MO chamber endorses Spence for governor

The Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry's political action committee yesterday pledged its support for Dave Spence, Republican candidate for governor.

Spence, who won the Republican nomination for governor in August, earned the backing of the chamber because of his support of the chamber's legislative priorities, including tort and workers' compensation reform, according to a news release.

“Tort reform and workers’ compensation reform are bottom-line issues for Missouri business owners,” Missouri chamber President and CEO Daniel Mehan said in the release. “Dave Spence is a business owner himself and understands what this legislation means for Missouri’s economy.”

In March, incumbent candidate Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat, vetoed Senate Bill 572, an initiative that would have turned back the clock on the state's workers' comp law, requiring occupational diseases to be exclusively covered under the law and disallowing co-workers to be held liable for workplace injuries or death. At the time, Nixon called the bill a downgrade to the current law. House Bill 1540, which related to the lawsuit portion of the law, passed during the latest session.

Spence has been a member of the Missouri chamber since 1998 and is president of St. Louis-based Alpha Packaging, which manufactures plastic bottles and jars for the nutritional, pharmaceutical, personal care, housewares, consumer chemical and niche food and beverage markets, according to its website.

The general election is scheduled for Nov. 6.[[In-content Ad]]