The Informed Voter Coalition interviewed candidates for Missouri Senate District 29: Incumbent Republican Mike Moon, Republican Susan Haralson and Democrat Ron Monnig.
The Informed Voter Coalition is made up of these nonprofit organizations: Be Civil, Be Heard ; Drury University’s L.E. Meador Center for Politics & Citizenship; Junior League of Springfield; KSMU Ozarks Public Radio; Leadership Springfield; League of Women Voters of Southwest Missouri; Missouri State University’s Office of Public Affairs; NAACP Springfield; Rosie; Show Me Christian County; Springfield Business Journal; Springfield-Greene County Library District; and the Springfield News-Leader.
You can hear the interviews recorded at KSMU by clicking on the "listen" button above or watch a video of the interviews recorded by Nathan Papes of the Springfield News-Leader.
Candidates were interviewed individually and asked the same questions. They had one minute to introduce themselves and two minutes to respond to each question. Questions were submitted by Informed Voter Coalition partner organizations and were not provided to the candidates in advance. The order of the candidate interviews was determined by a random drawing.
Mike Moon
Let's begin by having you introduce yourself and tell us why you decided to run for this office.
"I've been in Missouri now for about 46 years. I met my wife, Denise, here, and we've been married 44 years on August 9th, so three days after the the election we'll be celebrating that. We have five children, six grandchildren. We live on a farm in Lawrence County where we raise beef cattle. And I'm a graduate of SMS, and I have a hard time getting past the the first s, but SMS in 1985 with a secondary physical education degree, and I've currently been in the legislature for 12 sessions. I was elected in a special in 2013 and so that prompted — it was a longer story than I have time to get into here — but I'm continuing on trying to to continue that for at least one more term in the Senate to work for those folks in the 29th Senatorial district."
If elected, what do you see as being the biggest challenge you will face as a senator, and how are you preparing to face that challenge?
"I've been talking to some constituents, particularly in the new part of the district, and that includes Christian County, particularly. And there's a lot of concern about employment. And we've seen over the last four years where it seems like there are jobs available. However, something has changed in the mindset of workers. And it's not just the young folks, but it's across every age spectrum, it seems, where jobs are available, however, there's no willingness to continue working. And so I don't have the answer, honestly, but I've been talking to some folks about what they see as some potential answers. And one of the things is we need to create environments so that folks do want to work. Those include, you know, economic factors, of course, where we have lower taxation and less governmental regulations and allow people the freedom to choose the job that they can enjoy and be productive at. And so that's going to take a lot of work, I think, between those locally and also the job applicants, but I'm hopeful that we can, as a governmental entity, release, relieve the burden, especially the bureaucratic red tape, so that employers can can start businesses, hire people, produce products, and everybody can win in that situation."
What support, if any, has your campaign received from community groups, organizations or political action committees, and why should that support matter to voters?
"That's a question that kind of has caused a lot of kerfuffles in people's minds, actually, when people get — when candidates, I should say, get donations from a particular group, there is an appearance that they are bought by that particular group. And I used to think that way, too. When I was first elected, I made it a practice. In fact, I ran as a candidate twice before I was ever elected, won — or lost miserably in both those campaigns and in each of those I decided not to take lobbyist money. They didn't have PACs then, as I recall. I remember getting even money from a group that I'm associated with through my cattle operation. I returned the money. And I had realtors give me money. I returned that money, too, with just a simple note that I wasn't going to take the money because I didn't want to have the appearance of being bought by them. I found that that is, a lot is dependent upon the individual candidate, and if you take money from someone, I was encouraged years ago to take it and use it for the benefit of getting into office but not be beholden to that particular entity. And that's the way I've run my office and my personal life as well so that I am kind of a welcome all. Now, there are some exceptions that I won't take money from, but I've had money from attorneys. I've had money from PACs that are representing different entities across the state. And so I encourage people to look at my report. It'll come out on the 15th of this month (July). They can see where the money's come from. They can see where I've spent the money. And they can also look at my voting record, and they can determine pretty quickly that I haven't been swayed one way or the other by a political action committee."
In what ways have you actively collaborated with the communities in your district to understand their needs and integrate their perspectives into decision making processes for this position?
