Greitens brings 'listen and lead tour' to JC


Eric Greitens talks to a group of supporters at Downtown Diner Thursday. Greitens is considering a run for Missouri governor and having a series of small meetings with people to hear their ideas and to share his.
Eric Greitens talks to a group of supporters at Downtown Diner Thursday. Greitens is considering a run for Missouri governor and having a series of small meetings with people to hear their ideas and to share his.

State Rep. Jay Barnes, R-Jefferson City, introduced Eric Greitens Thursday as "a man who, I think, could be the greatest conservative leader Missouri has ever had."

Greitens is running for governor, although he hasn't formally announced his candidacy.

Thursday's mid-day stop at Jefferson City's Downtown Diner was the eighth stop on this week's 14-event campaign tour.

"One of the things that's been really neat to see on the "Listen and Lead' tour is that we have people coming out (who) are telling us that they're looking for something different," Greitens told reporters after visiting individually with many of the 60-plus individuals who came to hear him. "They're saying they don't want career politicians. They're tired of corrupt consultants (and) well-paid lobbyists."

Both Barnes and Greitens said the Nixon administration has taken the state in the wrong direction, leaving Missouri 42nd in job growth in recent years, and with only 26 percent of fourth graders reading at a "proficient" level.

Barnes reminded the partisan crowd of Nixon's frequent flights around the state, where the governor can "pound his fist against the podium and insist that the Republican General Assembly go along and toe his liberal line" instead of meeting regularly with lawmakers.

But Nixon got more than 58 percent of the vote for governor in 2008 and more than 54 percent in 2012, both numbers higher than Republican presidential candidates those years.

Greitens was asked if Nixon's popular support didn't that mean the Republican-led General Assembly should share the blame, if Missouri hasn't made as much progress as Republicans say they want?

"In my experience, one of the things that great leaders do is inspire cooperation," Greitens said. "One of the things that great leaders do, who can come in from the outside, is that we're not tied down by all the things that have held back the status quo.

"So, I actually think that an outsider coming in from the outside with a team of people who have great experience in the private sector ... we can build that team to come into Jefferson City and inspire cooperation."

Greitens grew up in Missouri and won a scholarship to Duke University, where earned his bachelor's degree.

Selected as a Rhodes and a Truman Scholar, he attended the University of Oxford, England, where he earned a master's degree in 1998 and a Ph.D. in 2000.

Then he joined the U.S. Navy, was trained as a SEAL and was deployed on four tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Walking night patrol in the desert," Greitens told the crowd, "I thought, "There's someone to the left of me and someone to the right - and they're both willing to give their lives for every person who's in this platoon.'

"That's the kind of dedication we have to a mission that is about more than self."

He's headed a non-profit group working with returning service members since his own military service.

What he learned, he said, is "every single person has strengths and every single person has abilities and insights."

As he campaigns and talks with people, Greitens said, "We're trying to build a set of solutions for the state of Missouri - and we will announce when the time is right for the campaign. But we are committed to making sure that people know they have a leader who's going to come in from the outside and do the tough things it's going to take to move this state forward."

In addition to Greitens, former House Speaker Catherine Hanaway, R-Warson Woods, state Sen. Mike Parson, R-Bolivar, Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, St. Louis businessman John Brunner, and former state Rep. Randy Asbury, R-Higbee, all have announced candidacies for the GOP governor's nomination.

Attorney General Chris Koster is the only Democrat to jump in the race, so far.