affiliate KZRG in Joplin contributed to this story.

Hegeman and Soendker-Nickolson to debate Missouri’s Amendment Three Wednesday night

October 14, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

Southwest Missouri’s Drury University will host a virtual forum Wednesday evening about Amendment Three, which will appear on your November ballot. The issue has been a controversial one at the Statehouse in Jefferson City.

Tonight’s one-hour forum begins at 6, and you’ll be able to watch it live on this link. The event is being hosted by Drury University’s L.E. Meador Center for Politics and Citizenship. Drury is located in Springfield.

Missouri voters approved “Clean Missouri” in November 2018. It had several provisions, including one requiring a nonpartisan demographer to draw state legislative districts.

Amendment Three would roll back the provision involving redistricting, transferring the responsibility of drawing the districts from the demographer to a governor-appointed bipartisan commission.

During tonight’s forum, State Sen. Dan Hegeman, R-Cosby, and “No On 3” director Sean Soendker-Nickolson will be speaking via zoom. Senator Hegeman sponsored the legislation to place Amendment Three on the ballot. Soendker-Nickolson led the effort for Clean Missouri in 2018 and directs “No One 3” now.

Drury University spokesman Mike Brothers tells Missourinet that the forum will also include questions submitted by the public. Dr. Dan Ponder, the Meador Center director, will serve as moderator.

The League of Women Voters of Southwest Missouri, NAACP Springfield and Missouri State University’s public affairs office are also partnering with Drury for tonight’s forum.

Amendment Three has been a key issue in Missouri’s heated gubernatorial race, and was discussed by both major candidates at Friday’s debate in Columbia.

Governor Mike Parson (R) opposed Clean Missouri and supports Amendment Three.

“None of the big money behind this ever talked about how the redistricting would work, they talked about everything but that (in 2018),” Parson said Friday. “This is a major shift in how we do elections in the state of Missouri.”

Democratic State Auditor and gubernatorial nominee Nicole Galloway disagrees. She supported Clean Missouri in 2018 and opposes Amendment Three.

“In November of 2018, over 60 percent of voters said they want a fair, transparent government and they wanted to get rid of gerrymandering,” Galloway said at Friday’s debate.

Missouri’s candidates for governor prepare to square off today

October 9, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

Gov. Mike Parson and State Auditor Nicole Galloway

A debate featuring Missouri’s candidates for governor is set for today at 2 p.m. in Columbia. It was postponed after Gov. Mike Parson tested positive for COVID-19.

The one-hour debate is hosted by the Missouri Press Association and KOMU-TV in Columbia.

According to a press release from the Missouri Press Association, this will be the first debate with all four candidates for governor. Parson faces State Auditor Nicole Galloway, a Democrat, along with Libertarian Rik Combs and the Green Party’s Jerome Howard Bauer.

The event will be held at the Missouri Theatre. It will not be open to the public.

Missourinet will cover the debate with stories to follow.

Candidates for Missouri governor prepare for October 9 debate

October 2, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

A debate featuring Missouri’s candidates for governor has been rescheduled for next Friday at 2 p.m. in Columbia. It was postponed after Gov. Mike Parson tested positive last week for COVID-19.

Gov. Mike Parson and State Auditor Nicole Galloway

The debate is hosted by the Missouri Press Association and KOMU-TV in Columbia.

The event will be held at the Missouri Theatre. It will not be open to the public.

Missourinet will cover the debate with stories to follow.

Galloway, Parson camps say false claims made in ads

September 29, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

The negative political ads have started to surface in the run-up to the November 3 election, including in the Missouri governor’s race. Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican, faces State Auditor Nicole Galloway, a Democrat.

A television ad going after Galloway has been revised. The ad, produced by a political action committee backing Governor Parson, says “as auditor, Galloway flagrantly ignored ethics laws, failing to disclose her husband lobbied for state tax credits.” In a press call, Galloway says the ad is filled with lies.

State Auditor Nicole Galloway

“Let me be clear, no member of the Galloway family has ever lobbied the state of Missouri for tax credits on behalf of Veterans United Home Loans,” says Galloway. “The company itself has said so.”