"I have been in contact with county commissioners in the district, and even outside the district, who have asked me to forward or support a particular issue that they have. And also, I've been in contact with mayors and aldermen and even constituents who, they're my boss. All of them are my bosses, so I need to pay attention. There is an occasion where I found that, even just this week, someone came to me in person and said, 'I sent you an email, and you didn't respond.' So I had my staff look through all the emails, and we haven't found it yet. But I got her contact information, and we're contacting her and trying to work through the the issue that she had. So keep in mind, I'm not perfect, and I have tripped up lots of times and probably will again, but I think it's important to stay in touch with the community. In fact, in Christian County, I believe it was on the 18th Street, we were asked to support a road improvement program that would supply IT jobs. I think it was over 150 jobs that could have been impacted. We got on board and found out about it a little bit late in the process, didn't get it put in the budget. I don't think it would have mattered because some may have seen that our governor vetoed over $1 billion in appropriations to different entities. So we're going to continue to work on that, and hopefully we'll be successful. There'll be a new administration next year. And so we'll continue to work with local entities, individuals as well, and hopefully we can bring some good things to each community."
If you are elected to the Missouri Senate, what are the main issues that you plan to focus on?
"I've mentioned some of them already, and there , some of them are economic. Some of them are social, perhaps, but the economic primarily is we have seen in the last three to four years, especially through inflation, fuel cost increases, that impacts nearly every sector of our lives. And government is important, but only the amount of government that we need is what we should be paying for. And so I'm an advocate of what is called the fair tax, where workers will get 100% of the money they earn. There won't be an income tax, there won't be a tax on personal property or real estate. And the corporations won't pay a tax either, because most of those corporate income tax, especially corporations, don't pay tax. They pass that on to the consumers, so when you purchase and things and consume things, you're paying that added — there will be opportunities for employers, especially if we get rid of that one, to hire more people perhaps, maybe pay them more money. They could increase their product lines. They may even keep some for themselves. But it's their business and they have that opportunity to do so. For the the income tax, if you get 100% of the money you earn and you can determine where you want to spend it, the tax will be based on the new goods you buy. And there — it's been proposed before. I hope that we can make some tweaks to it where the appetite will be more appealing to those across the state because most people I talk to are looking for tax relief, and they're looking for economic freedom, and I think if we can give that to them, and I believe we can, I believe the the appetite is there where I think we can get some attention. I don't think it's going to happen in one year because we proposed it before about 12 or 13 years ago, and there was enough opposition where it was halted. But I believe that the time is now where we can make a big impact and give everybody some good relief."
Mike, that concludes our interview. Thank you very much for taking time to be with us today.
"You're welcome."
Susan Haralson
Would you please introduce yourself and tell us why you decided to run for this position? You have one minute.
"I graduated from Ozark High School. A little bit about myself, graduated from school of the Ozarks. I worked at an NPR station, which is really fun coming back here to another one. I have owned a company, Premier Home Health Care, for the last 32 years. And I believe because I'm a business owner, I know the ups and downs. I know how to balance a checkbook. I know how to write a check. I know that I can't spend more than I get or have in my bank account. And I really think there's a lot of people up in Jefferson City that don't realize that, so that's why I want to run. I want to bring a lot more economic development, you know, toward the area in Ozark and Nixa and Christian County, throughout the whole area. I mean, all of us need it. You know, I was in Barry County not too long ago, and they were talking about, you know, the numbers going down, so all of us need it no matter where we are, so that's going to be one of my focuses."
If elected, what do you see as being the biggest challenge you will face as a senator, and how are you preparing to face that challenge?
"Well, if I had my crystal ball, I could tell you what I'm assuming is going to be that I'm the newbie on the block and that I've not done this before and there's some things to learn, and I've learned very quickly and very, very excited about the possibilities of what can happen. But I really think that we should or when I get up there. I'm sorry. I completely lost track of thought."
What do you think would be the biggest challenge, and how are you preparing to face that challenge?
"Biggest challenge will be that I'm a new person on the block, and that I need to get to know everybody and how it works up there, but I also think that one of the biggest challenges will be just to know how I can improve the process, find those people that I can work with, that people that maybe won't want to work with me, but I can talk them into working with me because what I want is the betterment of the Christian County and Barry County, Lawrence County and McDonnell County. And if I need to cross the aisle, I'll do that, too. But I think we need to compromise, and we need to get things done instead of obstruct everything that's going on right now."
