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 videos of the interviews recorded by Nathan Papes and Greta Cross 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.
Missouri House District 135
I'm Mary Ann Wood of the Office of Public Affairs Support at Missouri State University, one of the nonpartisan organizations that makes up the Informed Voter Coalition. Today, we are interviewing candidates for state representative for the 135th District. They are Betsy Fogle and Michael Hasty.
Betsy Fogle
Our first candidate is Betsy Fogle. Thank you very much for joining us. Let's begin by having you introduce yourself and tell us why you decided to run for this office.
"Hi, I'm State Representative Betsy Fogle, born and raised here in Springfield, graduate of Springfield Public Schools and Missouri State University so I'm back home here being on campus today. I have represented House District 135, so the northeast quadrant of the city of Springfield, for the last four years in the General Assembly in Jefferson City. I got into politics after a career working in public health, where I worked hands on with families, helping connect them to insurance, transportation, housing, food, anything that a family could need to succeed, and seeing all those gaps in care and all of the gaps within the safety net that existed here in Springfield for working families made me want to jump in and try to fix some of the policies that I saw negatively impacting the families that I was trying to assist in the public health world. So I ran for office in 2020, very narrowly won that election and have had the privilege and honor of serving as state representative for the last four years."
Amendment 7 will appear on the November ballot. If passed, it will establish that only citizens who are Missouri residents can vote. Currently, you must be a registered Missouri resident to vote in our municipal, state and federal elections. This amendment will also prohibit ranked choice voting in the state of Missouri. Do you support this amendment? Why or why?
"No, I do not. That is an issue that has garnered a lot of attention in the General Assembly the last few years. This issue of noncitizens voting has become a political wedge and a political talking point that the majority party has given a lot of oxygen and a lot of attention to. When I'm out knocking doors, when I'm talking to constituents back home, that is, that's never come up on a door ever in the history of five years of knocking doors. So for me, I think it's one of those examples of a time when the majority party is choosing to use their platform to create a problem and then pretend to fix it. Especially as it relates to the first part of that. And, you know, I just, we already have language. We already have protections to make sure that only residents and citizens can vote here in our state. And I think that a lot of oxygen is getting put into an issue that doesn't really exist. The latter half of that ranked choice voting, we've had some debates. I think for me right now, the City of Saint Louis is one of the few places that's doing that. And if that municipality, if that city wants to do it, if the people want to do it, who are we as the General Assembly to make that decision for them?"
Across the state, school districts serve as large employers in their communities. What steps, if any, do you think should be taken to address the teacher shortage in Missouri?
"So that is an issue that, in the four years in the General Assembly, I'm proud of the work that we've done on both sides of the aisle to recruit and retain good, qualified educators in our public school systems. Here in Springfield, I represent the state's largest public school district, and I'm very proud of that. But we have to have good, qualified teachers that want to come into that field, and we do that through several different mechanisms. First and foremost, we need to continue to be unified in our pursuit of increasing teacher pay across the state. Coming into this legislative session, the base teacher pay here in Missouri was $28,000. We were able to raise it through Senate Bill 727 to $40,000. But in 2024, when most sectors are paying more than that, it still seems like there is a lack of people going into the education field, and retention in our public school systems is something that we need to continue to focus on. When you look at the surrounding states in Missouri, every state that borders us pays significantly more than that base rate of $40,000. So I think that that is one component of how do we recruit and retain qualified educators? Second to that, I think we need to go back to a time when our communities support our public schools. In my time in the General Assembly, we now have twice voted to send public tax dollars to private schools, something that I'm very much against, but that is done under the guise of that our public school systems aren't meeting the expectations of our constituents, and I disagree with that. You know, public schools are one of the things that makes this country the greatest country in the world, that every child, regardless of income, regardless of learning ability, has access to free and quality public education. And we need to bring professionalism and support back into the classrooms."
What are your thoughts regarding funding for state higher education institutions?
"Absolutely. So that's a kind of an open ended question. And I think when we look at how do we create pathways for people, how do we create pathways out of poverty? How do we make higher education attainable for all? we need to look at multiple different things, including funding. You know, we're on campus here at Missouri State. I'm a proud product of public education. I got my undergraduate degree here on campus. I went down to the University of Arkansas, got another degree from a public institution and was only able to do that because it was affordable. We have had a lot of conversations in Jeff City and in the Capitol about how do we make the way that we fund higher education equitable across the board? Do we make it based on merit, based on outcomes, based on enrollment? And I think it's really important that we look at where we're investing in higher education, that we make sure that we're investing in all of our institutions and making it possible for all students who want to go into higher education, give them a pathway to do so. I think we also need to continue the conversation about what does education look like for people who maybe a four year college? Doesn't make sense. Places like Ozarks Technical Community College, you know, we're lucky to live in a community where there are multiple different avenues for people to attain education, whether it's a four year degree here on campus or a two year degree from OTC. But those investments come at the state level, and if we're unwilling or unable to continue to make those investments, then higher education will become a path that's not attainable for so many."
What are your budget priorities for the upcoming year, and what would you like to see funded for your district?