Galloway says the PAC, called Uniting Missouri, is using “hit-and-run tactics.”

“They lie. They get caught lying, so they move onto the next lie,” says Galloway. They don’t think the media or the public is fast enough to stay ahead of their lies. I’m not going to play their game. I’m going to call it for what it is – a campaign of lies to distract voters from the governor’s incredible failure to lead our state through the biggest crisis we’ve faced in 100 years.”

The Missouri Ethics Commission’s website lists the state auditor’s husband, Jon, as a registered lobbyist for the Mortgage Research Center, known as Veterans United Home Loans, from September 2013 to March 2015. According to the Missouri Accountability Portal that shows citizens how the state is spending their money, the company was awarded $11 million in state tax credits in 2013.

Michael Berg, a spokesman for political action committee Uniting Missouri, says the group voluntarily made minor tweaks to the ad.

Original ad: “Galloway fragrantly ignored ethics laws, failing to disclose her husband lobbied for state tax credits.”

New ad: “Galloway ignored ethics laws, failing to disclose her husband lobbied for a company that got state tax credits.”

Photo courtesy of Parson for Missouri campaign page

In August, Missouri voters signed off on expanding government-funded Medicaid healthcare coverage to another 230,000 adults. Galloway has said she is concerned that Parson cannot be trusted to implement the expansion. She has said the governor would raise taxes to implement Medicaid expansion. Berg takes issue with that comment.

“Unlike Auditor Galloway, Governor Parson has a record of cutting taxes for Missourians,” says Berg.

At a press conference after the ballot measure’s passage, Gov. Parson, who opposed the expansion, was asked to comment about the outcome of the vote.

“The people voted for it we. So we’re going to implement it in the state of Missouri because that was the will of the voters. We just got to figure out – the big thing is where do you find the funding for it right now. You’re probably looking at $200 million or something like that off the bat,” says Parson. “So we’ve got to figure out where that funding is going to come from. Hopefully the economy gets better. Hopefully we can meet that financial obligation a little easier but right now it’s tough times.”

Berg says Galloway’s campaign falsely claims the governor opposes protections for pre-existing health conditions. Parson’s campaign website states that the governor and his administration helped to introduce legislation this year that would ban health insurance plans from imposing a preexisting condition exclusion and would require health insurance plans to offer coverage for dependent children up to age 26. The measures, Senate Bill 970 and House Bill 2507, got caught up in the COVID-19 storm, like many bills, and did not gain traction.

Other candidates running for Missouri governor in November are Libertarian Rik Combs and Green Party member Jerome Howard Bauer.

Missouri Democrats rally virtually before Monday’s start of DNC

August 16, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

The Democratic National Convention gets underway Monday in Milwaukee. The DNC has scheduled four nights, culminating in presumptive presidential candidate Joe Biden’s acceptance speech Thursday. The ongoing spike in coronavirus cases has forced most of the convention into an unprecedented virtual mode. Some party business will still take place in-person, but much of the event will be online.

During a virtual kickoff event tonight, Democrats from Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, and Minnesota came together to rally support for their local candidates and for Biden.

Missouri Congressman Emanuel Cleaver

Missouri Congressman Emanuel Cleaver of Kansas City said he was not going to spend much time talking about President Donald Trump.

“I think that’s wasted thinking. I think that it gives me a headache. I don’t like to burp a lot. I don’t like to upchuck,” he said. “Because I have spent most of my life in ministry, I am obligated based on the Christian testament to pray for him – which I will.”

Cleaver said Trump is a “bad person and a danger to democracy.”

“He has inflicted pain on the country. He has inflicted pain internationally. These are some tough times,” said Cleaver. “And I would like to believe that Democrats flourish – that we flourish in bad times. In fact, we are bad time specialists and we are going elect a president who will become the CEO of eliminating bad stuff.”

On Twitter, Trump says the world would be laughing and taking full advantage of the United States if Joe Biden becomes president. Trump says America would collapse.

Cleaver ended by pumping up the party. He said Democrats are known for hanging in there and now is no different.