What support, if any, has your campaign received from community groups, organizations or political action committees, and why should that support matter to voters?
"I have a lot of support by mouth. Not a whole lot of money is coming in. I mean, I've got a lot of support, let's just say grassroots. You know, I just had a meeting with the superintendents. They all support me. Do they have money to give me? No. There's a lot of groups that have supported me. The carpenters are supporting me. You know, the Farm Bureau. The Missouri Chamber is supporting me, but what need the voters need to know is that when I was in Jeff City, I told every one of the lobbyists that I talked to and all the PACs, 'you can support me. That's up to you. But I will listen to you. And that's all I'm going to promise you. It doesn't mean I'm going to vote for everything that you want, but I will open my door and I will listen to reason and then I'll talk to my constituents and see if that's what they want.' "
In what ways have you actively collaborated with the communities in your district to understand their needs and integrate their perspectives into decision making processes for this position?
"I'm continuing to do that. I'm speaking to Nixa City Council tonight. Ozark is coming up. I've spoken to many of the Chamber of Commerce's and talk to them. I was in Sparta the other day. I've been down to Cassville, and we were at a tractor pull a couple of days ago and just asking, walking around and asking people, you know, 'what's on your mind? What do you not like about what's going on and how can I help?' I've been down to Pineville in McDonald County and one of their Republican groups, and they gave me an earful of what's not going on and some of the things that they would like help with, and one of those is the economic development. And they have a great, a great representative there, Deke (Dirk Deaton). And what he's trying to do is trying to get some things going down there, and I really appreciate that, and they love him for it. But there's so many people that I'm talking to because I want to know how best to represent everybody, whether you're Democrat, whether you're Republican, whether you're whatever you are. Once I become senator, I'm a representative to everyone."
If you're elected to the Missouri Senate, what are the main issues that you plan to focus on?
"You know, that has changed since I started thinking about this in January. You know, education is a big issue, and I've been talking to superintendents, and I have a lot of school teachers within my family, so that is going to be a big issue. And everybody wants the children to get the best education possible. Is the bill a great bill? I don't think so. I think we can do better, so what I'll be working on is, is trying to get everybody together and get a better solution for our kids and education. But I also know that health care is broken. And what I want to do is I want to help Missourians find better health care. The veterans, you know, they can't go and find good help anywhere it doesn't seem like. And that's been an ongoing problem for a long time. And with my business, we've been taking care of veterans for over 30 years. And I see that there's a problem trying to get immediate help. Sometimes they'll have to travel far and wide, and a lot of these veterans are not able to do that. I also want to work on adoption. I think our problem in Missouri is our social services. There's way too many kids out there that need good help, and we don't have enough people to take care of them. And I've been talking to a lot of people about some of the issues that they've had in the past and the system that we have now. And sometimes people, you know, take care of kids in the foster system just for the money, and I want to prevent that. I want to stop that. Our kids deserve so much better."
Well, Susan, that concludes our interview. Thank you very much for taking the time to talk to us.
"Thank you. And remember to vote August 6th."
Ron Monnig
Would you please introduce yourself and tell us why you decided to run for this position?
"My name is Ron Monnig. I moved to Barry County about nine years ago after I retired from small business, owned various small businesses throughout my life. I also spent close to 20 years on the Slater City Council, and in that capacity, I served on the Missouri Municipal League Board of Directors and was a past president of that organization. In that capacity, I worked with city officials from throughout the state, worked together to solve or come up with ideas to solve municipal problems. It's that spirit I think we need back in the state legislature one of cooperation, dialogue, compromise and to get things done again."
If elected, what do you see as being the biggest challenge you will face as a senator, and how are you preparing to face that challenge?
