McClure parts ways with CU

Springfield Business Journal: What is your previous public service experience?

Ken McClure: My first position was as a budget analyst with the Missouri Senate Appropriations Committee. I was in that capacity for two years, followed by five years as staff director for the committee. In that role I was responsible for the budget analysis done on behalf of the appropriations committee, which in turn resulted in the Senate’s version of the state budget.

Following that, I spent eight and a half years as deputy director of the Missouri Department of Economic Development, where I was responsible for the administrative aspects – budgeting, accounting, human resources, information technology, those types of activities – for all agencies of the department.

I then spent a total of seven and a half years as a member and chairman of the Missouri Public Service Commission, which is a five- member quasi-judicial body that’s responsible for regulating all the investor-owned utilities. That would be telecommunications companies, electricity companies, water and gas and sewer companies.

And then, upon completion of my term on the public service commission, I joined City Utilities and have been for the last several years associate general manager for administration at CU.

SBJ: How have those jobs prepared you for the job you’re about to take?

McClure: Every position I’ve had has prepared me for the next one.

My position at City Utilities utilized both my regulatory and utility experience and knowledge, as well as my previous administration background.

This new position really capitalizes on all of my career experience.

Certainly you have to be very adept at managing both people and issues and all types of administrative matters that come before you, as well as looking at policy issues that will arise, making sure the governor’s vision is carried out by the department.

So I think my position at CU, like other positions that I’ve had, has prepared me cumulatively for the next step.

SBJ: Why leave City Utilities to join the governor-elect in Jefferson City?

McClure: The opportunity to serve a governor directly, especially in the role of chief of staff, is certainly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

The decision to leave CU was not easy and was not done without a lot of discussion among our family and a lot of prayer. But we recognized that working directly for the governor will afford an opportunity to have a tremendous impact on day-to-day matters in the governor’s office and certainly issues that affect virtually every Missourian.

(It) is an opportunity that comes very rarely in one’s career, and when it comes, in my opinion, it was a step we needed to take. Leaving CU is a very difficult decision.

It’s a great company, and they’ve been very good to me and afforded me an opportunity to further my career.

SBJ: Your new job comes with a significant decrease in pay (from around $150,000 to around $95,000). Did that have an impact on your decision?

McClure: Certainly it played a role. You have to take into account the financial impact of a change like this. It’s something that we’ll have to work through as a family, but my wife and I determined that this was an opportunity that we could not pass up.

SBJ: What challenges do you face in the next four years?

McClure: We’ve got several challenges. The governor has articulated, at least for the immediate year, his priorities. Certainly we are looking to keep the state fiscally sound and operating at a more efficient manner than we have been.

The focus on that will reveal itself in the budget, which is being prepared right now. The budget is a very difficult process even in a good year, and then when you compound the challenges the state’s had over recent years, it makes it that much more complex.

The governor also said he wants to improve the entrepreneurial climate in the state, and that will manifest itself in workers’ compensation issues and tort reform. Then the third emphasis will be looking into the school foundation formula – the funding that goes to our schools – and rewriting that formula. Those are three major initiatives that will occupy our time immediately.

Longer term, we want to look at a reorganization of state government. It’s been 30 years since the state government was last examined from a structural standpoint. There was a major effort completed in 1974, and typically every 20 to 30 years those issues have been looked at around that state, so that will be a long-term issue over the next two or three years.

SBJ: What is your history with Gov.-elect Blunt?

McClure: I’ve known the governor-elect for 20 years, and I’ve known his parents much longer than that.

The governor-elect and I became acquainted during the years he was growing up in Jefferson City.

At that point I was working for the state and became aware of him first through my Sunday school class at the First Baptist Church in Jefferson City, where he was in my class.

And, knowing his family, there were gatherings at their home. I’ve followed his career ever since, through the naval academy and certainly through his active duty service.

We were reacquainted in 1998 when he returned from active duty and ran for the legislature from Greene County.

In my City Utilities role, of course, we try to work with all members of our legislative delegation, and that included at that time the newly elected Rep. Blunt, and so we stayed in contact. I did help him with some of his policy matters in his Secretary of State campaign in 2000 and directed his transition into the Secretary of State’s office in 2000.

So we have maintained contact during the last four years. I also did policy development for him on my own time over the last couple of years in preparation for his campaign for governor.

So I’ve had a long-term acquaintance and relationship with the governor-elect going back over 20 years.