“Why do we need to hang on in there? Because Democrats have been able to hang in there, we have Medicare,” he said. “Because we have been able to hang in there, we have the minimum wage. Because we managed to hang in there, we’ve had the civil rights bill. We’ve had the Clean Air Act. We’ve had Social Security. We’ve had the creation of EEO. We’ve had the Voting Rights Act. We have had the delivery from the Great Depression. We hang on in there. That’s what we do as Democrats. We hang on in there and then we save the nation.”

State Auditor Nicole Galloway – the Democratic nominee for governor – participated in the event. She continued her criticism of opponent, Governor Mike Parson, and his handling of the coronavirus. She said government action to the virus will be on the November ballot.

Missouri State Auditor Nicole Galloway (D)
(2017 file photo)

“Our response to it. The recovery from it. It will be the defining issue of our times,” said Galloway. “I believe if we are going to get back on our feet, get back to work and come out ahead, we have to start moving in a new direction.”

She said the COVID-19 crisis has put a spotlight on governors around the country due to an “absence of leadership in Washington, D.C.”

“Many governors are rising to the occasion. We have seen around the country what true leadership looks like. Unfortunately here in Missouri, that’s not what we’re seeing,” said Galloway. “I’m concerned that for Missourians recovering from the economic crisis, it will be harder here than in neighboring states – not because the virus has hit us harder but because this governor’s actions in the years leading up to the virus puts so many Missourians right on the edge economically. And now the virus has pushed them over the edge so deep in an economic black hole it will take years to dig out of.”

Parson has said Missouri is so diverse and local governments know what is best for their communities when it comes to slowing the spread of the virus. He has mostly let local leaders decide about what health requirements to enact.

The Republican National Convention will also be held mostly online the week of August 24 in North Carolina.

Missourinet will have coverage throughout both conventions from a variety of Missourians.

Parson and Galloway to square off in Missouri governor’s race

August 5, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

Gov. Mike Parson and State Auditor Nicole Galloway have both sailed to victory and have taken their party’s nomination for Missouri governor. For Parson, a Republican, 510,000 voters or 75% selected him. For Galloway, a Democrat, 453,000 voters or 85% chose her.

Both candidates gave their acceptance speeches virtually. Parson said he has been tested since Day 1 leading Missouri through historic drought, floods, tornadoes, COVID-19, and civil unrest. He says he is hopeful for the future of the state.

Parson Virtual Victory

Galloway said hope is on the horizon and healthcare, recovery and rebuilding are at the heart of her case for change.

Libertarian Rik Combs and the Green Party’s Jerome Howard Bauer are also running for governor.

Medicaid expansion is top priority for Missouri Democratic Party’s new acting chair (AUDIO)

July 8, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

The Missouri Democratic Party’s new acting chair is focusing on the August Medicaid expansion ballot measure and the November elections.

Former State Rep. Clem Smith, D-Velda Village Hills, speaks on the Missouri House floor in Jefferson City on May 18, 2018 (photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

Former State Rep. Clem Smith, D-Velda Village Hills, was elected to the Missouri House in 2010. He served eight years in the House, from 2011-2018, before being forced out by term limits. Smith became acting chair of the party on Thursday.

He says access to health care is critical. He’s pushing for Amendment Two, which will be on your August 4th ballot.

“We believe the state has an appetite for it (Medicaid expansion),” Smith says. “I think the governor saw that too. We saw some jockeying of dates for that ballot initiative being moved to August.”

Medicaid, which is officially known as MO HealthNet, is a federal and state program that assists with medical costs for residents who have limited incomes.

Medicaid expansion supporters, including the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, say it will create more than 16,000 new jobs annually during its first five years. Supporters also predict it will increase personal income by $1.1 billion annually.

House Speaker Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, opposes Medicaid expansion, saying it would take dollars out of the classroom. He notes it requires a ten percent match, for the 90 percent draw down. House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith, R-Carthage, says Medicaid expansion will blow a hole in the state operating budget.