"So I have the pleasure of serving on the State Appropriations or State Budget Committee. I've served there for the last four years. When I reflect on my time in the General Assembly, I think those are some of the wins that I'm most proud of as a legislator bringing home dollars for nonprofits in Springfield, for infrastructure programs and projects and for things like investments in teacher pay. When I look about or when I look to, what do I want to walk into the building next year and do, I want to continue to make sure that we have educational systems that serve the needs of all kids. I came from a meeting this morning with a family, or with a mom who had had a child with severe autism, and listening to her talk about navigating the system for her child with disabilities definitely made me want to reengage and recommit to focusing on that in the next legislative session. My sister recently adopted a 12-year-old out of the foster care system, and that gave my family firsthand experience with the gaps that exist within our children's division, and wanting to make sure that I go back to Jefferson City and help close those gaps. When we talk about who in this state needs funding, needs support, needs budgetary assistance, my mind always goes to the most vulnerable to the kids that are stuck in these situations that without the funding to help get them out, we're going to continue to see kids go missing in the foster care system, kids that are living in hospitals because they have no safe place to go, a children's division team that is one of the lowest paid in the country. And I think that's where I'll continue my efforts in the General Assembly if I'm fortunate enough to be re-elected."
Do you have any specific community based projects on the forefront of your campaign that you would prioritize if elected?
"Can you define community-based project? I want to make sure I'm answering it correctly."
I would say things that directly affect this particular area of the state.
"Okay, I, I'll answer that the way that I think the question means. So again, when I look at what I've been able to accomplish in the General Assembly and some of the community based projects, the way I define it, places like bringing home funding to Care to Learn, which is a nonprofit that provides health, hunger and hygiene items to students who need it. That's something that I'm really proud we were able to accomplish. That nonprofit is one of the only nonprofits in the area that makes sure that, when kids go home on a Friday afternoon, they have what they need to eat to be clean and to return to school on Monday morning having the tools that they need to learn. And I think that is an example of how individuals and legislators in Springfield can work across the aisle and support some of the needs back home for the constituents that need, you know, support from state government. Another project that I know all Springfield area electeds are really proud of are the infrastructure initiatives that we have building out capacity on I-44, making sure that our roads and bridges are safe and easily accessible and easily travelable. I think that is another good example of how Republicans and Democrats can work across the aisle to bring home budgetary wins and community based wins for our constituents."
Michael Hasty
Joining me now is Michael Hasty. Thank you very much for joining us. Would you please introduce yourself and tell us why you decided to run for this position?
"Well, thanks for having me today. As you said, my name is Michael Hasty. I am a candidate for the 135th District, and I've been an active community person for many years now. I've been very active at the school board level and city council for years. I kind of got active during COVID, and all four of my kids are Springfield Public School students so that's where I've been heavily vested in the community for for years and still am, actually. And I just decided that maybe this might be the next logical step for me to be able to fight for my kids and other families like my own and my hopes are that I can go up there and advocate for working class families such as myself and the one that I grew up in."
Amendment 7 will appear on the November ballot. If passed, it will establish that only citizens who are Missouri residents can vote. Currently, you must be a registered Missouri resident to vote in our municipal, state and federal elections. This amendment will also prohibit ranked choice voting in the state of Missouri. Do you support this amendment? Why or why not?
"I believe that only citizens should be allowed to vote in our elections. The Federal Constitution and the state, as you said, mandate that citizens are the only ones that are allowed to vote in the election, and that's a right of being a citizen of this country or the state. So I do support that, that amendment."
Across the state, school districts serve as large employers in their communities. What steps, if any, do you think should be taken to address the teacher shortage in Missouri?
"I actually spoke on this to the school board here in Springfield just over a year ago, when they were doing away with what was called the annualized pay plan, and it eventually led to the loss of 60 something teachers. And I feel that we should listen to the union here that represents, I believe, 80 plus percent of Springfield teachers. And they do a very good job of advocating for those teachers. And I have quite a few friends and community leaders and contacts that do work for SPS and wish that the school board would listen to the teachers and have a better, better working relationship with the board, the superintendent and the union so that the teachers can be more heard."
What are your thoughts regarding funding for state higher education institutions?
"Higher education is kind of important. I just feel that with the state funding, some of it is necessary, but there's a lot of strings attached to some funding, and we do need to keep our institutions running as they've provided, you know, great educational opportunities for many kids and now adults in the community. I am a big advocate for education at all levels because our kids, my kids included, will be the next generation of of leaders, entrepreneurs, business owners and just everyday people that we work with in our daily lives."
What are your budget priorities for the upcoming year and what would you like to see funded for your district?
"I would like to see more funding down here in Springfield as a whole, not just the 135th, because we're just a piece of Springfield, for more like parks and stuff for kids. Again, I'm a very family centered man, and we have a lot of great parks, but some of the the parks and equipment stuff have kind of gone downhill since COVID and haven't been upkept. That's kind of, you know, anything that I stand for and believe in it's family oriented, and I'm a family man at my core, and anything that could get the families more engaged in our community, help the kids and get people out is kind of where I would be with that."
Do you have any specific community-based projects on the forefront of your campaign that you would prioritize if elected?
"I'm a foster kid of 14 years, so I've been a big advocate of trying to make the system here in Springfield and across the state work to benefit the children. From my personal experiences being in Missouri and Illinois' foster care systems, I believe that sometimes the kids get lost in the shuffle, and the system doesn't always work to do what's in the best interest of the child. And ultimately, I think that goal should be family reunification. And if not, we need to make it more possible for families to adopt these children, because every kid deserves a loving home. And that's kind of something that's very passionate to me, and I think that we could do here in Springfield, and there are great organizations already working towards that goal to help the kids. But in the end, I think we can do a little bit more to kind of polish the system up and make it work to benefit the children and get them into either back to their homes, with their families or into a loving home themselves."
