Missouri Representative, 139th District: Brad Roark, Republican

Brad Roark, Republican

He was elected to his first term in 2000, he serves on the committees of Appropriations General Administration, Transportation, Commerce and Economic Development, Utilities Regulation, and the Joint Committee on Transportation Oversight.

What is your plan to get the state budget back in line?

"We have some serious structural problems in our budget, in how we set it and how we spend the money. First and foremost we need to go in and look at current spending. I think (performance-based budgeting) is what needs to take place."

On transportation, because transportation commission members are appointed, Roark feels there is no accountability to voters. Roark would like to see the commission provide specific plans for its use of funds "every year the transportation commission chair would come before the legislature and lay out how they're going to spend the money and we as the legislature would vote it up or down."

On education, Roark is a cosponsor of Classroom Trust Fund legislation, which would set Lottery and gaming proceeds aside to be distributed on a per pupil basis to local school districts. Local school boards would decide how to spend the money, whether on teacher salaries, materials, etc.

What is your plan to stimulate the Missouri economy?

"Overall, we've got to become a more business-friendly state. Each individual state is kind of in competition with other states as far as what they can offer for businesses to come in, what they can offer as far as being business friendly and even being just individual taxpayer friendly." He recommends workers' compensation reform, specifically rewording legislation to clarify work's role in the cause of injuries, and noted that the cost of workers' compensation in the state is driving businesses to leave Missouri.

How will you address the rising cost of health insurance and its impact on small businesses?

"I think there needs to be some serious tort reform. I think we can definitely pass legislation to put caps on what can be recovered. The trial attorneys, in my opinion, have really milked the system, and as a result, insurance premiums have gone up."

Is the Senior Rx program an issue the state should be spending money on, or should it be the responsibility of the federal government?

"I do not believe that the state can afford a prescription drug program for seniors." Roark said that "there are ways we can put more money in seniors pockets so they can afford prescription drugs," such as property tax reform.

by Clarissa French

SBJ Managing Editor