As for Clem Smith, he’s confident that Missourians will approve Medicaid expansion at the ballot box next month. He says some GOP lawmakers who oppose Medicaid expansion also supported right-to-work, which Missourians rejected during a 2018 referendum.

“We saw that with the right-to-work that went through (signed into law by then-Governor Eric Greitens in 2017),” says Smith. “The people came and spoke and said we don’t want that, after members of the Legislature voted for it.”

67 percent of Missourians voted against right-to-work, at the August 2018 referendum.

Smith is also focusing on the November elections. He’s hopeful former Vice President Joe Biden (D) will carry Missouri this fall. The last Democratic presidential nominee to carry Missouri was Bill Clinton, who won here in both 1992 and 1996.

Smith is also focusing on the gubernatorial race and the statewide races. State Auditor Nicole Galloway, the presumptive Democratic gubernatorial nominee, is currently the only Democratic statewide officeholder. Smith also wants to see Democrats pick up seats in the Missouri Senate and Missouri House.

Republicans currently have supermajorities in both chambers. They control the Senate 23-8, with three vacancies. The GOP controls the House 113-48, with two vacancies.

Smith is also encouraging residents to fill out the U.S. Census, which takes place every ten years. He tells Missourinet the census is a nonpartisan issue.

“That’s very important because that determines the federal dollars that are coming into our state, how they’re allocated,” Smith says.

Each year, billions of dollars in federal funding goes to hospitals, fire departments and schools based on census data. The Census results also determine the number of seats each state will have in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Missouri now has eight House seats, and has lost two since 1980. That happened in 1981 and again in 2011, when the districts of then U.S. Reps. Wendell Bailey, R-Willow Springs, and Russ Carnahan, D-St. Louis, disappeared.

Smith replaces former Missouri Democratic Party Chair Jean Peters Baker, who is the Jackson County Prosecutor.

Click here to listen to the full interview between Missourinet’s Brian Hauswirth and Missouri Democratic Party acting chair Clem Smith, D-Velda Village Hills. It was recorded on July 6, 2020:

Missouri Chamber backs Medicaid expansion, which remains key issue in gubernatorial race

June 12, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

Missouri’s most influential business group is endorsing a Medicaid expansion issue that will appear on your August ballot. Medicaid, which is formally known as MO HealthNet, is a federal and state program that assists with medical costs for residents who have limited incomes.

Governor Mike Parson (right) briefs Missouri Capitol reporters in Jefferson City on June 11, 2020 (photo courtesy of the governor’s Flickr page)

Missouri’s current Medicaid budget is about $10 billion, accounting for about one-third of the state’s $30 billion operating budget.

The Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry has endorsed Amendment Two, which will be on the August 4 statewide ballot. The Chamber describes the Medicaid expansion proposal as a “pro-jobs measure that will help fuel economic growth throughout our state.”

The Chamber quotes a study from the Missouri Foundation for Health, which says Medicaid expansion will create more than 16,000 new jobs annually during its first five years, while increasing personal income by $1.1 billion annually. The Chamber says most of the new positions would be outside St. Louis and Kansas City, and that 90 percent of those jobs will pay more than $15 an hour.

The Missouri Hospital Association says ten rural Missouri hospitals have closed since 2014.

“Let’s not miss this chance to bolster our economy during this recovery, while expanding access to healthcare for our fellow Missourians,” Missouri Chamber President Dan Mehan says, in a written statement.

36 states have approved Medicaid expansion.

While the Medicaid expansion issue will be decided by voters in August, it has also emerged as a key issue in Missouri’s November gubernatorial race. It’s also a key issue for lawmakers in both parties.

Missourinet asked both Governor Mike Parson (R) and State Auditor Nicole Galloway (D), the presumptive Democratic gubernatorial nominee, about Medicaid expansion when they filed in February in Jefferson City.

“When (Auditor) Galloway was there and (Democratic Governor Jay) Nixon was there, we had over one million people on the state Medicaid roll out of six million. So when you think of that practically, one out of every six people on Medicaid,” Parson told Missourinet in February, at the Kirkpatrick Building.