"I think the number one challenge we face in Missouri is education. Our schools for too long have been underfunded. Our teachers pay up until recently has been the lowest in the nation. Statistics show teacher turnover rate is great. I think we need to tackle this problem to make our schools great once again, to get the teachers the pay they deserve and the resources they need. We need to make the legislature get back to work. We need to cooperate. We need to compromise. That means reaching across the aisle. We get along with about 80% of everything we talk about, and we're letting 20% and a small minority divide us and driving the political issue and narrative. I think we can do better than that. I think it's time to once again roll up our sleeves and get to work. We need to show some fiscal responsibility in the legislature. Out of a budget of a little over $50 billion last year, the state auditor has cited, I think it was $271 billion in unaccounted for, misused, misplaced funds. We need to get to the bottom of this and become better fiscal stewards for the public's money. The third thing, but certainly not the least important, is women's reproductive rights. We need to restore them. We need to get government out of the waiting room, out of the exam rooms and out of doctor's offices. We need to return to the Missouri values that we all know and love, and I intend to bring that spirit and that cooperation to the Senate."
What support, if any, has your campaign received from community groups, organizations, or political action committees, and why should that support matter to voters?
"We are concentrating on small donors. Our outreach, we have a small organization. Right now, my main focus is making phone calls and trying to raise some money. I'm not going to be able to match the huge funds in the campaign PAC money that other candidates might receive, but we will do more with less by getting the people at the local level to contribute in small amounts. I've reached out to civic groups and community groups. I'm going to fairs and parades and meeting people one on one. That is the way we can win this election, but it takes one person at a time. I know we can get this done if people will just spread the word instead of just voting an R or a D, let's look at the policies. Let's see what's been going on and what hasn't been done in the legislature. Last year was the worst record ever for passing legislation in Jefferson City. The Missouri Senate met for 10 minutes on the last day of the of the session. They didn't pass one bill in the final week of the session. It's time to start working together to cooperate with one another, come up with ideas and mutually agreed upon goals and move forward to better our citizens and to do all we can, especially critical in rural Missouri and where we need help with education, help with infrastructure, help with high speed internet, and with the changing demographics, it's going to be very challenging, but I know that we can. We are up to it as a state and as a people. We can get this done."
In what ways have you actively collaborated with the communities in your district to understand their needs and integrate their perspectives into decision making processes for this position?
"As I said earlier, in the Missouri Municipal League, I met with officials from all over the state of Missouri, cities large and small, some only a few hundred people. This is the core of what Missouri is, and it's the core of what the 29th District is. We can reach out. I've been reaching out again to civic groups, going to parades, knocking on doors and meeting one voter at a time, trying to get my message through to the voters that we can do better, that we are capable of great things again. With the inaction and the legislature and the mismanagement of funds, it's time for the people to stand up and say, 'we can do better than this. We deserve better.' And I agree with them 100%, and I will do everything I can to be fiscal responsible, not to play politics with our government, to stay out of local government and federal government. If they want to — our legislature has a bad habit of spending taxpayer money on positions or things that they have no business dealing with. We're suing the federal government for something or we're suing the president. We're sending troops to the border. These are federal issues. These aren't state issues. We need to concentrate on Missouri and Missouri's problems. Same thing with the local level. Don't be dictating to local schools, local libraries or to mothers what they can and cannot do. Those are local decisions. If you want to worry about those local decisions, I urge you to run for the school board, run for the city council. If you're worried about Washington, run for Congress, run for president. But if not, if you're in Jeff City, you need to do the work of the state of Missouri."
If you're elected to the Missouri Senate, what are the main issues that you plan to focus on?
"I will focus on education. That will be my number one priority. Teachers have too long been underpaid. Too often, I've heard stories of them having to reach into their own pocket to get the supplies needed to teach whatever class they're teaching. My grandmother was a teacher. My oldest brother was a teacher. I have two daughters that are teachers. I value education very highly. I have six children and 13 grandchildren and one great grandson. It's their future that I'm worried about. It's tomorrow that we need to worry about and stop fighting and bringing the work of the Missouri Legislature to the standstill over some particular issue. Politics is the art of compromise. I think we've forgotten that. Now we have people criticizing the auditor for this audit that came out about the unused funds. These people are in the same party. They're attacking one another, trying to make a political issue out of it when the auditor isn't even up for reelection and as far as I know, isn't running against anyone this year. But it's things like that that misdirect the public, and we need to come back and focus on what's important for Missouri and especially what's important for our citizens. I intend to go down to Jeff City to represent the people and their interests, and I'm ready to roll up my sleeves and get to work."
