For the first time in its 40-year history, the Missouri Farm Bureau's PAC, FARM-PAC, has endorsed a Democrat for statewide office.
Chris Koster's campaign for governor won the endorsement by a 50-16 vote margin over Republican Eric Greitens, for a 75.8 percent support among the political action campaign's delegates attending a meeting Friday at the Farm Bureau's Jefferson City headquarters.
The PAC's rules require at least a two-thirds vote by the delegates to make an endorsement.
The PAC also endorsed Republican attorney general candidate Josh Hawley, by a 72-2 vote over Democrat Teresa Hensley, for a 97.3 percent margin.
Organizers said Hensley, a former Cass County prosecutor, had committed to appear at Friday's meeting, then cancelled her appearance Thursday night.
Koster and Greitens didn't debate each other during the Farm Bureau PAC meeting but, as has been done in the past, appeared separately, giving presentations and then answering questions from the PAC members.
Koster said near the beginning of his presentation: "I consider myself a conservative, business-oriented Democrat."
Greitens, a businessman and former Navy SEAL, said he was running for governor because Missouri's current leaders have failed to lead.
Greitens acknowledged he's never run for public office before.
"We have a serious problem in Jefferson City, and it needs to be cleaned up," he said. "When I'm governor, we're going to ban all gifts from lobbyists close the revolving door between legislators and special interests (and) put in place term limits for every statewide officeholder."
Koster reminded the FARM-PAC members, while he was in the state Senate from 2005-09, he handled legislation they supported involving eminent domain and confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs).
As Missouri's attorney general, Koster said, he appealed and won a ruling overturning a Cole County Circuit Court ruling involving a proposed CAFO near Arrow Rock that included a court-ordered 15-mile buffer zone around the town.
When the Army Corps of Engineers wanted to blow up the Bird's Point Levee in the Bootheel because flooding along the Mississippi River threatened Cairo, Illinois, to the south, Koster noted, he and his office appealed the plan all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Even though they lost that case, he said, "It is proof that, when I get in the ring for you, I stay in the ring for you.
"In the political arena, I have stood with you," including his support for the controversial right to farm amendment lawmakers put on the ballot and voters approved with a 1,000-vote margin.
Greitens promised to provide the "strong, conservative leadership from outside the political establishment" to improve Missouri's economy - now "47th (nationally) in economic growth," he said. "Businesses are leaving Missouri, and people who are lucky enough to have a job aren't seeing raises for six or seven years."
Koster would ask the General Assembly to allow the Agriculture and Economic Development departments to work together, and he will name an Economic Development director "who understands that agriculture is the number-one industry in the state."
Acknowledging many don't like the federal Affordable Care Act, Koster said he would work to take the roughly $2 million a year the federal government offers through Medicaid expansion - which the Legislature's Republican leadership have opposed consistently over the last few years - and use that money to keep better medical care in rural areas.
"We may not like the way the ACA was passed," Koster said, "but if it's here to stay - we should take the money."
Greitens told the PAC: "I believe that every citizen in Missouri deserves a chance at world-class health care - and that's why I believe that we need to work together to repeal Obamacare."
And, when it comes to transportation, Koster said he would sit down with the Legislature's GOP leaders, including Senate President Pro Tem Ron Richard, R-Joplin, and Floor Leader Mike Kehoe, R-Jefferson City, "and work to put together a rational funding plan for the Missouri Department of Transportation."
Shutting down the entire four-campus University of Missouri system permanently wouldn't provide enough money to solve Missouri's transportation needs, he said.
Greitens said transportation issues need to include ports and broadband access.
"We've got a real crisis in Missouri," he said, with most Missourians agreeing "we should spend more money on roads and ports. But if you ask those same 100 people, 'How many of you trust the government of the state of Missouri to spend that money wisely?' 95 percent of them will say no."
So, before more money is spent, Greitens said, "You have to start with the ethics program I talked about, and you have to have a governor who is willing to go through the budget and establish trust with the people of Missouri."
He promised to create a website where Missourians can look at every check the state writes, "so you can see where the money goes."
And he promised to support local control of education.
If elected governor, Koster pledged, his first Cabinet appointment would be to ask current Agriculture Director Richard Fordyce to stay in the job.
Greitens acknowledged he doesn't know about agriculture, but he would make sure he works with people who do.
He would consider Fordyce as one of his choices, while also getting advice from Farm Bureau and other groups about who they think would make good agriculture leaders in the state.