Parson also said that day that no one verified Missouri’s Medicaid rolls, for more than a decade. He also emphasized that children who qualify for Medicaid should receive those services, and that his administration wants them to receive the services.

Auditor Galloway supports Medicaid expansion, noting the ten rural Missouri hospitals that have closed since 2014. The Columbia Democrat told Missourinet in February that it’s crucial.

“We have a governor that has kicked 100,000 children off of their health insurance, and he has no vision and no solution on how he’s going to fix that,” Galloway said that day.

Medicaid expansion has been discussed in the General Assembly for years, with most Republicans opposed to it and Democrats supporting.

House Speaker Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, opposes Medicaid expansion, saying it would take dollars out of the classroom. Speaker Haahr notes it requires a ten percent match, for the 90 percent draw down.

House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith, R-Carthage, agrees, telling Missourinet Friday evening that he opposes Medicaid expansion because he worries it will blow a hole in the state budget. Other GOP members on the House Budget Committee have the same concern.

Democrats in the Legislature disagree. State Sen. Jill Schupp, D-Creve Coeur, who hopes to unseat U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Ballwin, this fall, backs Amendment Two. Schupp says it will ensure that an additional 300,000 Missourians have access to health care.

State Rep. Keri Ingle, D-Lee’s Summit, spoke about the issue on the Missouri House floor during the May budget debate. Ingle predicted that day that Missourians would approve Medicaid expansion at the ballot box.

Meantime, the coronavirus outbreak has impacted Missouri’s Medicaid numbers, as well as the budget.

The number of Missourians on Medicaid has increased by about 75,000 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Online statistics from the state Department of Social Services (DSS) show there were about 848,000 Missouri Medicaid enrollees in February.

That number increased to about 923,000 in May.

Two Democrats added to governor’s coronavirus funding work group

April 23, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

House Democrat Kip Kendrick

The State Treasurer’s Office says two Democrats – State Representative Kip Kendrick of Columbia and Senator Karla May of St. Louis – have joined Gov. Mike Parson’s coronavirus funding working group. Members are tasked with recommending to the governor the best way to spend $2.3 billion in federal money to combat the virus.

Kendrick is the ranking Democrat on the Missouri House Budget Committee. As a state representative, May served on the Budget Committee and was the ranking minority member of the Subcommittee on Appropriations – Public Safety, Corrections, Transportation and Revenue.

Parson has been criticized for not originally including any Democrats, women or people of color on the panel. State Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick, a Republican from southwest Missouri’s Shell Knob, is the chairman of the group. Before Parson appointed him to serve in his current role, Fitzpatrick was the House Budget Committee Chairman.

Sen. Karla May (photo courtesy; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

“I think at the end of the day the governor is interested in having a group of people that will have relevant experience and can provide results to him,” Fitzpatrick tells Missouri. “The demographics things are, I think, kind of a secondary concern.”

Other group members include State Budget Director Dan Haug, Missouri Public Service Commission Chairman and former Missouri House Budget Committee Chairman Ryan Silvey, Missouri House Budget Committee Vice Chairman David Wood, State Sen. Lincoln Hough, R-Springfield, Department of Natural Resources legislative liaison Rich Germinder and Dan Burgess, legislative director for Missouri U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt.

“I think what the governor was trying to accomplish was having some legislative input, some federal input with a member of the federal delegation staff representative there, somebody from a staff level from the executive branch as well as the budget director and myself and then also Budget Chairman Ryan Silvey,” says Fitzpatrick.

So far, Missouri has had at least 208 coronavirus related deaths and more than 6,100 people have tested positive for the respiratory disease. COVID-19 is disproportionately affecting African-Americans in Missouri.

Missouri Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick (Photos courtesy of the Treasurer’s Office)

Fitzpatrick says Missouri has already received $1.18 billion – half of the total federal allocation. The rest of the money could come later this week. The state is still awaiting federal guidance on the way it can spend the money in response to the coronavirus.

Auditor Nicole Galloway, a Democrat challenging Parson for governor, is reviewing the way the state is using the funding.

Fitzpatrick says he hopes to have the first meeting next week. It will be held in a public setting. The location is unknown at this time.