GOP gubernatorial candidates chase business vote

Missouri State Treasurer Sarah Steelman and U.S. Congressman Kenny Hulshof have repeatedly campaigned in Springfield, but some Republican voters are still trying to distinguish which candidate is best from a business standpoint. The winner of the Aug. 5 primary will face Attorney General Jay Nixon, a Democrat, in the Nov. 4 general election.

Both Hulshof and Steelman have stopped by the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce this summer to introduce themselves to chamber members and answer questions – including some hardballs – about their political priorities.

During Hulshof’s July 7 chamber visit, at least two audience members told the 9th District congressman they were still undecided.

Still, businesspeople voting in the primary will have their work cut out for them next month, said George Connor, head of the political science department at Missouri State University.

“What’s happening here is they’re trying to woo those more conservative primary voters, and they’re focusing more on the social issues,” Connor said. “ ... Neither campaign is focusing on issues that are relevant to businesspeople.”

A check of each candidate’s Web site lends some credence to Connor’s theory.

Both Steelman and Hulshof describe themselves as a friend to Missouri businesses and an enemy of higher taxes. Both characterize themselves as fiscal conservatives. And both want to create jobs and reduce regulatory hassles for businesses.

Specifics on how they hope to accomplish these things have been scant, but both gubernatorial hopefuls have taken a clear stance on some economic issues.

The ethanol debate

Steelman has publicly called for a repeal of Missouri’s ethanol mandate, which requires unleaded gas lower than 91-octane to contain 10 percent ethanol – known as E10 – when ethanol is cheaper than gas. While she supports alternative fuel sources to reduce the country’s dependence on foreign oil, Steelman said ethanol-blended fuel, which is heavily subsidized by government, should compete on a level playing field.

“I believe the free market – not the government – should dictate gas and food prices,” she said at a July 1 news conference in front of Willow Brook Foods.

The Springfield-based poultry processor recently sold to Cargill Inc., which announced it would close two center-city plants and lay off some 700 employees. Former Willow Brook President Mike Briggs told SBJ in May that the company was facing an estimated $30 million increase in grain prices tied to the uptick in domestic ethanol production – made mainly from corn – on top of a $4 million jump in energy costs related to skyrocketing oil prices.

Hulshof, who grows corn on his family’s farm in southeast Missouri, said in an interview that he supports the mandate as a way to offset the country’s daily oil usage. He said domestic ethanol use has replaced 567,000 barrels of oil a day and cited a recent study by the federal government that indicated gas prices would be 35 cents higher per gallon without ethanol.

“And we’re about to see a new generation of biofuels,” he said, pointing to the promise of cellulosic ethanol.

Transportation funding

As for Missouri’s impending transportation funding crisis, neither candidate supports raising gas taxes to fund highway and bridge improvement projects, and Steelman said she opposes toll roads. Both candidates said Missouri should explore public-private partnerships but neither has pitched a specific plan.

Funding for new road projects is expected to drop by more than half in fiscal 2010, when the state must begin making payments on $2 billion in bonds secured as part of Amendment 3 to fund major construction. Without additional revenue, Missouri Department of Transportation officials have said the department would transition into a “maintenance-only mode.”

Health care costs

Steelman and Hulshof also have a vaguely similar stance on curbing the rising cost of health care. With few or no details, both candidates have advocated a larger role for private enterprise in hopes that free-market competition will help stabilize the health insurance costs. Hulshof has said Missourians must take ownership of their personal health and rely less on the government.

Despite their similarities on many issues, Hulshof and Steelman diverge greatly on the future of the Second Injury Fund, Missouri’s pot of money for disabled workers who are injured on the job.

At a July 8 forum in the St. Louis area, Hulshof repeated a widely held assertion that the fund is headed for financial disaster within a couple of years, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Steelman, however, contends the fund is solvent, and she cited its $21 million balance at the end of the most recent fiscal year, according to the report.

Democratic Hopeful

Attorney General Jay Nixon, a Democrat, will close out the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce speaker series featuring Missouri’s gubernatorial candidates, although a date has not been set. SBJ will continue to cover the governor’s race leading up to the Nov. 4 election. [[In-content Ad]]